Responding to the news that Rolls Royce is looking to cut 'up to
8,000' UK jobs, the country's leading manufacturing union, Unite,
called for the company to 'hold firm' and avoid short-term action
which could hamper its emergence from the COVID-19 crisis.
The union is urging Rolls Royce and other manufacturing companies
to avoid 'knee-jerk' reactions and instead work with Unite and
the government to develop the industrial strategy that will
develop and deliver the jobs of tomorrow.
Steve Turner, Unite assistant general secretary for
manufacturing, said: "We say to Rolls Royce today, step back from
drastic, short-term responses and work with us to shape a
positive future for a world class business, our highly skilled
workforce and our communities. Help us to deliver a government
led industrial strategy to build our way out of this crisis and
meet the challenges of the future.
“These are unprecedented times. We understand the challenges to
our industries from COVID-19 and the impact of government
measures to protect public health on both the immediate and
longer-term outlook for manufacturing as well as the wider
economy.
"However, at a time when we are working hard to protect jobs and
businesses through this pandemic with pay protection, government
loans and other industry specific packages backed by the Bank of
England, right now we are asking Rolls-Royce, along with others
across manufacturing, to hold firm and defer from short-term
reactions that will both damage the economy and undermine our
ability to emerge from this with job security and consumer
confidence intact.
"Our economy is changing and our manufacturing sector has to be
in a fit shape to rise to these challenges. The demands of
climate change and major public infrastructure projects will
require engineering solutions and UK manufacturers stepping up
and diversifying production to meet national demands.
“Our great manufacturing sector can and must be put to work
developing and manufacturing for a cleaner, greener future; the
heat pumps, domestic and commercial energy storage packs, carbon
capture technologies, hydrogen and other green energy generation,
including ramping up work on the world class small modular
nuclear reactor developed by Rolls-Royce.
“We have an opportunity to showcase the best of British
manufacturing that requires exactly the sort of research and
development, design and engineering expertise possessed by the
workforce at Rolls-Royce.
"Now is not the time to hang up our gloves and take our eye off
the ball but to get into the fight, invest our way out of a very
damaging looming recession from which millions of workers will
also suffer. We need to rebuild our manufacturing base, bring
home our supply chains, localise production and end our reliance
on imports of technology and engineered goods.
"We can do this, COVID-19 has exposed dangerous weaknesses in the
resilience of UK manufacturing from PPE to ventilators,
automotive components to the goods necessary to meet the climate
emergency. Now is the time for action and to support, an
industrial strategy to put Britain back to work, to put our
engineering excellence and manufacturing capabilities centre
stage, manufacturing it here at home."
