Government Presiding Over the 'Dumbing Down' of the UK Economy Says Union Chief
LONDON, September 23 /PRNewswire/ -- By failing to implement the best European working standards and importing the worst, the UK government is turning the UK into a third world economy says Derek Simpson, General Secretary, of Amicus.
The UK's leading private sector union will use the Labour Party Conference this week to raise the issue of chronic job insecurity in the UK and the urgent need for European style employment protection to save highly skilled, well-paid UK jobs. Amicus say that lesser employer requirements in the UK on redundancy payments, notice periods and consultation mean that workers here are more vulnerable to redundancy than those in any other country in Europe.
The union are also opposing the introduction of the European Services Directive which threatens to undercut UK workers pay and compromises hard won health and safety standards. Under the terms of the European Services Directive 'country of origin principle', which is supported by the UK government, non-UK European businesses providing services in this country will not have to comply with British laws on workers pay or on health and safety.
Derek Simpson, General Secretary of Amicus, said: "The government is presiding over the euthanasia of the UK's best jobs and turning us into a third world economy.
"The government talk about the need to attract and retain high value jobs but these are the very jobs that are being lost at a rate of knots. High employment levels should not be used to mask the rapid loss of well-paid, highly skilled jobs and their replacement with low-paid, part-time and agency work which offer even less by way of security and widen the gap between rich and poor."
"Our industries and workers are running an impossible race and the effect on our economy and for individuals who lose their jobs are disastrous. It is also contributing to the widening of the gap between rich and poor."
The union argues that weaker employment protection in the UK is resulting in jobs being lost in across the board, from IT to manufacturing and banking and insurance, at a faster rate than any other developed countries.
Amicus is campaigning for the introduction of stronger employment legislation and want it to form an essential strand of Labour Party policy through Warwick II. The union also wants the impact on UK jobs to be considered in the award of lucrative government contracts.
86,000 manufacturing jobs have been lost in the UK last twelve months alone from companies including MG Rover, Jaguar, Marconi, Sony and TRW.
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