{"id":14567,"date":"2018-02-05T12:30:07","date_gmt":"2018-02-05T12:30:07","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/unitelive.org\/?p=14567"},"modified":"2020-11-12T12:59:10","modified_gmt":"2020-11-12T12:59:10","slug":"gkn-takeover-far","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/unitelive.test.igniteamt.com\/?p=14567","title":{"rendered":"GKN: a takeover too far"},"content":{"rendered":"
<\/div>\n

When\u00c2\u00a0Theresa May\u00c2\u00a0first promised a new industrial strategy\u00c2\u00a0for\u00c2\u00a0UK manufacturing, she claimed to be following in the footsteps of her political hero\u00c2\u00a0Joseph Chamberlain. It\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s ironic then that this strategy\u00c2\u00a0will be\u00c2\u00a0left in tatters\u00c2\u00a0if\u00c2\u00a0Mrs\u00c2\u00a0May and Business Secretary Greg Clarke allow this latest corporate takeover.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

GKN \u00e2\u20ac\u201c a company Chamberlain<\/a> helped establish in Birmingham \u00e2\u20ac\u201c \u00c2\u00a0is subject to a hostile takeover bid from Melrose, whose website<\/a>\u00c2\u00a0boasts that it\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s role is to \u00e2\u20ac\u0098buy, improve, sell\u00e2\u20ac\u2122 .<\/p>\n

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The \u00e2\u20ac\u0098sell\u00e2\u20ac\u2122 part usually comes after a few short years. Of course, it results in big profits for themselves and shareholders.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

GKN is a major UK manufacturer of high-tech aerospace, defence and automotive components. So a risky takeover represents the opposite of May\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s apparent\u00c2\u00a0long-term commitment to UK manufacturing needs.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

This is get rich quick short termism \u00e2\u20ac\u201c the sort we saw back in the days of red braces and mobile phones the size of a brick \u00e2\u20ac\u201c the 1980s.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

For Unite, the share price comes in at a very distant last in the list of\u00c2\u00a0our\u00c2\u00a0priorities, compared to the 6,000 workers spread across 14 UK sites.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

The financial media are reporting that the Melrose bid is worth \u00c2\u01417bn. But in reality they aren\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t spending a penny.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Instead they plan on borrowing the cash, enticing shareholders with promise of an \u00e2\u20ac\u0098exceptional dividend,\u00e2\u20ac\u2122 then shouldering the company with the debt they\u00e2\u20ac\u2122ll expect the workers to pay off.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

If this \u00e2\u20ac\u0098debt for dividend\u00e2\u20ac\u2122 deal \u00e2\u20ac\u201c which piles all the risk onto the workforce \u00e2\u20ac\u201c is allowed to succeed, it\u00e2\u20ac\u2122ll send UK manufacturing back decades.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Watershed moment<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n

Let\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s be clear, just as the Carillion crisis has become a watershed moment for the public sector, raising long overdue questions about contracting \u00e2\u20ac\u201c so the fight to save GKN is a watershed moment for UK manufacturing.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Along with the pioneering electric vehicle technology made by Unite members in the driveshaft division, GKN\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s aerospace operations produce military-grade technology for both the UK and US air forces.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Simply put, this takeover is also a matter of national security \u00e2\u20ac\u201c and that allows secretary of state Greg Clark to intervene and put a stop to it.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Let\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s end this fixation with short-term share prices. By every other measure\u00c2\u00a0GKN, is performing strongly \u00e2\u20ac\u201c and that\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s entirely thanks\u00c2\u00a0to a world-class workforce.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

If GKN is broken up, business links which give UK manufacturing a vital competitive edge\u00c2\u00a0will be lost.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Instead of carving the industry up \u00e2\u20ac\u201c either by Melrose or the current management \u00e2\u20ac\u201c we need to see a long-term plan, backed up by investment.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

In the coming weeks, Unite will be working with our members, who oppose the takeover, as well as MPs, industry and GKN\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s European employees to say: this is a takeover too far.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Unite has not given up on the idea of having a Manufacturing and Industrial Strategy. The coming days will show if\u00c2\u00a0Theresa May\u00c2\u00a0and her government\u00c2\u00a0can say the same.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

This comment first appeared in Left Foot Forward<\/a>, Friday February 2.<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

When\u00c2\u00a0Theresa May\u00c2\u00a0first promised a new industrial strategy\u00c2\u00a0for\u00c2\u00a0UK manufacturing, she claimed to be following in the footsteps of her political hero\u00c2\u00a0Joseph Chamberlain. It\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s ironic then that this strategy\u00c2\u00a0will be\u00c2\u00a0left in tatters\u00c2\u00a0if\u00c2\u00a0Mrs\u00c2\u00a0May and Business Secretary Greg Clarke allow this latest corporate takeover.   GKN \u00e2\u20ac\u201c a company Chamberlain helped establish in Birmingham \u00e2\u20ac\u201c \u00c2\u00a0is subject to a […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":10287,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[22],"tags":[624,670,55,690,44],"wps_subtitle":"Is May really committed to an industrial strategy?","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/unitelive.test.igniteamt.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/14567"}],"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\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/unitelive.test.igniteamt.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=14567"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/unitelive.test.igniteamt.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/14567\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":26413,"href":"https:\/\/unitelive.test.igniteamt.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/14567\/revisions\/26413"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/unitelive.test.igniteamt.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/10287"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/unitelive.test.igniteamt.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=14567"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/unitelive.test.igniteamt.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=14567"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/unitelive.test.igniteamt.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=14567"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}