Manufacturing Jobs

[Rich Kid]

During the last 4 years of Tory rule 200,000 manufacturing new jobs were created.

Since Labour came to power 1,000,000 manufacturing jobs have been lost - MGRover must be added to that total.

Of course we shouldn't really complain as Labour are managing the economy so successfully! :)

[Renzo]

Britain is moving towards more high tech jobs.

[Rich Kid]

Britain is moving towards more high tech jobs.
Oh thats all right then, perhaps Phoney Blair can tell that to the MGRover workers!!!!! They'll be sooooooooooooo happy!

[Renzo]

Oh thats all right then, perhaps Phoney Blair can tell that to the MGRover workers!!!!! They'll be sooooooooooooo happy!

Perhaps the government should have put more money in to the company, though I would have thought thats something you wouldnt have approved of.

[MrG]

Oh thats all right then, perhaps Phoney Blair can tell that to the MGRover workers!!!!! They'll be sooooooooooooo happy!

if rover didnt make shit cars then they would be fine

they have not had a new model for god knows how long, just remade versions of old models

[longdog]

During the last 4 years of Tory rule 200,000 manufacturing new jobs were created.

Since Labour came to power 1,000,000 manufacturing jobs have been lost - MGRover must be added to that total.

Of course we shouldn't really complain as Labour are managing the economy so successfully! :)


That's capitalism for you.

[Spliffie]

They'll be sooooooooooooo happy!

Just like the miners under Thatcher eh?

[Blagsta]

Perhaps the government should have put more money in to the company, though I would have thought thats something you wouldnt have approved of.

Should the government be propping up a private company?

[Renzo]

Should the government be propping up a private company?

Perhaps not, but when 6000 jobs are at stake surely it cant hurt so badly.

[Mist]

if rover didnt make shit cars then they would be fine

they have not had a new model for god knows how long, just remade versions of old models

I'm not sure how shit they are / were, but for the specifications they were always way overpriced.

[Man Of Kent]

During the last 4 years of Tory rule 200,000 manufacturing new jobs were created.

Since Labour came to power 1,000,000 manufacturing jobs have been lost - MGRover must be added to that total.

Let market forces decide...

Of course we shouldn't really complain as Labour are managing the economy so successfully! :)

Perhaps you would be so kind as to remind us of the unemployment, inflation and interest rate levels in 1996 and compare them to today then... just to underline your comment that is...

[BumbleBee]

My dad loses the job he's had for 28 years in June when LG Philips closes it's factory in Durham to move work abroad. I don't blame the government, nor does he, market forces mean that if someone in China will work for 50p a day, why pay someone £6+ an hour to do the same thing?

[Blagsta]

You mention "market forces" like they're some kind of natural phenomena.

[sticktofacts]

China is already by certain measures the second largest economy in the world and enjoys a priveledged position regards exchange rates. The dolar is currently weak and the chinese currency is tied to it making exports appear much much cheaper 25-40%.
The goverment of the day needs to take steps in this case as the chinese currency should obviously be allowed to float. Manufacturing productivity has suffered badly under this goverment and there is far to much regulation. The government is far from blameless here.

[Rich Kid]

Should the government be propping up a private company?
So why is Phoney giving them £150 million then? Nothing to do with maginal seats I suppose - no of course not!

[Man Of Kent]

So why is Phoney giving them £150 million then?

He isn't giving it to prop up a private company, have you actually read the news?

[Namaste]

During the last 4 years of Tory rule 200,000 manufacturing new jobs were created.

Since Labour came to power 1,000,000 manufacturing jobs have been lost - MGRover must be added to that total.

Of course we shouldn't really complain as Labour are managing the economy so successfully! :)
It's probably more to do with the fact factories are moving abroad for cheap labour, this sacking British workers who selfishly demand minimum wage... The horror!

[Kentish]

-']It's probably more to do with the fact factories are moving abroad for cheap labour, this sacking British workers who selfishly demand minimum wage... The horror!
What's your solution then: force the companies to stay? scrap the minimum wage? rely on the service sector to mop up the workforce? boycott Chinese made goods?

[Namaste]

What's your solution then: force the companies to stay? scrap the minimum wage? rely on the service sector to mop up the workforce? boycott Chinese made goods?
I was being sarcastic :yeees:

Jobs in my area are being lost because of factories moving overseas though, leaving a lot of older people who've done nothing but <insert factory job here> for the past fifteen years with no other experience or qualifications. Plus the growth in the retail and bar industry tends to be biased towards younger people a lot of the times. It's a fact of life in towns like mine.

And minimum wage makes living possible in the UK.

[Kentish]

-']I was being sarcastic :yeees:
Yeah, I got that. So what's your solution to the reality of the situation we find ourselves in?

[Rich Kid]

What really sickens me is the way Phoney & Gordon rushed to Longbridge not once but twice when the news came through!!! What a cynical bit of politicking weeping all those crocodile tears and announcing that "something must be done"!

