CAMPAIGNManufacturing THE ‘MARCH’ TH With jobs, skills and support cut back, can manufacturing move on?


Chancellor George Osborne promised a “march of the makers” in his 2011 Budget – but his critics say the country is still waiting to hear the footsteps.


Unite believes that despite the wider improvement in the economy, there has been little sign of manufacturing moving forward.


Assistant general secretary Tony Burke describes it as “two steps forward, three or four steps back.”


The British economy grew slightly less than economists forecast in the final three months of last year, with near-zero growth in manufacturing output.


The disappointing figures came despite the continued success of the UK’s car industry, which is motoring ahead with new models and decent jobs, and aerospace, still flying high with growing orders for civilian aircraft.


Unite argues the success of the motor industry is thanks to the automotive council – set up under the last Labour government, with unions closely involved. Industrial relations are strong in UK car companies and aerospace – another industry which involves rather than ignores unions.


But elsewhere, Unite bemoans the lack of support for manufacturing from the coalition and questions why there is no proper strategy or support for public sector procurement, and a continued lack of decent apprenticeships.


Unite has consistently stressed the importance of manufacturing in re- balancing the economy, away from an over-reliance on the financial and service industries.


Unite wants more jobs in manufacturing as they are ‘good’, largely better paid jobs.


For every one job a further four are created in other industries – boosting local communities. Manufacturing jobs ought to be the cornerstone of our economy.


Tony Burke says it’s even more important in May’s general election that Labour makes clear pledges on how to revive manufacturing, as well as tackling ongoing scandals such as the abuse of zero hours contracts and exploitation of agency workers.


“We’ve been campaigning for the past five years for a complete re-balancing of the economy, but it hasn’t happened.


“Manufacturing just hasn’t taken off as it should have done if we are going to see the economy being re-balanced.


“To make matters worse, the number of apprenticeships has fallen,” he told uniteWORKS.


Tony says that if the strong performance of car firms were taken out of official figures, manufacturing would be in an even worse state.


Little help Unite accuses the government of offering little help for small and medium sized companies (SMEs), a sector which is crucial to keeping the wheels of industry spinning.


On a wider scale, the union believes more should be done to stress the importance to manufacturing of the UK’s membership of the European Union.


Tony Burke puts it bluntly. “Jobs are on the line. We export over £60bn worth of goods a year to the EU. To pull up the drawbridge is not an option – that’s the general view of people in manufacturing, including our members.”


Unite hopes Labour will produce a series 18 uniteWORKS Spring 2015


of policies on manufacturing to tackle skill shortages, encourage firms which have off- shored work to bring it back to the UK, help public authorities win orders – and create tens of thousands of decent jobs.


Labour leader Ed Miliband has talked about building an economic recovery that works for most people, not just a privileged few, creating skilled, well paid jobs, as opposed to workers being exploited and having their wages undercut by ‘cowboy’ companies and agencies.


He said the UK has to re-build its historic reputation as a world leader in technology and manufacturing, including tackling a huge shortage of civil, mechanical and electrical engineers.


It’s estimated that 780,000 more engineers will be needed by 2020 to meet industry demand, but only half that number is being trained.


Encouraging school-leavers – female as well as male – with high quality apprenticeships as an alternative to university would surely help.


It’s a point not lost on Labour. If elected, Labour has pledged to guarantee every school leaver with the appropriate grades, a high-quality apprenticeship.


Chris Bond, Unite convenor at BMW, is a firm believer in good quality apprenticeships, offering a proper period of training, with decent pay. But he doesn’t think that is what the government


is promoting in its


repeated claims about record numbers of apprenticeships being created.


“The government has brought in ‘Mickey Mouse’ apprenticeships which don't provide proper qualifications or enough time to be trained,” said Chris, who is based at the Mini site in Oxford, which has first class training facilities.


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