Sector focus
Truck stop? Recession and Euro have caused problems for Leyland Trucks
followed years of sacrifice by the workforce. Convenor Chris Bond says the present boom in world-wide sales of the Mini is based on customer confidence in the product – and that flows from the ‘dedication and flexibility’ of the workforce. Unite recently secured a 4.5 per cent pay increase without strings so employees could share in increased profits.
The success is not only limited to carmakers. Business is buoyant for manufacturers of commercial vehicles. Among the beneficiaries have been Alexander Dennis, Ford Transit, GM Vauxhall and Optare – which has opened the first new bus manufacturing plant in the UK for more than 40 years.
But Leyland Trucks convenor Dave Alty says his company is not sharing the prosperity enjoyed elsewhere in the motor industry because of the recession and the problems over the Euro. He says Continental manufacturers are ‘giving trucks away’ with the solid support of their governments.
Bus manufacturer Dennis has a full order book – and like Honda – is increasingly pushing the workforce for
more productivity. Convenor John Kelly says the company, which exports all over the world, has to contract work out to non-union firms paying less than half the £12.80 an hour paid at Dennis. John adds the company is also suffering from a skills shortage, largely because it has failed to offer proper apprenticeships for the last 20 years.
Beneficial effect Any success enjoyed by the British motor industry has a massively beneficial knock-on effect. For every new job in vehicle production, four are created in the components and supply sector.
And yet so far the motor industry is one of the few parts of British manufacturing that is prospering. Rhetoric by ministers about the need to re-balance the economy away from the service sector – has remained just that; rhetoric.
A key Unite report Driving growth seeks to build on the recent success of vehicle manufacturers, urging the government to encourage public bodies to buy British products.
Unite national officer Roger Maddison 14 uniteWORKS July/August 2012
said it was ‘outrageous’ that 72 per cent of vehicles bought by the police were made overseas – something, he added, would never happen in Germany or France.
And fellow Unite national officer Tony Murphy, attacked the government for abolishing regional development funds and called for a strategic investment bank for manufacturing.
“We also need a skilled apprenticeship system, such as they have in Germany which gives young people transferable skills and avoids shortages in future.”
Unite assistant general secretary Tony Burke said the motor industry is providing a glimmer of hope amid the economic gloom. “This is very much down to the skills of our members. What we need now is more investment in training and skills so that vehicle manufacturing in Britain thrives far into the future.
“It seems that just like in the USA, the automotive sector is leading the economic revival. Let’s hope the lesson is learned by the rest of manufacturing and government.”
PA Photos
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