{"id":14653,"date":"2018-02-22T15:24:17","date_gmt":"2018-02-22T15:24:17","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/unitelive.org\/?p=14653"},"modified":"2020-11-12T12:59:08","modified_gmt":"2020-11-12T12:59:08","slug":"come-clean-now","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/unitelive.test.igniteamt.com\/?p=14653","title":{"rendered":"‘Come clean now’"},"content":{"rendered":"
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An inquiry into turnaround specialist Melrose\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s predatory takeover of engineering firm GKN has finally been agreed following pressure from Unite.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

The business, energy and industrial strategy committee will convene on March 6 to hear evidence from Melrose, GKN and Unite representatives.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Committee chair and Labour MP Rachel Reeves said the meeting will be \u00e2\u20ac\u015ban opportunity to hear from Unite and for both GKN and Melrose to set out their case for the future of the business and how they are going to deliver long-term success for the company, shareholders, workers and pension holders.\u00e2\u20ac\u0165<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

MPs will also consider whether the takeover bid should be blocked on national security grounds.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Unite, in its campaign against the takeover, has argued that given GKN is a major player in military aerospace \u00e2\u20ac\u201c it, for example, provides parts for the F-35 fighter jet \u00e2\u20ac\u201c any takeover by an equity firm only interested in rewarding its shareholders at the expense of the company\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s long-term health would threaten the UK\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s national security.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

And as Unite has highlighted before<\/a>, there are already laws on the books under the Enterprise Act 2002 for the government to block the bid on national security grounds in the public interest.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Tory donors<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n

Still, the government\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s reluctance to step in may be explained by the Tory party\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s vested interests in the takeover, a Mirror<\/em> report points out<\/a>.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

The paper revealed today (February 22) that two Melrose executives had both donated tens of thousands of pounds to the Tory Party over the years. Executive vice chairman David Roper has donated \u00c2\u0141131,375 to the Tories over the last four years, while executive chairman Christopher Miller donated \u00c2\u014140,492 to the party in the last decade.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Unite general secretary Len McCluskey called on prime minister Theresa May to \u00e2\u20ac\u015bcome clean now.\u00e2\u20ac\u0165<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\u00e2\u20ac\u015bThere are clear national security interests at stake here,\u00e2\u20ac\u0165 he said.\u00c2\u00a0\u00e2\u20ac\u015bShould an acquisitions company which is driven to return a fast profit to its shareholders be entrusted with the safe upkeep of our defence? Indeed, can they be trusted with the future of at least 6000 workers, their pensions or communities.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\u00e2\u20ac\u015bIn light of the Mirror\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s report that Melrose bosses are also significant donors to the Tory party, it is also important that the prime minister stays true to her promise to act on the national interest on this takeover.\u00c2\u00a0 That means intervening to stop a great British manufacturer from falling into the wrong hands.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\u00e2\u20ac\u0098So prime minister, tell us the truth,\u00e2\u20ac\u0165 McCluskey demanded. \u00e2\u20ac\u015bWhere do your obligations lie? \u00c2\u00a0To a party propped up by a handful of super-rich donors, or to the honourable workers and businesses of this country?\u00e2\u20ac\u2122<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

An inquiry into turnaround specialist Melrose\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s predatory takeover of engineering firm GKN has finally been agreed following pressure from Unite.   The business, energy and industrial strategy committee will convene on March 6 to hear evidence from Melrose, GKN and Unite representatives.   Committee chair and Labour MP Rachel Reeves said the meeting will be […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":10287,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[1],"tags":[624,865,690],"wps_subtitle":"Gov\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t inquiry into GKN takeover agreed","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/unitelive.test.igniteamt.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/14653"}],"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=14653"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/unitelive.test.igniteamt.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/14653\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":26382,"href":"https:\/\/unitelive.test.igniteamt.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/14653\/revisions\/26382"}],"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=14653"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/unitelive.test.igniteamt.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=14653"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/unitelive.test.igniteamt.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=14653"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}