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A blow to Swindon - but it can bounce back


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The recent news on Honda was a thunderbolt. 3,500 jobs lost at the Honda factory itself, possibly a further 1,200 in Honda logistics and trading operations. And then the ripple effect. The supply chain in Swindon and the West Country is large. The daily flow of over two million components into Swindon all have company stories behind them. We know of firms in Swindon, Bristol and Gloucester who make car seats, paints and mouldings and contribute to the body work or make braking systems. Other firms have contracts to drive the lorries and organise the delivery times. Possibly more than 6,000 extra jobs. And there’s the firms that depend on these firms and Honda workers. The human impact is just as large. Everyone in Swindon knows someone who


works at Honda. Fathers can work alongside sons, daughters and cousins. Many will have mortgages and families - all will be worried about the future. Swindon has seen body blows before. In 1986 the Swindon railway works were


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closed down, leaving skilled workers fearful of the future. Manufacturers have also left, consolidated, laid off. But none were as big in terms of scale as Honda. The Swindon railway works saw 1,500 jobs lost at its closure. Honda is much larger. The positive news is that Swindon has recovered in the past. In 1986, one of the founding bodies of Business West itself was created as a response to the job losses. We helped train and reskill workers to new jobs and attract new investment into the town. In 2013 and 2014, Honda laid off 800 workers as a response to slowing global demand. We were involved in setting up a Taskforce which then reached out to employers across the region – from Airbus, GKN, JLR, Renishaw and Bristol Airport to help re-employ. We worked with Swindon College to get formal qualifications for the skills that workers had learnt informally on the production line. What started as 800 people facing unemployment, ended with only 30 people having to claim benefits. But, be under no illusion that there will be a lot of hard work and some hard


times ahead.


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MARCH/APRIL 2019 insight 3


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