Government’s job to avoid job losses, says TUC
‘MANY GOOD FIRMS HIT BY PANDEMIC WILL NEED SUPPORT’
THE country’s most senior union official has called on the Government to avoid the horrors of mass unemployment in regions like the North East.
Fears are growing that the end of the furlough scheme next month will result in huge numbers of job losses, with figures obtained by the BBC this week revealing that large firms planned more than 300,000 redundancies in June and July.
The TUC last week warned ministers not to “throw away” the good work of the job retention scheme, and called for a new short-time working scheme in which workers worked for some of the week and spent the rest of the time developing new skills.
Ministers – backed by leading officials at the Bank of England – have said that extending the furlough scheme could be harmful if it keeps people in jobs that no longer have a future.
But TUC general secretary Frances O’Grady said that many good firms in sectors particularly hard hit by the coronavirus lockdown needed support because of their importance to the long-term economy.
She said: “There’s nothing inevitable about mass unemployment and the Government’s job is to do everything it can to stop it, not just because it’s miserable for families and scars a whole generation, but because, in the end, it’s bad for the economy.
“A lot of the firms that we’re seeing in trouble are good firms with a real future but they need support to get through this extraordinary set of circumstances.
“Whether it’s brilliant manufacturing firms or it’s arts and culture, or aviation – we are going to need these industries long after the pandemic has hopefully disappeared and it would be such a waste of decent firms and good jobs to see them go to the wall.
“So many other comparable countries – France, Germany, Austria, Ireland – have recognised that you can’t just pull the plug on support. We’ve put forward a really common-sense, practical proposal for a new phase to protect jobs and upskill, where the Govern
ment provides support with strings attached.
“What we need is for Westminster to step up and recognise that we need targeted support for industries. Aviation, the arts, manufacturing may be facing different pictures but it’s clear we’re still going to need them. We need to target support in a sensible way.
“We’ve produced lots of practical proposals about job creation. The North East is absolutely ripe for the creation of skilled green jobs – this is the time to do it because the price of mass unemployment is too high and much higher than making that investment now.”
The TUC is also warning that the Government’s test and trace system – which is seen as being key to getting the country back to work – risks failure unless Statutory Sick Pay is increased and made more widely available.
The organisation’s call comes after polling showed that more than 40% of workers would fall into financial hardship if forced to self-isolate for two weeks on current sick pay levels.
Ms O’Grady said: “We all want NHS Test and Trace to work. It’s crucial for stopping the spread of Covid-19 and for getting our economy back on its feet.
“But the lack of decent sick pay puts everything at risk. Asking workers to self-isolate on £96 a week is not viable – especially when many don’t have savings to fall back on. We can’t have a situation where people are forced to choose between their health and paying their bills. Unless ministers fix this gaping hole in our safety net Britain will be ill-prepared for a second wave of infections or more local lockdowns.”
Ms O’Grady was speaking ahead of the TUC annual congress, which will be taking place virtually this year.