Tony Woodley, head of Unite, explains why LDV
is a company worth saving
Published in the
Birmingham Post 30 April 2009
Four million pounds – less than a bonus for a single bailed-out
banker – is all it would take to save Birmingham vanmaker LDV.
That modest sum is what LDV is asking the government to provide
to avert bankruptcy, which could otherwise happen as early as next
week.
The closure of LDV’s plant would mean waving goodbye to more
then 900 direct jobs – and thousands more in the beleaguered motor
industry supply chain.
Once gone, those skilled jobs would never come back. With them
would go the prospects for a genuinely 'green' vanmaker, producing
the first hybrid vans in Europe. But the government has been
dithering. Two months ago I warned that without rapid intervention
to support LDV while it sought a new buyer the company would
collapse.
The whole vehicle industry has been a major victim of the
'credit crunch'. Manufacturing is paying the price for a crisis
made by the bankers in the City.
My union Unite believes that if taxpayers’ money can be used to
bail out the banks, it should also be used to help vital industries
through the recession. It makes more sense than paying out to
workers thrown on the dole because of short-term economic problems.
LDV can be saved. There is a serious and interested buyer for this
company, Westar, which would keep these jobs in this country. The
£4 million from the government is needed while the new buyers go
through the books before hopefully closing the deal. It would be
criminal to see LDV shut for want of such a small sum.
LDV’s problems are only the tip of the iceberg, of course.
Across all industries – but particularly in manufacturing – and
throughout the country jobs are under threat. That is why Unite is
coming to Birmingham – the heart of industrial Britain – to march
for jobs on May 16.
We are urging our members from all parts of the country to join
the demonstration urging the government to put real, concrete
action to help industry at the top of the agenda.
Business leaders like former CBI chief Lord Digby Jones are
backing the event. It is a chance to give ministers a united
message – act now to save industry. Tomorrow could be too late.
Measures we want to see include subsidising short-time working
for companies in trouble, to prevent them laying off employees and
closing plants which we know would never re-open.
We also need more financial help for manufacturing and action to
get the credit flowing from the banks once more. We’ve put enough
cash into the banks over the last six months, it is past time to
see some of it coming out again in loans to industry.
I hope tens of thousands of people from Birmingham and the wider
West Midlands will join us on May 16. It is the least we can do for
the employees of LDV and so many other firms, staring redundancy in
the face through no fault of their own.
Please join us – and stand up for our future as a manufacturing
nation.
*For more information on the March for Jobs and to find out how
you can take part, visit http://action.unitetheunion.org
