The company said it would enter into consultation with employees at its brick factories about the decision. It added: “This is a prudent action that will allow us to continue to meet customers' needs while effectively managing our costs and cash position until we are able to more effectively forecast demand.”
Steve Kemp, national officer of the GMB union, said: “Imported bricks are still coming into the UK at an unprecedented and alarming rate. In 2014 brick imports accounted for 25% of sales in the UK representing £80 million per year to the UK economy and these imports have meant that future investment is becoming difficult to forge and is increasingly unsteady.
“We call on the UK Government to act in defence of the UK brick industry to give both stability and continuity to this important industry.
“We also call for a major push on UK social housing which for two long has been ignored by successive governments, after all its not that there is nobody in the UK wanting housing. Many young people for instance are not on the housing ladder because of the extortionate house prices.”
Bernard McAulay, Unite national officer, added: “Last year, when the Accrington and Claughton Plants reopened prior to the General Election, both the Prime Minister David Cameron and chancellor George Osbourne said the company’s decision to reopen both these plants creating new jobs within the brick manufacturing industry was the strongest evidence possible that Britain and the North West are coming back and are on course to prosperity.
“Just over 12 months later, quite the opposite, the loss of these 45 jobs is upsetting news for the brick manufacturing company as Forterra as a global client, given the uncertainty surrounding government policy especially in the lack of investment and delivering in the crucial area of social housing.”
He concluded: “Mothballing these plants highlights the lack of confidence the brick manufacturing industry have in the Tory government to deliver on its promises to construct 200,000 new homes a year.”
