{"id":18200,"date":"2019-06-07T15:03:45","date_gmt":"2019-06-07T14:03:45","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/unitelive.org\/?p=18200"},"modified":"2020-11-12T12:56:26","modified_gmt":"2020-11-12T12:56:26","slug":"john-mcdonnell-british-manufacturing","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/unitelive.test.igniteamt.com\/?p=18200","title":{"rendered":"‘A new economy for all’"},"content":{"rendered":"
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A future Labour party in government will work with trade unions to revitalise Britain\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s manufacturing base, shadow chancellor John McDonnell said.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Speaking to Unite manufacturing reps at a discussion of the union\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s manufacturing political industrial strategy on Thursday (June 6), McDonnell noted that Labour\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s strategy for manufacturing is taken straight from Unite\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s own.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

He outlined Labour\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s programme for restructuring a stagnating UK economy with \u00c2\u0141250bn in public investment. Following the German model, Labour will set up a national investment bank alongside regional development banks which will also have an additional \u00c2\u0141250bn to invest in communities across the UK.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Addressing Tory criticism of Labour that the party plans to spend too much money in government, McDonnell explained how the party came up with \u00c2\u0141500bn.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\u00e2\u20ac\u015bThose figures came from the CBI [the Confederation\u00c2\u00a0of British Industry]. The argument that employers are putting forward is that this is the very minimum you need to actually bring our infrastructure up to a standard in which we can globally compete,\u00e2\u20ac\u0165 he said.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Turning to infrastructure, McDonnell said that it must encompass more than simply physical infrastructure like roads and railways \u00e2\u20ac\u201c a Labour government will invest in these put also technology, alternative energy sources, skills, research and development and more.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

The party will work with the private sector to \u00e2\u20ac\u015bprise open additional investment\u00e2\u20ac\u0165 for infrastructure, he explained, as is done, for example, with pension funds in Canada.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\u00e2\u20ac\u015bNone of this is rocket science,\u00e2\u20ac\u0165 he said. \u00e2\u20ac\u015bBut it\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s completely contrary to everything the government is doing at the moment. They don\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t believe in the role of the state, and they don\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t believe in the role of trade unions.\u00e2\u20ac\u0165<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

The shadow chancellor argued that only through support of UK manufacturing will a green revolution to tackle climate change be possible.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\u00e2\u20ac\u015bThe green industrial revolution is about making sure we tackle climate change but we do that by building a manufacturing base to provide us with the resources to do that,\u00e2\u20ac\u0165 he said. \u00e2\u20ac\u015bThis will give us the jobs which we need for long-term stability both economically and environmentally.\u00e2\u20ac\u0165<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Sharing the wealth<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n

Turning the UK\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s economy into a success story through investment, McDonnell went on to say, will be worthless if workers who create this wealth don\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t have a share in it.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

That\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s why corporate governance plays a central party in Labour\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s economic policies. This, McDonnell said, includes making workers on company boards mandatory; promoting co-operatives; but also going further through employee ownership models.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\u00e2\u20ac\u015bWe\u00e2\u20ac\u2122re not talking about individual shares going to individual workers \u00e2\u20ac\u201c we\u00e2\u20ac\u2122re talking about collective ownership,\u00e2\u20ac\u0165 he said, adding that Labour is investigating a mandatory scheme where workers would collectively own and manage one percent each year of their company\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s shares.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Above all, McDonnell said that Labour\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s plans to create wealth and ensure it\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s shared fairly \u00e2\u20ac\u015bwon\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t work unless there\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s a restoration of trade union rights\u00e2\u20ac\u0165.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\u00e2\u20ac\u015bWe\u00e2\u20ac\u2122ve got to make sure that literally in the first Queen\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s Speech, we fundamentally change the way in which trade unions are treated in our society,\u00e2\u20ac\u0165 he said, to resounding applause from Unite\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s reps.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

The shadow chancellor pledged \u00e2\u20ac\u015btrade union rights from day one, full stop\u00e2\u20ac\u0165 and \u00e2\u20ac\u015baccess to workplaces immediately so that we can organise\u00e2\u20ac\u0165.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

He called for the \u00e2\u20ac\u015brestoration of sectoral collective bargaining\u00e2\u20ac\u0165 as he highlighted that 25 years ago, 80 per cent of workers had their wages determined by collective bargaining, down to 20 per cent now.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\u00e2\u20ac\u015bThe decline of collective bargaining has created the decline in wages in many of the sectors we\u00e2\u20ac\u2122ve got,\u00e2\u20ac\u0165 he noted.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

To ensure the restoration of collective bargaining, Labour would set up a separate department of employment whose duties would include overseeing sectoral bargaining, enforcing trade union rights and enforcing a real living wage of at least \u00c2\u014110 an hour.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\u00e2\u20ac\u015bNone of this is revolutionary,\u00e2\u20ac\u0165 McDonnell said. \u00e2\u20ac\u015bWhat we\u00e2\u20ac\u2122re doing is simply putting right what the Tories have done over the last generation, and that which is actually operational in most modern societies that we work with in the global competitive market.\u00e2\u20ac\u0165<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Unite reps pressed McDonnell on a number of issues from public procurement of steel to Brexit and more in a question and answer session following his speech.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Concluding the event, Unite assistant general secretary Steve Turner hailed the discussion between McDonnell and Unite\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s manufacturing reps.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\u00e2\u20ac\u015bJohn McDonnell\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s dialogue with our manufacturing reps on Thursday was absolutely fantastic \u00e2\u20ac\u201c he outlined how a Labour government will work together with trade unions to create a new economy, one that works for all,\u00e2\u20ac\u0165 he said.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\u00e2\u20ac\u015bOur manufacturing reps were thrilled to see a politician like John who is so eager to form a genuine partnership with unions and workers who truly understand what our industries need to thrive in the long-term. We look forward to continuing dialogue with McDonnell and the Labour Party to further develop our union\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s manufacturing political industrial strategy.\u00e2\u20ac\u0165<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

A future Labour party in government will work with trade unions to revitalise Britain\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s manufacturing base, shadow chancellor John McDonnell said.   Speaking to Unite manufacturing reps at a discussion of the union\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s manufacturing political industrial strategy on Thursday (June 6), McDonnell noted that Labour\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s strategy for manufacturing is taken straight from Unite\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s own.   […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":18198,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[17],"tags":[],"wps_subtitle":"Shadow chancellor John McDonnell pledges to revitalise British manufacturing","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/unitelive.test.igniteamt.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/18200"}],"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=18200"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/unitelive.test.igniteamt.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/18200\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":25225,"href":"https:\/\/unitelive.test.igniteamt.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/18200\/revisions\/25225"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/unitelive.test.igniteamt.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/18198"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/unitelive.test.igniteamt.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=18200"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/unitelive.test.igniteamt.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=18200"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/unitelive.test.igniteamt.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=18200"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}