Manufacturing generates 15 per cent of UK GDP, employs 12
per cent of the UK's entire workforce and accounts for £150
billion in exports, yet the government continues to pay
insufficient attention to manufacturing and the consequential loss
of jobs to the economy.
In Unite's report
The Future of
Manufacturing, Derek Simpson, joint general secretary
of Unite, said: The evidence brought together in
The Future of Manufacturing
challenges the myth that the flexible labour market is delivering
the skills and investment that manufacturing needs in the
UK.
"We need a government that treasures manufacturing as other
European states do. We need a government that is prepared to invest
directly in UK workers by adopting a positive procurement policy.
What we do not need is a government that blindly embraces the
market and unrestricted globalisation, with the poverty and
insecurity that accompanies it, and abandons the quest for social
justice and equality.
"There is a future for manufacturing in the UK. What is
equally clear is that there is no future for the UK without
manufacturing.”
Unite's manufacturing campaign calls
for:
- Provide stronger protection for employees facing
redundancy
- Adopt a more transparent and pro-active public procurement
policy
- Establish a national investment bank and strategic review
agency
- Appoint a minister for manufacturing
- An increase in government investment and incentives for
R&D
- A determined approach to develop appropriate skills policies
which are adequately funded and supported by both government and
employers
- Challenge the case made for corporate offshoring and
outsourcing
- To urge government to acknowledge the important and unique role
that manufacturing plays in the UK and global economy, and as such
to show the industry the support, respect and encouragement that it
deserves
