UK Assistance For Car Industry Urged

The US car industry isn't the only one in trouble as other countries are wrestling with similar problems including the UK. Our English friends are calling for government intervention in the auto industry but unlike the bail out being proposed stateside, supporters in the UK are asking that the government intervene with the banks.

"It is vital that we hear some reassurance from Government that car manufacturing will not be allowed to pay the price for the recklessness of the banks. Government needs a clear, forceful strategy to support the industry through these tough times or we will see companies jettisoning workers," warned Tony Woodley, joint general secretary of Unite the Union.

"The stakes are that high. Viable, well-managed companies who are struggling simply because the supply of credit has dried up will go to the wall unless short-term state support is made available, just as it has been in Germany and is expected to be in the US. Unless there is similar action now by our government, jobs and communities will suffer - and that is a price that is simply too high to pay."

Woodley and others have stressed that the situation in the UK is different than in the US stressing that no bailout of the domestic auto industry is suggested. Instead, the union wants assurance that the federal government will provide funding to the tune of GBP13 billion in short term industrial loans.

"We are not asking for US-style bailouts for the UK car industry. Let us be clear - the UK industry is profitable and producing the goods today's customers want. The sector does not need a taxpayer bailout but it does need urgently short-term financial support to help it through this financial drought," continued Tony Woodley.

"When the economic downturn looked likely to wreck our banks, the Government did not hesitate to act. They moved quickly to take a stake in the banks and help shore up confidence in the financial sector. Manufacturing and the hundreds of thousands of people who depend on it for a job in this country need them to be just as strong and clear now and intervene to support industry."

Several British manufacturers have threatened to close or scale back production in the face of the current credit freeze, something Woodley began to warn the British government about beginning in early November.

Source: Unite the Union