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(01) GFTU believes that it is imperative that UK manufacturing is supported in The order that there can be no over-reliance on financial services and the service sector ever again. (02) Conference believes that the decline of UK manufacturing must be reversed through an interventionist industrial and manufacturing policy to drive the economy forward – which the current coalition government is failing to do. (03) UK has experienced two and a half years of the ConDem coalition government, The and clear growth strategy and manufacturing policy has failed to materialise. (04) Conference also notes the support given to German manufacturing companies by their federal and national governments with the government, unions and employers working together – which has protected German manufacturing from the worst of the economic crisis and defended their strategically important manufacturing companies. (05) Conference therefore calls for the GFTU to campaign to support and defend UK manufacturing and to campaign for a Labour government that will implement a strategy for growth and jobs. (06) Including support for: • Strategic Investment Bank where manufacturing companies including SMEs A have easy access to investment funding at an affordable rate. This will facilitate loans at competitive rates to enable SMEs to increase capital investment in new machinery, technology and equipment. • he use of government procurement opportunities to ensure goods and services T purchased are manufactured or produced in the UK by UK based companies. • he establishment of a Takeover Commission to ensure that workers and their T representatives to be informed and consulted on the business and financing plan of any takeover prior to the acquisition. Through their trade unions, workers should have the right, equivalent to that of pension fund trustees, to seek fair compensation and protection should substantially greater levels of leverage be part of a takeover. • upport for a new skills strategy, based on proper apprenticeships providing long S term, skilled and well paid employment.
Support UK manufacturing
Resolution 14
GFTU | BGCM Resolutions 2013/2015