{"id":22499,"date":"2020-07-02T15:54:57","date_gmt":"2020-07-02T14:54:57","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/unitelive.org\/?p=22499"},"modified":"2020-07-02T15:54:58","modified_gmt":"2020-07-02T14:54:58","slug":"was-that-it","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/unitelive.test.igniteamt.com\/?p=22499","title":{"rendered":"\u00e2\u20ac\u0098Was that it\u00e2\u20ac\u2122?"},"content":{"rendered":"
<\/div>\n

Our \u00e2\u20ac\u0098Build Back Better\u00e2\u20ac\u2122 club acquired an application from a new aspiring member this week: welcome, Prime Minister.\u00c2\u00a0I hope that you will take some time to familiarise yourself with the rules of the club but, as your\u00c2\u00a0Dudley speech<\/a>\u00c2\u00a0seems to suggest, you may only have a passing understanding of what we\u00e2\u20ac\u2122re trying to achieve.<\/p>\n

After much fanfare and acres of newsprint devoted to trailing the UK\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s much-vaunted 2020 version of Franklin D. Roosevelt\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s New Deal, many will be thinking \u00e2\u20ac\u201c \u00e2\u20ac\u015bwas that it?\u00e2\u20ac\u0165<\/p>\n

An extra \u00c2\u014175 per person to fix some bridges, which we knew about already, amid a soup of words and, of course, no actual new money. No detail and no commitment to making the buses, heat pumps, glass, turbines or the electric vehicles we desperately need here in the UK. You can understand why some in the club may not be ready to bring the Prime Minister into the fold just yet.<\/p>\n

I heard a better understanding of what this country needs to build a new economy from a Conservative supporter the other day. The Tyneside businessman was on the radio asking why his local train station, which he felt was well cared for and working decently, was a candidate for infrastructure investment. He would much prefer to see the government invest in and expand our manufacturing base. He couldn\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t fathom the government\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s aversion to manufacturing investment \u00e2\u20ac\u201c neither can I, and nor can the manufacturing industry bodies I speak to every day.<\/p>\n

PM: \u00e2\u20ac\u0098Furlough can\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t go on forever\u00e2\u20ac\u2122<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n

The most telling line in the Prime Minister\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s speech was when he said that we \u00e2\u20ac\u015bknow in our hearts that furloughing cannot go on forever\u00e2\u20ac\u0165. We understand that it\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s not possible for the taxpayer to stand behind 11m private sector jobs indefinitely, and nobody is asking for that.<\/p>\n

But what we do need is an extension of furlough to save thousands of jobs right now. What the trade unions have been looking for is a strategic approach that would see sector support packages take over, bringing people back to work in a phased way \u00e2\u20ac\u201c such as by short-time working, or for retraining as furlough tapers off. So far, all we have got with certainty is that the job retention scheme\u00c2\u00a0will<\/em>\u00c2\u00a0taper off \u00e2\u20ac\u201c the first part of the equation is evidently missing.<\/p>\n

This lopsided management of economic recovery does not find favour among our competitors. In France, Germany and Spain, central governments are extending furlough schemes \u00e2\u20ac\u201c some by two years. They see this move as central to buying the space to repair the pandemic damage while averting crippling unemployment.<\/p>\n

The derisive term \u00e2\u20ac\u0098zombie jobs\u00e2\u20ac\u2122 has been bandied about, but in Germany and France wage support comes alongside demands on core industries to accelerate retraining and diversification, as well as to commit to green enterprises and in-country investment and jobs. Nothing lopsided about this approach to building back better.<\/p>\n

Germany\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s\u00c2\u00a0Kurzarbeitergeld (STW)\u00c2\u00a0programme is of a piece with their enviable approach to manufacturing. It is never the mistreated\u00c2\u00a0Cinderella of their economy.\u00c2\u00a0In Germany, manufacturing is the belle of the ball, with employers, unions and the top levels of government proud to get round the table to work on how they stay world-leaders, with this enthusiasm running through every aspect of economic life from the education system to the regional investment bank structure, which is so proud to stand behind German business.<\/p>\n

