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In this Adult Learners issue » Week reports >>p2 & 3
» News from unionlearn with the South West TUC Summer 2012 Issuing a call to learn >>p7
Reach for the sky >>p6
Sparks fly for Sabina in Swindon. Read the full story on pages four and five. Image: David Morrison www.dmphotographyltd.com
“Knowing is not enough, we must apply” Unionlearn discovers what the Germans can teach the UK about industrial policy
The UK has a lot to learn from the German approach to industry if it is to end its over-reliance on financial services and witness a renaissance in manufacturing, says the TUC. A TUC report, German Lessons: Developing industrial policy in the UK , was the basis for a debate at the summer’s Tolpuddle Martyrs’ Festival, hosted by unionlearn and attended by former TUC general secretary Lord John Monks, TUC Senior Policy Officer Tim Page and representatives from two German unions, Ver:di and IGMetall. The report looks at how government approaches to industry in Germany and the UK have differed since 1945, and comes up with a number of suggestions as to how a more strategic, intelligent and active approach to government industrial policy could reap huge dividends for British manufacturing and the UK economy. The report says in the UK there is a great deal of emphasis on large firms and on
as the global economic slowdown began to take hold.
the very smallest companies, but little thought or support is given over to mediumsized enterprises. Yet in Germany, the ‘mittelstand’ – a network of thousands of medium companies – is the backbone of the economy and a crucial part of the German supply chain. The concept of the social market is as dear a principle to the German people as the NHS is to the British public, says the report, and an economic system which brings management and workers together and has at its heart a strong positive role for unions and employers gave German firms a very definite advantage
The TUC report also says that talented graduates in the UK are less likely to choose a career in industry than they are in Germany, and this combined with a three-year vocational training programme provides a massive boost to the country’s manufacturing firms, as does the German use of apprenticeships, where 40% of school leavers are taken on by employers for three years, compared to the UK’s 6% for one year. Unionlearn South West Regional Manager Helen Cole said: “The UK has much to learn from Germany – it is the powerhouse of the European economy and its politicians have never lost sight of the value of their manufacturing sector. But it’s not too late for British manufacturing – a new approach to skills, investment and procurement could help bring the UK back to its rightful place as one of the major manufacturing nations of the world.”