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The Rt. Hon. Patricia HewittT&G Manufacturing Conference |
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Thank you to Peter for that introduction. I'm delighted to be here at the T&G's biennial manufacturing conference. The T&G are key partners of this Government. And the Labour Party. Since Ernie Bevin formed the T&G in 1921 to Tony Blair today – with all the political, economic and social change that's taken place in between - our partnership remains as strong as ever. Based on our values of social justice and equality. And our fight for fairness in the workplace. And, with the new manufacturing strategy, we now have the basis for our relationship to become even more robust and durable. The manufacturing strategy (the first by any Government in 30 years) represented an unprecedented and key strategic partnership for British industry – supported by industry and unions alike. Bill Morris, along with many other trade unionists and industrialists, played a leading role in helping us prepare this strategy. Today I want to talk about the manufacturing strategy and where we're up to – five months on. I also want to talk about two particular aspects of this strategy I know are important to you.
The manufacturing strategy The reason we produced the manufacturing strategy is because, despite what some have said, manufacturing is crucial to this Government. Central to our vision of a high wage, high value, high skilled economy. Manufacturing
And we have some of the best manufacturers in the world here in Britain. As I saw at the motorshow the other week, British workers – many of them T&G – are building great new cars like the Land Rover Discovery, Peugeot 205, the X type Jag. The T&G's partnership with management down in Cowley is producing new Minis at an extraordinary rate. I can personally vouch for their quality, having had the pleasure of driving one. As a result of this expertise, we're now exporting over a million cars a year – a fivefold increase since 1986. And there are 9 major car manufacturers in the UK – more than any other EU country. We're also leading in many other sectors. Engineering. Chemicals. Technical Textiles. But I don't need to tell you that it's not all good news and successes. There's a global downturn and manufacturing sectors are feeling the pain more than most. The same is true in all the major economies of the world – with manufacturing output down. The old Eastern block in particular is flexing its muscles. As T&G members have seen – with 400 jobs going from Federal Mogul's Bridgwater factory to Poland and Turkey; and, just a couple of weeks ago, Leoni Wiring in Staffordshire giving notice they intend to shift operations to Romania and Egypt. Job losses are terrible - for people, families and communities. They are more than just statistics. It's real people, real jobs, with real companies closing real factories. But we can't hide away from the realities of living in a global economy. It's not an option for Government, businesses or unions to fall into protectionist mode – an easy temptation when times get tough - but one that only just delays the inevitable. Our protection will come not through legislation. Not through pulling up the drawbridge. Not through putting our heads in the sand. Our protection will come from having the smartest and best manufacturing companies in the world. And to achieve this, we must close the productivity gap. When I talk about productivity, I mean economic productivity. Being smart about the way we work – continually innovating and investing. Productivity is the key to winning investment decisions- whether those decisions are made in boardrooms in London, Luxembourg or Los Angeles. And the stark fact remains
As I said in the manufacturing strategy, if we raised economic productivity in manufacturing to the levels of our competitors, this would increase our value added by an incredible £70 billion. This is equivalent to about 12p on income tax. And is more than we spend on the NHS every year. Raising productivity is in all our interests. It's about doing things smarter. Innovation in products and processes – many of which come from the shopfloor. I don't mean cost cutting. Working harder for less. Time and motion studies. We will never compete on low wages, nor should we seek to. In fact, the higher our productivity, the higher your wages; the better your conditions; the safer your jobs from competition. For Government, the higher our productivity, the greater our tax revenues to invest in our public services; the lower our bill on dole; the stronger our economy and society. The manufacturing strategy identified seven key ways to raise productivity - seven areas where government, industry and unions must act in partnership.
