IN MARCH this year, I was transferred to the GMB union’s Stoke-on-Trent office. A large portion of my responsibilities was to be with what locals call the “pot banks.” These workplaces are based around the manufacture of ceramics, which has been both the traditional industry of the area and the backbone of the city, underpinning its prosperity and sense of identity.

This said, the ceramics sector in the potteries has been in decline for decades. Working out of the Stoke-on-Trent office means I can see first-hand, on a daily basis, just what this decline has given rise to.

We have seen a large reduction in GMB membership, and, coupled with the disastrous austerity policy of the Tories, there is poverty, dereliction, anti-social behaviour, drug abuse and the hollowing out of the high streets.

Stoke-on-Trent is a shadow of its former self, just like many other areas where manufacturing was the bread and butter of the local economies. Successive governments have done little or nothing for Stoke-on-Trent and cities like Stoke.

I quickly got to work to educate myself on the issues facing GMB members in the ceramics sector. It immediately became obvious that the huge increases in the cost of energy, especially gas (triggered, in my opinion, largely by corporate greed), are having a catastrophic impact on ceramics manufacturers, and particularly the small and medium-sized enterprises in the area.

Some have reported five-fold increases in their gas bills over the last two years. Moreover, the importation of often poor-quality tableware is undermining Britain’s tableware market. Lots of these imports are “dumped” onto Britain’s market at well below the cost of their manufacture.

This makes it incredibly difficult for British manufacturers to compete and impossible to compete on price. Add to this the market for fake ware, and you begin to get an idea of the challenges that face the industry.

Fake ware appears in pop-up shops, and is advertised on social media and elsewhere online, offering the latest designs at rock-bottom prices. This not only undermines the businesses that produce the original wares but threatens to put at risk the jobs of hard-working, highly skilled GMB members.

It has become obvious to me that these issues have led to the demise of some of the most famous names in the ceramics sector. In 2022, Wade Ceramics went into administration and ceased manufacturing.

In April 2024, Johnson Tiles moved manufacturing operations overseas and closed its manufacturing facility in the city. Without warning, Royal Stafford collapsed in February this year, giving GMB members no notice of the closure.

GMB members turned up for work only to find that the locks had been changed and they couldn’t access the site. Most recently, Moorcroft folded, putting another 57 people out of work. This cannot be allowed to continue.

GMB reps, activists and members have been fighting for the ceramics sector for years, but only with limited success. But I think something feels different today. We have seen TG Green step in to buy the failed Royal Stafford company and Will Moorcroft, the grandson of the founder, step in to buy Moorcroft. I wish them both well for the future. Why has this happened now? I believe that it is because GMB has raised the profile of ceramics manufacture through our Potters’ Pledge campaign.

Our campaign has been designed to raise awareness of the issues facing ceramics manufacture in Stoke and the wider area. We have done this by engaging with three newly elected local Labour MPs.

Gareth Snell, David Williams, and Allison Gardener are supporting our campaign as we take our fight to Westminster and lobby the government for much-needed support for the sector. We need support from central government with the cost of gas, with the imposition of tariffs on cheap imports, and with a crackdown on the sale of counterfeit ware online.

Our campaign has focused on the media. We have kept the problems facing the sector on the news agenda through coverage on local and national radio, regional TV and recently by taking part in a documentary programme being produced by a German TV company.

Yet, this is only the start. We are collecting signatures for our Potters’ Pledge campaign to add more pressure to the government to support ceramics. Failure by the government to support the ceramics sector in Stoke-on-Trent is not an option.

If we continue to see decline in the potteries, we leave the path wide open for the extreme right to come along and take over the city. This fight is more important today than ever before.

We don’t need help with electricity costs, as announced in the recent Industrial Strategy (although welcome), in two years’ time. We need action from the government, and we need it now! We will not stop until we have a better future for GMB members in Stoke.

Go to www.potterspledge.uk to find out more about the campaign and sign the petition.