Committee Says Government Must Deliver for Car Industry - Unite Agrees

LONDON -

Commenting on the report out today (Friday) from the influential Select Committee on Business and Enterprise, which calls for government to stop dragging its heels on support for the car industry, Tony Woodley, Unite joint general secretary, said:

“This report hits the nail on the head. More than seven months on from the establishment of the Automotive Assistance Programme, we are yet to see a penny paid out to car and components companies.

“The Committee says it is astounded that it is taking so long to help to companies to save jobs and skills. Sadly, we’ve gone past being astounded and are beginning to get very angry that good people are losing their jobs while government departments shuffle paper.

“These jobs won’t come back. People are being thrown on the dole, and with every job gone our future as a manufacturing nation takes another serious hit.

“The message from this report is clear: get moving government on providing speedy, strategic support or we will lose our manufacturing crown for good.”

Amid the deepening uncertainty about the future of the industry in the UK, Unite has been pressing for a short-time working subsidy to ensure jobs are retained in the sectors through the downturn. It has also been pushing for the government to deliver much faster on the Automotive Assistance Programme (AAP). Yesterday, Jaguar announced 300 jobs would go at its Halewood plant; JLR is still awaiting the AAP money it applied for some months ago.

As the Select Committee report makes clear, the integrated nature of the industry means that companies are not hit in isolation. When jobs are lost at one plant, there is fallout across the industry. Recently, the LDV van plant has gone into administration with the loss of nearly 900 jobs directly and hundreds more in the supply chain. Equally, strategic support for key companies would immediately protect jobs across the sector.

Unite is the leading union in the car and components industry.

Source: Unite the Union

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