TUC General Secretary Brendan Barber warned that the recovery is ‘on a knife edge’ as the axe fell on more than 1600 jobs.
The redundancies were announced or threatened on a single day – February 9th – hitting workers in drugs, water, car and chocolate firms.
Mr Barber said: “These job losses show the economy is still on the knife edge. City bonuses may be back and the economy is technically growing once again, but the downturn is far from over for the millions struggling to find work, forced to take work well below their capabilities or who fear for their jobs.
“The Government must resist calls to take the knife to public spending – which would cause further job losses and give us a double-dip recession.”
Paul Kenny, leader of the GMB union, said: “It is going to be a long, hard slog before the economy recovers and employment starts growing again.
“These job losses underline the need to keep the public sector buoyant until the economy is properly recovered.”
Read the full Manchester Evening News story at Bleak day for UK employment as axe falls on more than 800 jobs
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