{"id":13351,"date":"2017-09-13T11:17:22","date_gmt":"2017-09-13T10:17:22","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/unitelive.org\/?p=13351"},"modified":"2017-09-13T12:53:58","modified_gmt":"2017-09-13T11:53:58","slug":"defending-defence","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/unitelive.test.igniteamt.com\/?p=13351","title":{"rendered":"Defending defence"},"content":{"rendered":"
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Unite delegate Mahf Khan yesterday\u00c2\u00a0(September 12) made the case for defence diversification, on behalf of defence, aerospace and shipbuilding workers at Rolls Royce in Derby.<\/p>\n

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Speaking in support of motion 17 on the penultimate day of TUC Congress, he said the idea of defence diversification is not a new one to Unite or its predecessor unions.<\/p>\n

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\u00e2\u20ac\u015bLast year, Unite published the most comprehensive report including our long history of members advancing ideas for new work and spin off technologies \u00e2\u20ac\u201c including the Lucas Aerospace Plan and \u00e2\u20ac\u0098Oceans of Work\u00e2\u20ac\u2122, the Barrow Shipyard\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s version,\u00e2\u20ac\u0165 he explained.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

He warned Congress that the track record of success in defence diversification in the UK is poor.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\u00e2\u20ac\u015bSerious consideration must be given to a system with teeth and money if it is to be a reality,\u00e2\u20ac\u0165 he said.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\u00e2\u20ac\u015bMuch has changed in the global defence industry since the Lucas Plan 40 years ago,\u00e2\u20ac\u0165 Khan added. \u00e2\u20ac\u015bBut this should not stop us using it as inspiration.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\u00e2\u20ac\u015bHowever, this needs to be tempered with a realisation of the current situation and an understanding of the experience of the past.\u00e2\u20ac\u0165<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Khan noted that there must be industrial and political will in any defence diversification strategy or else \u00e2\u20ac\u015bsuch plans will fail and risks leaving UK manufacturing fatally wounded.\u00e2\u20ac\u0165<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

He highlighted how Unite, in its report has supported the creating of a separate Defence Diversification Agency but he added that it \u00e2\u20ac\u015bwill not work in isolation.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\u00e2\u20ac\u015bIt has to be accompanied by detailed plans outlining legislation, funding and investment, in order for it to be credible for all key stakeholders including existing defence workers in the UK,\u00e2\u20ac\u0165 Khan pointed out.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

He made clear that Unite\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s position on defending and supporting defence workers and on the Successor programme has not changed.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\u00e2\u20ac\u015bBut we will engage positively in the debate about a Defence Diversification Agency,\u00e2\u20ac\u0165 Khan said. \u00e2\u20ac\u015bThis must be on the basis of like for like replacement jobs for existing and future workers in the industry.\u00e2\u20ac\u0165<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Khan made clear to Congress that Unite \u00e2\u20ac\u015bwill fight \u00e2\u20ac\u201c without reservation – to defend every single job of our members in the defence industry.\u00e2\u20ac\u0165<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Despite what he described as \u00e2\u20ac\u015bsome deficiencies in the motion\u00e2\u20ac\u0165 he said it was broadly in line with Unite\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s defence diversification strategy and urged Congress to support the motion.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

The motion passed.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Find out more about Unite’s policy on defence here. <\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Unite delegate Mahf Khan yesterday\u00c2\u00a0(September 12) made the case for defence diversification, on behalf of defence, aerospace and shipbuilding workers at Rolls Royce in Derby.   Speaking in support of motion 17 on the penultimate day of TUC Congress, he said the idea of defence diversification is not a new one to Unite or its […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":13374,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[1],"tags":[484,792],"wps_subtitle":"The case for defence diversification","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/unitelive.test.igniteamt.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/13351"}],"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=13351"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/unitelive.test.igniteamt.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/13351\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":13375,"href":"https:\/\/unitelive.test.igniteamt.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/13351\/revisions\/13375"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/unitelive.test.igniteamt.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/13374"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/unitelive.test.igniteamt.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=13351"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/unitelive.test.igniteamt.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=13351"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/unitelive.test.igniteamt.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=13351"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}