{"id":14024,"date":"2017-11-30T13:47:04","date_gmt":"2017-11-30T13:47:04","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/unitelive.org\/?p=14024"},"modified":"2017-11-30T13:47:04","modified_gmt":"2017-11-30T13:47:04","slug":"small-steps","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/unitelive.test.igniteamt.com\/?p=14024","title":{"rendered":"‘Small steps’"},"content":{"rendered":"
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While it\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s essential that trade unions must be involved in any proposed \u00e2\u20ac\u0098sector deals\u00e2\u20ac\u2122,\u00c2\u00a0worker voice and collective bargaining were absent from April\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s Industrial Strategy Green Paper<\/a>.\u00c2\u00a0So how does this week\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s White Paper measure up?<\/p>\n

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The Industrial Strategy White Paper announces four sector deals with others said to be \u00e2\u20ac\u015bin advanced discussions\u00e2\u20ac\u0165. No reference is made to trade unions, although there is some reference to \u00e2\u20ac\u0098workers\u00e2\u20ac\u2122.<\/p>\n

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Trade unions (through the TUC) are acknowledged, however, in respect of the \u00e2\u20ac\u0098National Retraining Partnership\u00e2\u20ac\u2122 that will set the strategic direction and oversee the implementation of the National Retraining Scheme in England, and the \u00e2\u20ac\u015bstarting of a dialogue\u00e2\u20ac\u0165 to \u00e2\u20ac\u015bdevelop a common set of principles and measures\u00e2\u20ac\u0165 to assess job quality and success (following recommendations in the Taylor Report).<\/p>\n

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This is a welcome, but very limited step, and it remains to be seen how it will pan out in practice. But if the role of trade unions is acknowledged in these areas, why not extend it to the Sector Deals or indeed the proposed \u00e2\u20ac\u0098local industrial strategies\u00e2\u20ac\u2122?<\/p>\n

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Concerned<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n

I am also concerned that the paper trumpets \u00e2\u20ac\u015bour flexible labour market\u00e2\u20ac\u0165 and \u00e2\u20ac\u015brecord employment rates\u00e2\u20ac\u0165, but doesn\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t take heed of the fact that all too often for working people flexibility is a one way street in favour of the employer and that our labour market is still plagued by insecurity and underemployment.<\/p>\n

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The creation of an independent Industrial Strategy Council to assess and evaluate the Industrial Strategy is a potentially useful means of accountability and development. However, it will be drawn from \u00e2\u20ac\u015bleading business men and women, investors, economists and academics\u00e2\u20ac\u0165 with no reference to workers or their representatives. Given\u00c2\u00a0the White Paper itself states \u00e2\u20ac\u015bthe real test of a successful strategy is the consequences it has for the lives of our fellow citizens. That must mean more good jobs and better pay\u00e2\u20ac\u0165, this is a significant omission.<\/p>\n

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Greg Clark, Secretary of State, says in his foreword to the Industrial Strategy that \u00e2\u20ac\u015bother countries have benefitted from establishing policies and institutions which endure\u00e2\u20ac\u0165 yet fails to be bold on the sort of social partnership arrangements, such as in Germany, that would really help deliver\u00c2\u00a0a sustainable and equitable economy.<\/p>\n

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This comment first appeared on the Centre for Labour and Social Studies (Class) blog on November\u00c2\u00a028 <\/em>here<\/em><\/a><\/p>\n

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\u00c2\u00a0<\/a><\/p>\n

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While it\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s essential that trade unions must be involved in any proposed \u00e2\u20ac\u0098sector deals\u00e2\u20ac\u2122,\u00c2\u00a0worker voice and collective bargaining were absent from April\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s Industrial Strategy Green Paper.\u00c2\u00a0So how does this week\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s White Paper measure up?   The Industrial Strategy White Paper announces four sector deals with others said to be \u00e2\u20ac\u015bin advanced discussions\u00e2\u20ac\u0165. No reference is […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":2120,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[22],"tags":[633,55],"wps_subtitle":"Govt's industrial strategy still weak on\u00c2\u00a0worker voice ","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/unitelive.test.igniteamt.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/14024"}],"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=14024"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/unitelive.test.igniteamt.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/14024\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":14025,"href":"https:\/\/unitelive.test.igniteamt.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/14024\/revisions\/14025"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/unitelive.test.igniteamt.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/2120"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/unitelive.test.igniteamt.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=14024"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/unitelive.test.igniteamt.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=14024"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/unitelive.test.igniteamt.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=14024"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}