Friday, June 17, 2005

Labour is working

Conservative MP Julie Kirkbride has attacked the "stupid" and "ill informed" Work and Pensions minister, Margaret Hodge, for suggesting that some Rover workers might find new jobs at Tesco. Car building skills are only valuable if companies and ultimately customers pay for them. Rover cars were not valued.

Ex-Rover employees now have some difficult choices to make, find new well paid engineering jobs in the West Midlands or change jobs and industry sector entirely with a consequent drop in pay. A Tescos job should be seen as just one of the many options available to the ex-employees. Julie Kirkbride should welcome this.

A flexible labour economy requires future employees to adjust their skills to match employers' labour requirements. Britain should not expect thousands of ex-Rover employees to just keep their existing skills for nostalgic reasons.

2 comments:

Anonymous said...

I won't have a word said against the delectable Ms Kirkbride. She may be an airhead BUT she is an attractive airhead, imo!

Bishop Hill said...

Nice quote about Hodge from TGWU General Secretary Tony Woodley

"an incompetent idiot masquerading as a minister"

(Via Laban Tall)