A THOUSAND unionists fighting to keep Bootle’s Rolls-Royce factory open are expected to march through Liverpool City centre on Saturday.

They are hoping to stop the site being relocated to a cheaper factory in the American midwest and save 212 Merseyside jobs.

The TUC announcement came as eleventh-hour discussions were ongoing to try to save the plant.

Rolls-Royce have been in negotiations with staff since November last year over the site’s future.

That 90-day consultation is due to finish imminently.

Alec McFadden, President of Merseyside TUC and the rally’s organiser, told the Daily Post: “We are hoping that they will still listen.

“They have tremendous support from the council and the media.

“We are asking all trade unionists to turn up at the march and rally and to bring their union banner to show support to their fellow trade unionists.”

According to Mr McFadden, the site employed 600 workers two years ago, but the company has been running it down since then.

Rolls-Royce are considering transferring the manufacture of industrial turbines from Bootle to Mount Vernon, Ohio.

TUC members from across the country will gather at the People’s Centre on Mount Pleasant at noon on Saturday and will march from there to St George’s Plateau. Sefton Council and the North West Development Agency are still in talks about a cash bail-out for the Dunnings Bridge Road, Bootle, site.

A team from the NWDA met with Rolls-Royce two weeks ago, but an agreement has proved elusive.

The NWDA says it is waiting for a response from the company.

High-level meetings in Sefton Council are ongoing to establish the feasibility of bank rolling the plant.

Bootle MP Joe Benton met with council chief executive Graham Haywood last week to see what the ground rules of any deal would be.

It is thought Sefton Council are concerned that, should they offer a sum to Rolls-Royce to keep the factory open, it could still close a few years down the line.

Rolls-Royce say the plant is too costly to keep running, it is short on capacity and the adverse exchange rate between Britain and America further raises costs.

Cllr Peter Dowd, acting Labour group leader on Sefton Council, will join the march.

He said: “Rolls-Royce is a world class name.

“It’s got world-class staff in Bootle and there’s no reason why those world class workers can’t help a world class company.”

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