GMB members working in brick manufacturing head to Parliament today [Tuesday 23 Jane 2024].
Dozens of employees of firms such as Wienerberger, Ibstock and Forterra will meet MPs amid fears the sector – which supports more than 10,000 jobs – could be on the brink of collapse.
Workers will take part in a round table Shadow Levelling Up Minister, Mike Amesbury MP, and Tan Dhesi MP, Shadow Minister for Exports
Despite profits of more than £300 million in 2022, rocketing energy prices and missed housebuilding targets have seen company’s stockpile bricks, close factories and slash jobs this year.
GMB has written to Michael Gove MP requesting a meeting to discuss the matter, but has received no reply.
Charlotte Brumpton-Childs, GMB National Officer, said:
“The brick industry is on the brink of collapse at the same time we don’t have enough houses for people to live in.
“It’s utterly ridiculous.
“Rocketing energy prices and a Government that cannot, or will not, meet its own homebuilding targets have left the industry on the edge.
“GMB members are here today to show they won’t take that lying down.”
