Commenting on the decision of the UK government to withdraw from
sanctions against Boeing, Unite's assistant general secretary for
manufacturing, Steve Turner, said:
"Today’s announcement that the UK government is unilaterally
withdrawing from EU wide sanctions on the US giant Boeing in a
long drawn out dispute with Airbus will send shockwaves through
the UK’s manufacturing communities and will affect workers well
beyond the aerospace sector.
"It is a disgraceful act of harm and one which could derail
efforts to get any sort of post-Brexit trade agreement with the
EU.
“Furthermore, it appears to have been done without any reciprocal
move from the United States on punitive tariffs placed on UK
products such as Scottish whisky. This is absolutely not a move
in the interests of the nation nor its workers.
"It comes in a week of blows for UK manufacturing. Our ports are
congested and warehousing full as fears over future trade lead to
stockpiling. Honda and Toyota are trying to avert supply chain
chaos destabilising their business and Jim Ratcliffe has opted to
build his Defender not in Wales, as promised with the creation of
hundreds of jobs, but in France which has access to the single
market.
"As the prime minister heads to Brussels, he must send a signal
to the millions of workers, families and communities who depend
on manufacturing in this country for a job and an income that he
has their backs, and not that he has, in effect, turned his back
on them as that is very much how it looks from where we stand."
