Now, is it the winter of our discontent (again?)
I'll warn you all now, I'm going to be talking about strikes, Gordon Brown, bailouts and manufacturing again.
First of all, I have some sympathy with the Lindsey strikers (not just because it's almost my name, either). While I don't know the entire details of the contract which is under dispute, and ordinarily I do not think that unauthorised industrial action of any sort is the answer to an industrial dispute... however, I have sympathy with them because of the following:
Firstly, Gordon Brown's now infamous line of "British jobs for British workers" has come back to haunt him. Given our government's policy of flogging off everything to anyone from anywhere who could stump up the readies, and our (to use the economic term) open market, when a foreign-owned oil depot awards a contract to a foreign company, who then brings in their foreign workers, he should not be surprised when said British workers protest rather vehemently. Whatever the economic realities, when those guys see people being brought in to do jobs which they perceive could have been done by British workers, they are going to get upset. They are going to see this as a symptom of Gordon Brown going back on his promise to them, even if now he proclaims that protectionism (which could otherwise be translated as "British jobs for British workers") is not the way we are going to get out of this economic mess*.
The way these wildcat strikes** have spread are also a measure of how utterly ignored and bypassed vast swathes of workers feel. Thanks to the media, the news is full of these shops or these companies or those manufacturers who have had to call in the administrators and make so many people redundant. People are fearing for their livelihoods, and doubting that if they did lose their jobs, that they would find another.
They are feeling sidelined and not listened to, and they want to make their voices heard, and this is the only way they feel they can get the government's attention. Even if the government appears not to be listening, or even able to present a coherent view, so much so that here is another blog post on the subject.
There is also a perception that the government will look after its own in the Financial sector - pumping in, according to Robert Peston's blog, a truly staggering £185bn to prop up the troubled banks - and yet will stand by and watch what is left of our country's engineering and manufacturing expertise crumble and die, as output continues to shrink. Compared to other European countries, such as France and Germany, our government and their aid package looks a bit, well, half-arsed***.
Yes, the government has promised £2.3bn to the British automotive industry, including Honda, Toyota, Nissan as well as JLR and various component suppliers - but £1.3bn of that is coming from the European Union fund for this anyway. This government is clearly not prepared to support key industries, which employ tens if not hundreds of thousands of people, to the extent to which it is happy to prop up the banks.
While some money will help, what is really needed is a) credit to allow people to buy stuff (and I'm not going to repeat myself about that particular point, however it does seem that lending has seriously contracted) and b) ways to get the car manufacturers shifting cars and hence keep people employed. For example, Germany has just approved an incentive scheme which will give you €2500 if you scrap a car older than 9 years and buy a new one. While development in new models must also be funded, no manufacturer wants to end up with fields and fields full of unsold cars. And while me and Dave are happy with the Arouser and the Octavia, they are 10 and 9 years old respectively, and if the government did offer us £2500 for a new car, we would more than likely take it (or at least seriously, seriously consider it).
I'm going to refrain from commenting about Lord Voldemort - sorry, Mandelson.
Why is it that our government appears to be unable to do any sort of joined-up thinking on this subject? Did Brown, bolstered by his own assertion that he'd ended boom and bust (excuse me while I laugh), simply not see this coming? Or did he see it and land himself the Prime Ministerial role just in time to land Darling with it? Am I the only person who's noticed that in nigh-on every Labour Budget, economic growth was overestimated and spending underestimated? And that was in the good times?
All I can say is roll on the election. The real Muppets could probably do a better job than this lot.
*As the world economy is screwed, not just ours, I'm inclined to partially agree - however, it's no use supporting other countries if no-one in this country has a job. Equally, it would be tricky for us if no-one else in the world had a job.
**Actually, I think we need to learn more about striking properly from the French, who do it rather well, but that might not be the best thing to say to the lads on the picket lines.
***That was my theory as to why Alistair Darling didn't go to the Economic Summit at Davos. They'd laugh their arses off at him. I'm amazed they didn't laugh Brown out of there, to be honest.