Cardiff-born Philip Jennings asked by CNN for his observations on the crisis in the steel sector that will have devastating consequences in Wales
A Welsh perspective on Tata UK steel crisis: Philip Jennings on CNN, “Don’t let Cameron complete Thatcher’s destruction of British industry”
UNI Global Union General Secretary Philip Jennings warns British government to get its act together in the face of the steel crisis following announcement by Tata steel to cease manufacturing in the UK
In an interview with CNN’s Eleni Giokos today, UNI Global Union General Secretary Philip Jennings said, “I was born and bred in Wales and recall the decimation of the coal industry and mining communities at the hands of Margaret Thatcher during the 1980s. David Cameron looks set to complete the job of destroying Britain’s industrial basis, either through incompetence or design.”
He told CNN’s worldwide audience, “The British government has been sleep-walking into the Tata UK steel crisis. The UK Business Minister was in Australia when he should have been in Mumbai with the Tata bosses fighting for the future of British steel. The UK government’s reaction to the crisis has been described as ‘chaotic’ and ‘shambolic’, and that is dead right. Their incompetence has helped jeopardise 40,000 jobs.”
However, Jennings said it was not too late for the Government to step in and stand up for the steel industry. The UK has had a steel workforce for generations and through several crisises they have toiled to preserve steel manufacture.
There are many headwinds facing the steel industry from the global economic downturn to price dumping, principally by Chinese steel suppliers. Economies have still not recovered from the financial crisis of 2007-2009.
The UK government has contributed to this by the absence of an industrial strategy and failed to match efforts by governments elsewhere who recognized the strategic importance of steel as a foundation industry.
A recent report from the IPPR found that since 2000 the share of foundation industries in the UK GDP fell by 43% compared to an average decline of 21% in the OECD. This confirms the fault lines in UK government policy.
The government should recognise the strategic importance of steel manufacture in the rebalancing of the UK economy. There were many options to pursue from relief on business rates and energy costs to tariffs to penalise nations dumping steel in local markets. All of these measures could help to ease the sector through this global storm. There is demand for steel which will grow in the
future. The UK government has promised significant infrastructure investment and they should dovetail this with local steel provision.
The Cameron government has rejected nationalization as a policy option, but Jennings said all options should be kept open. The government has to engage the workforce and business to weather the current storm and to build a comprehensive industry strategy for the long term. They should “take off their ideological blinkers” and follow the example of governments elsewhere who have stepped in to help and develop local steel manufacture.
He recalled that during the financial crisis the banks were bailed out and in the USA the auto industry was also saved and is now thriving.
Jennings concluded, “Let’s not minimise the effects if these jobs go. I’ve seen for myself in Wales how families and whole communities can be destroyed. The steel sector is worth fighting for and the whole of the labour movement stands in solidarity with these steel workers. Cameron do not let these people down.”