Lets face it MG Rover made crap cars and was never a serious contender in the market place, why else did BMW sell it for £10 + £500 million of soft loan + a stock of 65,000 vehicles. They were glad to get rid of the albatross and rightly so! You'd have to be a mug to buy a Rover - drive a Beemer myself!

What Phoney should be keeping his eye on, and there has no mention of it in the Labour manifesto, is the probable closure of 6,000 rural post offices over the next 1-2 years. These post offices often form the hub of local communities and once they've gone, they've gone. We've seen the Banks close many of their small rural branches, the same is happening to the rural post offices and Labour is doing nothing about it.

Wake up Phoney before its too late!

[Jim V]

Please try to stop using ! at the end of every sentence, it makes you look like some insane person ranting and raving at the television.

[Man Of Kent]

Please try to stop using ! at the end of every sentence, it makes you look like some insane person ranting and raving at the television.

What odds will you offer on him actually doing this?

[ShyBoy]

You mention "market forces" like they're some kind of natural phenomena.

In a sense it is, I know these days it's very complicated and gots loads of bits and bots on but it is a natural progression - or degression (if thats the opposite) depending on your perspective.

And I love the ranting comment Jim ;)

[Namaste]

Yeah, I got that. So what's your solution to the reality of the situation we find ourselves in?
I don't think we have one to be fair because the industries in the UK are changing and to be honest it wouldn't surprise me if factories are slowly becoming a trade of the past for towns like mine.

So what trends to expect?

Well for starters maybe the LEAs could pay for classes to help people that have been made redundent from factories to become computer literate.

[Blagsta]

In a sense it is, I know these days it's very complicated and gots loads of bits and bots on but it is a natural progression - or degression (if thats the opposite) depending on your perspective.

How so?

[Toadborg]

How so?

You obviously don't think so, so why not explain why?

[Rich Kid]

There is a real crisis with rural post offices that labour seem to be overlooking. 6,000 are at risk which means at least 12,000 job losses (probably much more) and the loss of an essential amenity for rural communities. Banks have already gone, now rural post offices will follow unless the government takes action.

It was only too willing to extend an £150 million aid package to off-set the effects of MG Rover, why can't it act as decisively with the rural post offices?

[Blagsta]

You obviously don't think so, so why not explain why?

"market forces" are the result of a particular system that arose partly through historical accident and partly through design and is kept in place through force, therefore not really a result of "natural" progression y'know?

[Teh_Gerbil]

THATCHER!

Oh, sorry, Tories making jobs, eh?

[CptCoatHanger]

What really sickens me is the way Phoney & Gordon rushed to Longbridge not once but twice when the news came through!!! What a cynical bit of politicking weeping all those crocodile tears and announcing that "something must be done"!

Your above quote would have read exactly the same if he hadn't gone there with "It sickens me he didn't go there" instead.

Stop being so fucking transparent.

[DG]

Britain is moving towards more high tech jobs.


My friend who does heating and gas just got back from Australia, he said everyone there has moved into doing office work so they're crying out for people like electrician, gas fitters, etc - he says you can make about $600 a day there - which over there would go very far.

He's planning on moving there within the next 12 months

[Captain Slog]

Frankly I don't think BMW tried hard enough with Rover. Yes, they made the 75 which is a damn good car, but Rover are still making the 45, based on the old Honda Civic. This model should have been replaced years ago. If BMW still owned Rover today, they could use the platform from the 1 series, which would help cut costs.

Mercedes-Benz and Audi share their bits with Chrysler and the Volkswagen group respectively so I don't see why BMW shouldn't have taken to platform sharing with Rover. Obviously they didn't care enough about Rover and MG, they just wanted Land Rover and Mini.

[Rich Kid]

Your above quote would have read exactly the same if he hadn't gone there with "It sickens me he didn't go there" instead.

Stop being so fucking transparent.
They rushed to a private company going under just to look good as there were a number of marginal seats nearby - its as simple & cynical as that.

I don't see them rushing to the rural post offices whose future is aleady in serious jeopardy, whose job loses will be even greater than MGRover, and whose loss will devastate rural communities, particularly hitting hard the old and poor.

[klintock]

They rushed to a private company going under just to look good as there were a number of marginal seats nearby - its as simple & cynical as that.

Theres not a politician alive who wouldn't have run up there. It's why they are all shite. oIf you think Howard would have ignored the problem you are a fool.

I don't see them rushing to the rural post offices whose future is aleady in serious jeopardy, whose job loses will be even greater than MGRover, and whose loss will devastate rural communities, particularly hitting hard the old and poor.

Market forces, old bean, can't argue with those now can you?

[Rich Kid]

Rural post offices are a social/community amenities, they form the heart of many rural communities, and their loss would be a devastating blow to the elderly and poor.

The Banks have pulled out, bus services have been cut, and now the post offices are threatened.

http://www.malcolmbruce.libdems.org.uk/news/40.html

[klintock]

But they aren't profitable RK. On your own ideology from other threads you should think they should be closed.

Remember - money is everything, people are nothing.