{"id":21331,"date":"2020-05-07T13:46:07","date_gmt":"2020-05-07T12:46:07","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/unitelive.org\/?p=21331"},"modified":"2020-05-07T15:30:21","modified_gmt":"2020-05-07T14:30:21","slug":"at-a-fork-in-the-road","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/unitelive.test.igniteamt.com\/?p=21331","title":{"rendered":"\u00e2\u20ac\u0098At a fork in the road\u00e2\u20ac\u2122"},"content":{"rendered":"
<\/div>\n

Responding to a manufacturers\u00e2\u20ac\u2122 body report out today (May 7) on how long businesses would need to recover from the lockdown, Unite has warned that the nation stands at \u00e2\u20ac\u0098a fork in the road\u00e2\u20ac\u2122 and the path the government chooses will determine how the UK emerges from the coronavirus crisis.<\/p>\n

Manufacturers\u00e2\u20ac\u2122 organisation, Make UK, reports previous levels of output can only return following the reopening of sectors such as automotive and retail \u00e2\u20ac\u201c and with the resumption of spending patterns.<\/p>\n

Two out of five manufacturers believe it will take between six to 12 months to return to normal trading conditions after the Covid-19 crisis ends, the new research suggests.<\/p>\n

Nearly 300 companies were surveyed with 20 per cent saying that they believed it would take over a year for them to recover.<\/p>\n

Make UK has put forward plans for recovery, including a scheme to help firms invest in new technology, access to protective equipment for workers and a review of health and safety regulations.<\/p>\n

It also warned that ending the government\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s job retention scheme (JRS) could well be devastating for jobs in manufacturing companies.<\/p>\n

Make UK CEO Stephen Phipson said, \u00e2\u20ac\u015bIt is likely that an immediate end to the JRS for manufacturers, timed simply to coincide with the easing of lockdown arrangements, would be highly premature and could have devastating effects on employment levels within manufacturing.<\/p>\n

\u00e2\u20ac\u015bA more sophisticated, flexible and tapered approach to this funding would have a huge positive impact on confidence and help ensure that the sizeable national investment already made in the JRS was maximised and not wasted.\u00e2\u20ac\u0165<\/p>\n

And Unite is in total agreement. \u00e2\u20ac\u015bThese findings chime with what Unite is hearing from manufacturers,\u00e2\u20ac\u0165 commented Steve Turner, Unite assistant general secretary for manufacturing (pictured above).<\/p>\n

\u00e2\u20ac\u015bWe are at a fork in the road and the path that the government chooses in the coming days really will determine the shape in which this country emerges from this crisis.\u00e2\u20ac\u0165<\/p>\n

Turner said Unite was pressing\u00c2\u00a0government\u00c2\u00a0to invest with industry in our engineering excellence.<\/p>\n

\u00e2\u20ac\u0098Don\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t miss this moment\u00e2\u20ac\u2122 <\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n

He continued, \u00e2\u20ac\u015bThere is an opportunity before us\u00c2\u00a0to reshape our economy to meet future challenges such as climate change, and to create decent, skilled and secure work for people.\u00c2\u00a0 We urge government not to miss this moment.\u00e2\u20ac\u0165<\/p>\n

Turner believes it\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s also vital that fears over the on-going availability of the job retention scheme are squashed quickly and talk instead turns to flexible measures needed to\u00c2\u00a0enable a phased return to safe work.<\/p>\n

\u00e2\u20ac\u015bWithout these measures,\u00e2\u20ac\u0165 he said, \u00e2\u20ac\u015bemployers will start to cut costs\u00c2\u00a0to meet shrinking demand and consumer uncertainty.\u00c2\u00a0 Thousands upon thousands\u00c2\u00a0of skilled jobs are at risk.<\/p>\n

\u00e2\u20ac\u015bThe devastation this will reap in communities and to the\u00c2\u00a0economy as we plunge into a deep recession is unthinkable and could be felt for generations,\u00e2\u20ac\u0165 he warned.<\/p>\n

By Amanda Campbell @amanda_unite\u00c2\u00a0<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Responding to a manufacturers\u00e2\u20ac\u2122 body report out today (May 7) on how long businesses would need to recover from the lockdown, Unite has warned that the nation stands at \u00e2\u20ac\u0098a fork in the road\u00e2\u20ac\u2122 and the path the government chooses will determine how the UK emerges from the coronavirus crisis.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":19510,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[1308,17],"tags":[1295,196,55,44],"wps_subtitle":"Unite: Govt\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s wrong choice could devastate economy","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/unitelive.test.igniteamt.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/21331"}],"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=21331"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/unitelive.test.igniteamt.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/21331\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":21333,"href":"https:\/\/unitelive.test.igniteamt.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/21331\/revisions\/21333"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/unitelive.test.igniteamt.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/19510"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/unitelive.test.igniteamt.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=21331"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/unitelive.test.igniteamt.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=21331"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/unitelive.test.igniteamt.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=21331"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}