Every Regional contribution to this years GeneralSecretarys Report comments on job losses in manufacturing, especially inclothing & textiles and engineering.
Most Regions singleout the high exchange rate of the pound against the euro as a key factorundermining the UK economys ability to compete in markets at home andabroad.
One Region noted thatjob security for workers in the UK is made worse by the fact that firms find iteasier to dismiss workers in the UK than elsewhere in the European Union.
The British peoplehave been cautious about giving up the pound ever since their painfulexperience in the European Exchange Rate Mechanism (ERM) in the early1990s. The Tories joined that system ata disastrously high exchange rate and workers paid the price in lost jobs.
But staying out ofthe euro is now putting jobs in jeopardy, and not only in manufacturing wherethe rate of redundancies is accelerating.Tourism is being hit too. Moreand more companies in the UK have warned that their future investment plans mayhave to be cut back if the UK stays out of the eurozone.
If the UK economy was dramatically different from ourEuropean Union partners there might be a case for going it alone.
One in which foreigntrade, overseas investment, global communication, worldwide travel, transferredtechnology and cross border crime are commonplace.
One in which we allneed partners abroad to help us boost business, create jobs, promote trade,protect the environment, fight crime, preserve peace and defend our interests.
We share more thanjust common concerns with our European partners. Gordon Brown reminded the Labour Party Spring Conference of theshared needs, mutual interests and common destinies that unite working peopleacross Europe. The GMB shares thatperspective and we look forward with our European TUC colleagues to welcomingnew EU member states from Central and Eastern Europe in the years ahead.
However, we note thatpolitics prevented Gordon from acknowledging how closely Europes economies,including that of the UK, have converged since he set his five economic testsin 1997.
In February 2000 theEuropean Union Council noted that the UK has fulfilled the convergence criteriaon long term interests rates for some time.
In June 2000 theOrganisation for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) commented that theUK will soon be more like Euroland than some of the eurozones existingmembers.
In January 2001 theNational Institute for Economic & Social Research (NIESR) noted that TheBritish economy is on course to achieve lasting cyclical convergence with theEuro Area.
And in February 2001the European Commission advised all EU finance ministers that the UK alreadymeets the Maastricht rules for government borrowing and public sector debt.
On Gordon Brownsfive economic tests compatible economic structures and business cycles,flexibility, inward investment, the competitiveness of UK financial services,and the prospects for growth stability and jobs the lights are mainlygreen. If current trends continue theeconomic conditions for the UK to join the euro could be in place in a coupleof years time. Which is why TradeUnionists for Europe, the body linking five unions including the GMB, hascalled for the UK to enter the euro early in the next Parliament.
We see no reason whyUK membership of the euro should lead to pressure on our public services.
One vital warninglight remains: the exchange rate at which the UK joins.
Trade Unionists forEurope have issued The Trade Union Agenda for Europe which insists that thekind of European Union we want involves more than just foreign currency andexchange rates. So far the UK Europeandebate has revolved around one issue only: whether the UK should go into orstay out of the single European currency.But trade unionists have otherconcerns too. It is essential toestablish the right terms on which the UK might join the euro.
A package that helpsbusinesses and employees alike to cope with the stresses and strains thatchange inevitably brings.
Reforms that show therelevance of the EU to working people and their families by building a strongframework of employment and social rights.A common European social safety net giving everyone at least the samebasic standards of social protection and rights at work.
European industryneeds to become better at responding to economic and technological change if itis to match competition from American and Asian firms.
There are noconsistent rules on what counts as public spending and borrowing across theEU. UK local authorities and bodieslike the Post Office lack the freedom to borrow and invest that theircounterparts elsewhere in the EU enjoy.Common public procurement rules could do more to support shelteredemployment and domestic production.
Better taxarrangements between EU member states could help to create the level playingfield that firms need to be competitive.This is one lesson from the duty free debacle.
Different memberstate policies favouring national champions have left Europes defenceindustries struggling to stand up to American competition.
A single currency anda single market make it imperative to protect people affected by structuralchange. They must still have a stake insociety, not be dumped and discarded simply for the betterment of businessbalance sheets. The EU must not becomea club for bankers bureaucrats and businessmen, with working people simplystanding on the sidelines. There has tobe a positive EU social agenda and a vigorous EU social action programme.
European socialpolicy really matters to our members.
The European Court ofJustice (ECJ) insisted that the EU Working Time Directive applied to the UKtoo, leading to four weeks paid annual leave for workers in the UK that theTory opt out from the social chapter tried to deny them.
The ECJ supportedpart time workers by ruling that EU law means they must share in pension rightsenjoyed by their full time colleagues.
The Transfer ofUndertakings and Protection of Employment (TUPE) Regulations under the EUAcquired Rights Directive are far from a cast iron guarantee of protection forworkers caught up in company takeovers or public service outsourcingdecisions. But they are a vital help withoutwhich trade unions would be poorly placed to defend their members.
The EuropeanCommissions decision to ban white asbestos in Europe is one of a long line oftrade union successes improving health and safety at work.
Sadly, there areareas where British government has resisted EU social measures supported byBritains trade unions.
The TUC is mounting alegal challenge to the governments attempts to postpone the effective startdate in the UK of the EU Parental Leave Directive.
The governmentwatered down the Charter of Fundamental Rights to just a political declarationat the EU Nice summit in December 2000, rather than adopting it as a documentcarrying real weight.
The Government hasstubbornly opposed EU proposals that would give workers a right to be told bytheir employer about impending decisions and to have their views about thosedecisions taken into account.Information and consultation rights that are common in Germany and theNetherlands are denied to workers in the UK.The cases of Vauxhall, Coats Viyella, Rover/BMW and Biwater all showthat unions need to be involved at an early stage if they are to ensure thatemployees views are taken fully into account.Unfortunately, it is easier to make cutbacks and closure decisions inthe UK than elsewhere in the European Union, leaving British workers especiallyvulnerable.
A referendum on thesingle currency, when it comes, is going to be won or lost in peoplesworkplaces, meeting places and homes.Jobs, living standards and employment and social rights will all be atstake. Rump countries that do notbelong to the eurozone will pack little punch.They will see EU policies drafted with the needs of the Euroland statesuppermost, and be able to win only minor modifications to their partnersplans.
While the UK staysout of the single currency our influence in EU decision making will becomesteadily more marginal while the EU grows relentlessly more important to thejobs and living standards of GMB members.Opting out is not a low risk policy for the UK.
Our main objective asa trade union should be to win for our members the best possible terms for UKentry to the eurozone. Three factorswill be critical in achieving that aim: getting the exchange rate right at whichwe join, ensuring that public services are safe, and promoting a positive EUsocial agenda. We do not favour UKmembership of the euro irrespective of circumstances. Far from it. Our argumentis a balanced and pragmatic one. In ourview current and foreseeable future circumstances mean that GMB membersinterests would be best served by early UK entry to the euro.
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