These jobs have fallen by the wayside while the Conservative party bickers over Brexit says GMB Union
Wales has lost 13,000 manufacturing jobs in just 10 years – even before the expected closure of Ford Bridgend, a new investigation by GMB has shown.
The shocking statistics are being released ahead of GMB’s Annual Congress, which begins in Brighton on Sunday [June 9, 2019].
They show 13,000 jobs in the sector disappeared between 2008 and 2018 – a fall of nearly 8%.
In 2008, Wales supported 168,000 permanent and temporary manufacturing jobs. By 2018, that had slumped to just 155,000.
The GMB’s Making It campaign is calling on the Government to invest in manufacturing and protect manufacturing jobs during Brexit.
Jude Brimble, GMB National Secretary, said:
“Losing 13,000 manufacturing job losses in just ten years has been devastating for Wales and unless action is taken, it looks like the worst could still be to come.
“Unfortunately, this Government has a track record of failing to support UK manufacturing.
“Tens of thousands of jobs have fallen by the wayside yet the Conservative Party is prepared to risk thousands more job losses through a chaotic hard Brexit.
“It begs the question; how does this add up to May’s commitments that ‘the UK’s post-Brexit arrangements must protect people’s jobs and security’?
“This is why GMB Union’s Making It campaign calls for a rethink on Government procurement and renewed investment in skills and jobs across manufacturing.”
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