{"id":16283,"date":"2018-09-24T12:23:11","date_gmt":"2018-09-24T11:23:11","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/unitelive.org\/?p=16283"},"modified":"2020-11-12T12:58:13","modified_gmt":"2020-11-12T12:58:13","slug":"tony-burke-automotive-labour-conference","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/unitelive.test.igniteamt.com\/?p=16283","title":{"rendered":"‘Jewel in the crown’"},"content":{"rendered":"
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Moving an emergency motion on the crisis in the automotive industry at Labour Party conference today (September 24), Unite assistant general secretary Tony Burke explained how the industry became the \u00e2\u20ac\u015bjewel in the crown\u00e2\u20ac\u0165 of UK manufacturing.<\/p>\n

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He said that it was no accident \u00e2\u20ac\u201c rather, it was \u00e2\u20ac\u015bthe result of years of hard slog, as our members helped pull the industry out of the long bleak period of decline.<\/p>\n

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\u00e2\u20ac\u015bAll that work \u00e2\u20ac\u201c all that progress — is now at risk by a perfect storm of the government\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s making,\u00e2\u20ac\u0165 Burke warned.<\/p>\n

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He added that there are two \u00e2\u20ac\u015bbig tests which will define our automotive industry for years to come.\u00e2\u20ac\u0165<\/p>\n

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One was Brexit and the other was ensuring a just transition to electrification. In both tests, Burke said, the government is failing badly.<\/p>\n

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\u00e2\u20ac\u015bThe UK\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s largest car maker, Jaguar Land Rover, has just put 2,000 workers onto a three-day week,\u00e2\u20ac\u0165 he highlighted. \u00e2\u20ac\u015bForty-eight hours later BMW announced an early annual shutdown at the Mini factory in Cowley for April to avoid the catastrophic effects of a \u00e2\u20ac\u0098hard Brexit\u00e2\u20ac\u2122 for maintenance and re-tooling for the electric Mini.<\/p>\n

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\u00e2\u20ac\u015bHonda said they would commit to staying in the UK but a hard Brexit would add on-costs running to tens of millions of pounds in tariffs and because closing Swindon was too costly,\u00e2\u20ac\u0165 Burke added. \u00e2\u20ac\u015bBehind the scenes we hear similar concerns from car makers and the supply chain.\u00e2\u20ac\u0165<\/p>\n

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The Unite assistant general secretary laid the blame for these developments squarely on the shoulders of the government\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s \u00e2\u20ac\u015bchaotic bungling of Brexit negotiations.\u00e2\u20ac\u0165<\/p>\n

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As their failure reaches its most dangerous stage — raising the prospect of a \u00e2\u20ac\u0098No Deal Brexit\u00e2\u20ac\u2122 \u00e2\u20ac\u201c Burke highlighted Dominic Rabb\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s \u00e2\u20ac\u0098no deal\u00e2\u20ac\u2122 technical papers, as well as the fantasy \u00e2\u20ac\u0098hard Brexit’ plans of Tory Brexiteers Jacob Rees-Mogg and David Davis.<\/p>\n

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\u00e2\u20ac\u015bWe\u00e2\u20ac\u2122ve seen the humiliation of a Prime Minister in denial,\u00e2\u20ac\u0165 he added. \u00e2\u20ac\u015bLike aftershocks, with every fantasy, with every blunder comes a real and lasting industrial impact. The whole of the UK automotive industry is clear — a \u00e2\u20ac\u0098no deal\u00e2\u20ac\u2122 Brexit is simply unacceptable.\u00e2\u20ac\u0165<\/p>\n

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Burke slammed the government whose response to the automotive industry\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s Brexit warnings and concerns is a prime minister \u00e2\u20ac\u015bunconvincingly parroting, \u00e2\u20ac\u0098We will get a good deal.’\u00e2\u20ac\u0165<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\u00e2\u20ac\u015bThe hard-right Brexiteer Bernard Jenkin MP tells us that Jaguar Land Rand Rover \u00e2\u20ac\u0098is just making it all up!\u00e2\u20ac\u2122\u00e2\u20ac\u0165 he added.<\/p>\n

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\u00e2\u20ac\u015bTell that to over 1000 lorry drivers who bring components to and from UK and the EU each day,\u00e2\u20ac\u0165 Burke said. \u00e2\u20ac\u015bTell that to the 10,000 JLR workers on the production tracks. Tell that to the thousands of workers in the supply chain including our steelworkers who rely on these contracts.\u00e2\u20ac\u0165<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

He criticised Tories Bernard Jenkin, Jacob Rees-Mogg, David Davis and others for their complete lack of knowledge of manufacturing which, he said, \u00e2\u20ac\u015bprobably only extends to watching the nanny assemble an IKEA flat pack.\u00e2\u20ac\u0165<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Turning to the coming transition to electric vehicles, he slammed the government\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s \u00e2\u20ac\u015bbungled approach\u00e2\u20ac\u0165 which he called \u00e2\u20ac\u015ba disaster with unilateral announcements on CO2 emissions made with no consultation with the industry or with our members.”<\/p>\n

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He told conference that the task now falls to the Labour Party to bring certainty and a vision for the industry\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s future.<\/p>\n

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\u00e2\u20ac\u015bLabour must step up the pressure on government to develop a just transition strategy for the move to electrification,\u00e2\u20ac\u0165 Burke noted. \u00e2\u20ac\u015bThis must be a strategy, which develops our skills base — one which uses the government\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s spending power to see new fleets of electric vehicles across public transport.<\/p>\n

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\u00e2\u20ac\u015bThis must be a strategy which creates new jobs through investment in the industries infrastructure,\u00e2\u20ac\u0165 he added.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\u00e2\u20ac\u015bAnd if this rotting carcass of a government is too distracted to deliver such a strategy,\u00e2\u20ac\u0165 Burke concluded his speech to applause, \u00e2\u20ac\u015bthen we say \u00e2\u20ac\u0098get out of the way\u00e2\u20ac\u2122 and lets have a Labour government which can.\u00e2\u20ac\u0165<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Moving an emergency motion on the crisis in the automotive industry at Labour Party conference today (September 24), Unite assistant general secretary Tony Burke explained how the industry became the \u00e2\u20ac\u015bjewel in the crown\u00e2\u20ac\u0165 of UK manufacturing.   He said that it was no accident \u00e2\u20ac\u201c rather, it was \u00e2\u20ac\u015bthe result of years of hard […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":16284,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[1],"tags":[230,1021,872,1020],"wps_subtitle":"Unite AGS Tony Burke speaks in support of car industry in crisis","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/unitelive.test.igniteamt.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/16283"}],"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=16283"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/unitelive.test.igniteamt.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/16283\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":25859,"href":"https:\/\/unitelive.test.igniteamt.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/16283\/revisions\/25859"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/unitelive.test.igniteamt.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/16284"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/unitelive.test.igniteamt.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=16283"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/unitelive.test.igniteamt.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=16283"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/unitelive.test.igniteamt.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=16283"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}