And it's also about two other things – making sure we invest enough – and making sure we get the best out of our management potential. Investment Taking investment first, as far as Government is concerned, we're now turning around decades of under-investment in our national infrastructure - with our huge investments in public services; our investment in broadband; our £180 billion over 10 years into transport. But manufacturing has also suffered from a lack of investment. Something which is all too often unfortunately plain to see. Our levels of manufacturing investment have scarcely grown since the end of the 1960s – we have a huge gap with France and Germany. Much of this has probably been down to our long legacy of boom and bust - which we've turned around, but we also need to make sure that Government works in other areas to help encourage investment – which is where support like Regional Selective Assistance prove so crucial. For every £1 invested in RSA, we get £6 back. In 2000/01, £408 million offers of RSA were made in Britain. This supported the investment of £3.4 billion into British industry – helping create 40,000 new jobs and safeguarding another 20,000. Manufacturing industry wins more than 90% of all RSA offers. We've established the Regional Venture Capital Trusts - providing up to £235 million of extra finance for SMEs. We've put £15 million into the Manufacturing Advisory Service. We are putting £2 billion into the hands of the social partners through the RDAs. So we've put up the money – but we don't have a magic wand. The unions can play a valuable role in transmitting the ideas from the shopfloor that can be so powerful in boosting productivity. Unions have a crucial role to play in helping RDAs come up with solutions. Many union reps are now sitting on RDA Boards. Barry Camfield, the T &G's Assistant General Secretary, is on the South East of England Development Agency. We made sure unions were on the RDAs – to represent the interests of your members. And we've given the RDAs teeth to make a difference. Now is the time for you to use this opportunity and work in partnership to smarten your businesses up and protect your jobs. Management The second point I want to cover is management. We have some of the best managers in the world in Britain. Managers who recognise the value of a diverse pool of talent. Managers who encourage their workers to reach their full potential when they are at work. A good manager is one who recognises the value of having a diverse labour market. There is not equality of opportunity in the workplace. Ethnic minorities, older people and women are still being held back. The T&G has always staunchly backed equality of opportunity – and is one of the few trade unions where the leadership reflects this. But you know, as I know, there are still some manufacturers who don't. And who don't see the business benefits in doing so. I was recently talking to a major clothing retailer who is approached every week by hundreds of British manufacturers wanting work. He met one of these manufacturers and explained that what he really needs is very fast turn-around of short runs. The manufacturer explained his standard delivery times were x number of weeks and he couldn't go faster than this. The retailer asked whether he couldn't put on extra shifts to cope with peak demand, and asked how many part-time workers he had. The manufacturer said he thought that, out of about 400 workers, only about 4 were part-time. Couldn't he employ more, asked the retailer. 'If I started doing that,' said the manufacturer, 'everyone would want to do it!' So there was a manufacturer not meeting the needs of a customer - and not meeting the needs of his employees either. We've done a lot to promote flexible working – and to help working mums. We've increased parental leave rights massively, and have lifted statutory maternity pay by 60% - from £62 to £100. The biggest increase since maternity pay was first introduced back in 1948. And, from next April, employers will have to seriously consider any requests from mums and dads of children under 6 years, or disabled children under 18, to work flexibly. This is not just good for the mums and dads. It's also pretty good for the T&G's membership stats – you already represent around 1,500 childcare workers. Another important way of getting the right people into the right jobs is tackling the long hours culture – which has too often acted as a mask for poor productivity. We've implemented the working time regulations – which has just been extended to cover certain transport workers. In a few more years, truck drivers bus drivers and taxi drivers will be covered. The T&G have already made a good few claims for their members under the working time regulations. Including recently winning compensation for three fish processing workers who refused to work a 69 hours week. High performance workplaces Good managers don't only need to tap into all parts of the labour market. They need to make sure that when they are at work, they allow them to fully reach their potential/their aspirations. Skilling, training, informing and consulting. Some managers are still removed from what goes on at shop-floor level. It's not quite as bad as the old tales of one toilet for the managers and one for the workforce, but the last WERS survey showed a startling fact - 70% of managers felt they were consulting their workforce. But only 30% of employees thought they were being consulted. The key is partnership. As Bill Morris has said "Employers who establish strong partnerships… see the benefits in terms of better productivity, lower staff turnover and so improved company performance". We're looking to promote trust, commitment and partnership at work. Trade unions play a valuable role in this. Particularly in supporting work-based learning. This is why we have supported Union Learning Reps. We also introduced the right to union recognition where the majority of the workforce want it; the right for workers to be accompanied at disciplinary or grievance hearings. We also introduced the 8 week rule on strike action. I know of the trouble at Friction Dynamics. The workers there have my every sympathy. Some T&G members have called for the 8 week rule to be extended. And we are consulting on this as part of our review of the Employment Relations Act. And we've put £14 million into the Partnership Fund. I know the T&G have jumped at these awards. The T&G were involved in 7 of the 49 projects which won awards in the last call. Lawson Mardon Star is just one company who won an award, with the T&G. They've used it to develop workforce skills – and have since won massive investment and a vote of confidence in their future. Clare Kelly, their Training and Development Manager, said "After years of uncertainty, we can now look forward to a period of growth and stability". We also signed up to the Information and Consultation Directive. This was an important step forward. It was unacceptable when the Vauxhall workers in Luton found out they were losing their jobs over the radio. We don't want this to happen ever again in this country. We are currently finding out more about current employee dialogue – what is working well and why – and will be consulting at a later stage on detailed implementation. Alan Johnson – my Minister for manufacturing – is speaking to another T&G conference on December the 17th, and he may be able to say more about this then. I know the T&G will want to contribute to this debate – we value your input. To summarise, the manufacturing strategy represents an unprecedented and historic partnership in British industry. As the new Clause 4 says "by the strength of our common endeavour we achieve more than we achieve alone". The challenge is to raise productivity. This will protect our jobs – increase your wages and conditions – and put us in the best position to pitch for, and win, in world markets. I look forward to continuing to work with you all on this challenging and exciting agenda. |
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Other speeches by The Rt. Hon. Patricia Hewitt
(the following are available from the archive) |
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