Dozens of jobs to go at iconic Staffordshire pottery firms

The GMB union has urged action to safeguard potteries after Portmeirion and Emma Bridgewater revealed plans to shed staff.

Emma Bridgewater in Hanley is cutting jobs and scaling back production to combat challenging trading conditions and rising costs.

The factory and London office are being consulted over 36 planned redundancies following an increase in materials costs.

A four-day working week over 13 weeks will also be introduced at the Hanley factory from the end of January, with no production on Mondays during this time.

The company is one of the largest employers of potters in the Stoke-on-Trent area, producing around 40,000 pieces of pottery a week.

Around 400 staff are employed across the group

Portmeirion is planning to axe around 35 workers at its Stoke factory.

The company is in a 'collective consultation' with the union over the cuts.

Announcing the redundancies, a Portmeirion Group spokesman said: "Following a positive Christmas performance, Portmeirion Group expects sales to return to growth in 2024 year on year. However, we expect 2024 to be a challenging year due to ongoing macro uncertainty with customers remaining cautious, in particular in the US and Korean markets. In addition, we expect to continue to incur higher interest costs during the year given current rates."

GMB organiser Sam Warburton said: “This is yet another crack appearing in our vital pottery and ceramics industry.

“The spiralling cost of energy and years of Government inaction is having a real work impact on the lives and jobs of working people here in Stoke.

“Our potteries provide thousands of high skills jobs, creating products that are the envy of the world.

“This must be an urgent wake up call; we owe it to our grandchildren and future generations to safeguard our potteries.

“Government decision makers are running out of time to act before we see even more uncertainty in the industry."