State wage support in\u00c2\u00a0Germany and France\u00c2\u00a0also\u00c2\u00a0comes with the demand that there are no job losses during the two years of furlough. Germany\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s\u00c2\u00a0scheme cannot\u00c2\u00a0be used\u00c2\u00a0during notice periods, as British Airways and others are doing, so disgracefully. If they want to dismiss workers, they have to put them on notice, paid and back at work.<\/p>\n

Alarm <\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n

There was another line from the Prime Minister\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s speech that alarmed me \u00e2\u20ac\u201c the one where he reassured the City that it would not lose out with his approach to \u00e2\u20ac\u015blevelling up\u00e2\u20ac\u0165. The City will never be a fan of the commitment that must come with building and investing, preferring the easy lure of the service sector and quick returns for the boardroom.<\/p>\n

Such short-termism has plagued British industrial development for the past half a century. It belongs in the pre-pandemic era; it has no place in a country where the\u00c2\u00a0majority of people want economic reform<\/a>\u00c2\u00a0and say that there should be no back to business as usual.<\/p>\n

Across Germany, France and Spain, working people \u00e2\u20ac\u201c like working people in this country \u00e2\u20ac\u201c are fearful for what will soon be upon us as our economies emerge from their deep sleeps and face contact with reality. The difference in the experience of our manufacturing friends and comrades over on the continent, is that they will have a measure of wage security \u00e2\u20ac\u201c they will have work to do, necessary work rebuilding prosperity.<\/p>\n

The question I want to ask the Prime Minister is why is it that a worker in Cologne knows that they will be able to feed their family and keep a roof over their heads through the tough times ahead, while a worker doing the same job in Cowley or Coventry has no such security?<\/p>\n

Workers in the \u00e2\u20ac\u0098Red\/Blue Wall\u00e2\u20ac\u2122 seats will be asking the same question. The promise of some far-off infrastructure project \u00e2\u20ac\u201c probably at the other end of the country \u00e2\u20ac\u201c has little appeal for skilled workers who want to know why their jobs are moving overseas.<\/p>\n

With more skilled and decent UK jobs disappearing this week at Airbus while the government sits on the sidelines, doing nothing, it strikes me that there is no \u00e2\u20ac\u0098New Deal\u00e2\u20ac\u2122 \u00e2\u20ac\u201c just the same old Conservative deal. The more I watch this government at close quarters, professing to listen but taking no action, the more I fear that this is just the industrial sabotage of the 1980s but with better PR.<\/p>\n

The slender hope that I take from the Prime Minister\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s speech, though, is that he might be just the warm-up act. Perhaps the real show is next week when the Chancellor sets out his plans for economic revival with targeted support to recover our strategically vital industries and with the determined, joined-up programme to deliver on our climate change commitments.<\/p>\n

Until then, the Build Back Better club will keep the Prime Minister\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s membership application well and truly under review.<\/p>\n

By Steve Turner, Unite assistant general secretary \u00c2\u00a0@SteveT_Unite <\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n

\u00c2\u00a0<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n

This comment first appeared on LabourList<\/a> <\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Our \u00e2\u20ac\u0098Build Back Better\u00e2\u20ac\u2122 club acquired an application from a new aspiring member this week: welcome, Prime Minister.\u00c2\u00a0I hope that you will take some time to familiarise yourself with the rules of the club but, as your\u00c2\u00a0Dudley speech\u00c2\u00a0seems to suggest, you may only have a passing understanding of what we\u00e2\u20ac\u2122re trying to achieve.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":19510,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[22,1308],"tags":[1205,1357,55,603],"wps_subtitle":"New Deal? What New Deal? Unite AGS Steve Turner remains firmly unimpressed by PM\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s big speech","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/unitelive.test.igniteamt.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/22499"}],"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=22499"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/unitelive.test.igniteamt.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/22499\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":22501,"href":"https:\/\/unitelive.test.igniteamt.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/22499\/revisions\/22501"}],"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=22499"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/unitelive.test.igniteamt.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=22499"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/unitelive.test.igniteamt.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=22499"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}