Steel could cost election
POLITICIANS on both sides of the party divide have called on government to rethink its labour policy to protect steelworkers.
Yesterday, former Labour minister Denis MacShane accused Gordon Brown of sacrificing Corus jobs to protect ‘greed soaked’ city bankers during a parliamentary debate on the future of the steel industry. And he warned that failure to intervene could cost his party the next election. “If Labour loses steel, Labour loses power - it’s as simple as that,” he said.
Describing steel as the “canary in the coal mine of global capitalism”, Mr McShane said cutting jobs was the default position for companies, “even though labour costs are a small part of the total steel production costs”.
He praised the government’s capital spending policy as a way of stimulating demand for steel, but said it should learn lessons from Europe where far-reaching action included wage subsidies and more generous retraining packages than the “paltry” £5m offered to British workers so far.
He said the government could also act to help reduce input costs for Corus and called on the company to work more closely with unions in presenting a united case for help.
Meanwhile, Middlesbrough South and East Cleveland Labour MP, Ashok Kumar, has urged the Prime Minister to consider following Spain and Germany in introducing schemes under which government shares the cost of retaining staff when plants are idled. And Greg Clark, the shadow minister for the North-east, has called on the Treasury to drop its opposition to accessing European funds aimed at helping workers.
Mr Kumar said he supported a recent CBI proposal for an alternative to redundancy scheme (ATR), which would give companies the choice of laying staff off or standing them down for a period of up to six months, during which they would be paid at twice the rate of Job Seekers’ Allowance.
Mr Kumar said the European option could cushion staff through a period where they may not be enough work to keep plants fully manned.
“I feel there is a good case for the adoption of such schemes as they both help firms retain skills and give workers greater security of returning to work after what, I am beginning to believe, will only be a short economic downturn,” said Mr Kumar.
Mr Clark said the government must act to stop an industrial tragedy turning into a human one. “Through the Globalization Adjustment Fund, the Government can access European funding set aside for this purpose. I urge it to waste no time in doing so.”
For the full debate on the future of the steel industry, go to http://news.parliament.uk/2009/07/ mps-debate-future-of-uk-steel-industry/
