The government faces mounting criticism for its failure to protect the jobs of British car workers as the industry braces itself for further bad news.
Mercedes-Benz is expected this week to become the latest car company to announce swingeing cutbacks to its UK operations by dropping 63 dealerships from its network of 156 outlets.
There is also increasing speculation that Vauxhall will close its Ellesmere Port plant on Merseyside after last week's announcement that it would cease car production at its Luton factory. Fears are also growing that Nissan will move production of its new Micra model out of Britain.
A further 2,000 jobs are expected to go when Ford ends car manufacture at its Dagenham plant in 2002.
TUC general secretary John Monks yesterday accused Tony Blair of failing to protect British workers from job-cutting multinationals.
Several MPs whose constituents have felt the impact of job cuts in Luton and at the Rover plant in the West Midlands earlier in the year are expected to demand answers this week from Mr Blair in parliament.
TUC officials claim British workers are bearing the brunt of the car industry's global problems and being laid off in huge numbers because they are cheaper to sack than their counterparts in Europe. "Trade unions simply do not understand why our members should be treated in this shoddy way and why Labour rejects ever opportunity to do the decent thing," Mr Monks said.
He is also angry that workers at Luton were not consulted about last week's shock announcement. In Germany, laws state that companies must give workers minimum notice periods and consult them before large-scale closure decisions.
"It is intolerable that British workers should have second-class rights," Mr Monks said. "My message to the prime minister is clear. British workers are fed up with being kept in the dark and treated like mushrooms."
Mr Blair has said that overweildy labour regulations could restrict job creation.
Official figures show that 95,000 manufacturing jobs have been lost in the past year, despite unemployment being at a 20-year low.
Employment minister Tessa Jowell is to meet Vauxhall workers this week to discuss ways of finding them new jobs. Staff at Luton are being given four weeks to consider redundancy packages or transfer to another Vauxhall division.
However, Transport & General Workers Union General secretary Bill Morris is due to meet Michael Burns, president of GM Europe, in the new year and might call for strike action across the continent.
