{"id":11469,"date":"2017-02-15T11:00:11","date_gmt":"2017-02-15T11:00:11","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/unitelive.org\/?p=11469"},"modified":"2017-02-15T13:04:21","modified_gmt":"2017-02-15T13:04:21","slug":"talk-us-call","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/unitelive.test.igniteamt.com\/?p=11469","title":{"rendered":"\u00e2\u20ac\u0098Talk to us\u00e2\u20ac\u2122 call"},"content":{"rendered":"
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Unite general secretary Len McCluskey (pictured) met with business secretary Greg Clark this morning (February 15) to seek assurances over the tens of thousands of jobs at risk in Ellesmere Port and Luton following last night\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s news that the French carmaker PSA was in talks to buy GM\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s Opel business which includes its UK affiliate Vauxhall.<\/p>\n

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Following the meeting, McCluskey vowed that Unite would \u00e2\u20ac\u015bnot allow a single job to be lost\u00e2\u20ac\u0165 and said that he sought to establish common ground with the government on protecting jobs in the UK.<\/p>\n

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Brexit would be a major issue, he noted, adding that \u00e2\u20ac\u015bthere is no doubt companies are unsure\u00e2\u20ac\u0165. The best way to overcome this uncertainty would be to retain access to the single market, which McCluskey said Unite has continued to press the government over.<\/p>\n

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He also flagged up the many opportunities to bring back componentry and to invest in new technologies.<\/p>\n

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But in order for this to happen, he said ,\u00e2\u20ac\u015bthe government must take forward its industrial strategy seriously.\u00e2\u20ac\u0165<\/p>\n

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After the news broke last night over talks between Peugeot and GM, McCluskey called the development \u00e2\u20ac\u015bsurprising\u00e2\u20ac\u0165.<\/p>\n

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\u00e2\u20ac\u015bI am really disappointed and actually angry because only last year the President of General Motors (GM) gave me his personal assurances that there would be no surprises in terms of our plants\u00e2\u20ac\u2122 futures,\u00e2\u20ac\u0165 he said. \u00e2\u20ac\u015bThese commitments have clearly not been upheld.<\/p>\n

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\u00e2\u20ac\u015bBut while this has come out of the blue, we are absolutely determined of one thing \u00e2\u20ac\u201c UK plants will not be allowed to close,\u00e2\u20ac\u0165 McCluskey pledged. \u00e2\u20ac\u015bI have no intention of allowing GM to walk away from their promises and our plants and workers.<\/p>\n

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\u00e2\u20ac\u015bSo my message to the workers at Luton, Ellesmere Port and the tens of thousands in the wider supply chain is this, remain strong and stay united.\u00c2\u00a0 The UK and the EU are among GM\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s biggest markets globally \u00e2\u20ac\u201c if they think that they can walk away from dedicated workers and loyal consumers without a care, they need to think again.<\/p>\n

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\u00e2\u20ac\u015bTo Peugeot I say, talk to us.\u00c2\u00a0 Our members have helped to make the UK auto industry the most competitive and productive in Europe and will do so again with the right backing.<\/p>\n

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\u00e2\u20ac\u015bI also have a message to the UK government, which is do not sit on the side-lines,\u00e2\u20ac\u0165 McCluskey added. \u00e2\u20ac\u015bIntervene, work with us to create a new future for these plants.\u00c2\u00a0 The French government certainly is not sitting idle \u00e2\u20ac\u201c they have a 13 per cent stake in Peugeot and they have given their blessing to this deal.\u00c2\u00a0 We want UK auto workers to feel the same sense that their government is backing them.\u00e2\u20ac\u0165<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

McCluskey highlighted that the situation would prove to be a \u00e2\u20ac\u015breal test for the government and its much-vaunted industrial strategy.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\u00e2\u20ac\u015bTo be worth the paper it is written on it has to see a role for government in securing our skilled manufacturing base,\u00e2\u20ac\u0165 he said.\u00c2\u00a0 \u00e2\u20ac\u015bThat means stepping up and stepping in to secure our automotive sector now.\u00e2\u20ac\u0165<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Stay tuned for more updates.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Unite general secretary Len McCluskey (pictured) met with business secretary Greg Clark this morning (February 15) to seek assurances over the tens of thousands of jobs at risk in Ellesmere Port and Luton following last night\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s news that the French carmaker PSA was in talks to buy GM\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s Opel business which includes its UK affiliate […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":11470,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[1],"tags":[230,486,386,686],"wps_subtitle":"Unite vows \u00e2\u20ac\u0098not a single job to be lost\u00e2\u20ac\u2122","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/unitelive.test.igniteamt.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/11469"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/unitelive.test.igniteamt.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/unitelive.test.igniteamt.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/unitelive.test.igniteamt.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/unitelive.test.igniteamt.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=11469"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/unitelive.test.igniteamt.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/11469\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":11471,"href":"https:\/\/unitelive.test.igniteamt.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/11469\/revisions\/11471"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/unitelive.test.igniteamt.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/11470"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/unitelive.test.igniteamt.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=11469"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/unitelive.test.igniteamt.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=11469"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/unitelive.test.igniteamt.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=11469"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}