| Previous Section | Index | Home Page |
8.40 pm
The Minister of State, Department for Education and Employment (Mr. Eric Forth): I congratulate the right hon. Member for Manchester, Gorton(Mr. Kaufman) on obtaining this Adjournment debate, with its obvious importance for his constituency and the surrounding area.
Of course it is unfortunate for Gorton and the surrounding area that GEC Alsthom has decided to transfer its work from its Long and Crawford site in Gorton to Openshaw, but that does not mean that that was the wrong decision, or avoidable. From time to time, companies must make tough decisions of that type to ensure that they have a sound long-term future. Even in a healthy economy, jobs will inevitably be lost. The important thing is that more jobs are created to replace them.
As the right hon. Gentleman pointed out, GEC Alsthom has been hit by a drop in demand for its switchgear. Changes from oil to gas-based products and changes in technology that are vital to the company's international trading position have meant that only half as many people as previously are needed to produce its gas-insulated switchgear. As the right hon. Gentleman observed, the company has therefore decided that, in its judgment, relocating to another of its sites in Openshaw can help it to remain, in the overall sense, competitive.
It would be commercial suicide to keep on high numbers of staff in industries where automation had reduced the demand for labour, and it would put businesses at the mercy of overseas competitors. Where efficiency savings from merging two parts of a company might be made, it would make no sense not to adjust staffing levels.
My contention is that it is not for Government to seek to interfere with or second-guess commercial decisions of the type that have been described. If we tried in any way to force companies to keep unprofitable sites open, we would add intolerable burdens to their businesses and risk destroying jobs in the long term, as firms went out of business or chose to relocate overseas.
However, having said that, and in reply to one of the questions that the right hon. Gentleman reasonably asked, agencies and services exist to help those who become redundant as a result of actions such as have been taken on this occasion, to try to ensure that everyone involved has the best chance of a speedy return to work. For example, the Employment Service and Manchester training and enterprise council have contacted GEC Alsthom to offer help.
I am told that the company has appointed a firm of employment consultants to advise its workers on employment issues, and has pledged to do everything possible to support those who will lose their jobs in the reorganisation. Following discussions with the training and enterprise council, the affected workers will be given immediate access to the training for work programme and other adult training programmes.
As part of that package, Manchester TEC also offers training grants to employers who are prepared to recruit and train those who have suffered from redundancies. The
TEC has been working with the Trafford Park development corporation to help local firms there recruit and upskill engineering workers to meet their current and anticipated labour needs.
For those affected by a decision of the type that we are discussing, the prospects are not necessarily as gloomy as the right hon. Gentleman appeared to suggest. We know that most spells of unemployment tend to be short. Of people who become unemployed, about half leave unemployment within three months, two thirds within six months and 80 per cent. within a year. If we add to that help of the type that I have described--from the Employment Service and its programmes, or the training and enterprise council, or the actions that I am told that the company is taking--there is good reason to believe that the people affected by such a decision can expect, directly or after retraining or other support, to find other work in the foreseeable future.
I do not want in any sense to underestimate, or not to have regard to, the pain and problems that are caused to those affected and their families. That, I fear, is a common experience for those who lose their jobs, but I believe that it is much better to look on the more positive side of these matters and have regard to the measures that can be taken to help them.
The overall picture in the Greater Manchester area is certainly more positive than that. To paraphrase, the right hon. Gentleman asked, "What hope is there for people who are thus affected in Gorton?" I wish to mention some examples, which are by no means a complete list.
Nynex is creating 4,500 jobs with a £1.1 billion investment in the north-west as a whole. Four hundred and twenty-five jobs are being created in Stockport with the Co-operative bank's new telephone banking centre. Three hundred jobs are being created in Irlam with Omega Engineering. Six thousand short and long-term jobs are coming in the new £127 million Lowry centre in Salford.
There will be two thousand jobs from a new concert hall next to the G-Mex centre, 1,000 new jobs in Cheadle with John Lewis and Sainsbury's, and 6,000 jobs in the new Trafford shopping centre. I could add to those the many thousands of jobs and inward investment that will result from Manchester hosting the 2002 Commonwealth games.
The right hon. Gentleman is probably thinking, "But what relevance do these have to the people who have been affected at GEC Alsthom?" In the world we face today, as I said earlier, jobs may be lost and others may be created, and sometimes that will require people to be prepared to retrain or reskill or alter their career direction to take up opportunities like those that I have mentioned, which may at first glance not be immediately relevant to the people who have lost their jobs and to the skills that they have acquired.
There is a wider and general recognition that this is likely to be the pattern of the future; that people, perhaps regrettably, can no longer expect to do the same or a similar job throughout their working lives; that we must find ways to help people, by education, training, and support of different kinds, to make the career changes that may be necessary to give them better prospects for the future. Increasingly, that must be understood and accepted.
We and our agencies want to do everything possible to help. Training programmes such as the training for work programme, work trials, jobfinders grants--at least for the long-term unemployed--and various job-finding measures that we have on offer, are the sort of things that may come to the rescue of those who find themselves out of work for a longer period.
The new jobs that are coming along may not be the same as the old ones, and may not be in exactly the same location--they may not even require the same skills--but, with some flexibility and a preparedness to contemplate career changes and new directions, there is real hope for the people who have been affected by the changes that the right hon. Gentleman has described, and for others of his constituents. They should be prepared to consider changes in employment or perhaps be willing to travel some distance to work elsewhere.
The lessons of other large-scale engineering redundancies in the Greater Manchester area suggest that those wishing to remain in engineering are often successful in finding work within a few weeks or months of being made redundant. As the right hon. Gentleman said, more than 100 of the 236 employees of Long and Crawford will be transferred to Openshaw. There is also a distinct possibility that some of the staff who have been served with redundancy notices may be redeployed elsewhere within the group.
I cannot agree with many of the right hon. Gentleman's comments about GEC. I believe that we must exercise some good will on such occasions. Government agencies and the company must be willing to work together to try to maximise opportunities for the people involved and affected. By adopting a positive outlook and by working together co-operatively, we can help those who are affected by difficult decisions such as this.
I hope that the right hon. Gentleman will accept that there is real hope for his constituents. The Government are always prepared to work with the company and with local authorities to try to maximise the opportunities available to those affected by redundancy. I am sure that Government agencies also will be prepared to listen and to offer positive assistance. Therefore, I hope that he will take from this brief debate a more hopeful and positive outlook. He may be assured that the Government, their agencies and all those involved will continue to work positively to assist his constituents.
Question put and agreed to.
Adjourned accordingly at nine minutes to Nine o'clock.
| Index | Home Page |