LETTERS – Seven steps for job recovery

There’s no getting away from it, 2020 was a terrible year for jobs.

With forecasters predicting that 2021 will be just as tough, and unemployment possibly soaring to 2.6 million, UK workers desperately need a plan for jobs.

My union, Unite has a plan for 2021. Here’s how it can be achieved in seven steps.

1. Carbon Capture Use and Storage (CCUS) – Without CCUS, the UK’s cost of meeting global climate change targets leaps by 138 per cent. Using our North Sea assets would lesson the environmental impact of decommissioning. At least 10,000 new jobs would be created by the decade’s end, with 10,000 more by creating centralised transport and storage in the North Sea. With government support, 68,000 UK jobs could be created by 2050, boosting UK’s output to almost £3bn – with a major slice for workers wages.
2. Automotive – Our world class automotive manufacturing capacity desperately needs investment to deliver greener road vehicles. Central to delivering a green revolution are also 2,735 supply-chain companies which need to survive. Another automotive scrappage scheme would provide job and environmental boosts, but would need strict provisions for UK content. The last scheme saw just 10-15 per cent of cars bought were actually UK built.
3. Gigafactories – Gigafactories are needed to support the batteries that power electric vehicles (EVs)and jobs. Building seven new gigafactories would create between 43,280 and 76,600 new jobs by 2040. For the UK’s chemicals sector, the potential from pivoting to green tech is also substantial, possibly creating 12,096 jobs in the manufacture of UK EV batteries.
4. Aircraft replacement scheme – COVID-19 has collapsed demand for our world class aerospace capabilities. We also need to green a sector that represents six per cent of our CO2 emissions. A programme to replace older aircraft with newer, cleaner models has many green and employment benefits, breathing new life into UK manufacturing.
5. Broadband – Switching from copper to full-fibre broadband will need £30bn investment by 2025. With more reliance on online usage the UK’s infrastructure needs updating. Creating 59,000 jobs in construction, it will also provide almost £60bn in extra wealth, including wages, throughout UK.
6. Renewable energy – offshore wind – Without government support the potential for UK firms moving to offshore wind (OSW) will be delayed or missed completely. The UK needs to double the number of wind turbines by 2024. This would create 6,700 construction and installation jobs with another 6,900 in operation and maintenance by 2024. By 2030, 27,000 jobs could be created in the industry, by 2054, it could be half a million.
7. Housing retrofit – The UK’s inefficient housing stock means we need to clamp down on the 14 per cent of the UK’s greenhouse gasses emitted by our 27 million homes. Unite’s retrofit site would mean for every £1 million spent, £1.7m is released into the economy and communities as wages. Initially an annual investment of £470m could create 7,000 jobs every year. This more than pays for itself – generating an extra £800m a year in output and wages, spent by workers locally and in the wider economy. In these times like no other, we need action like no other.

Rodney Sadd
Union delegate for South Holland & The Deepings CLP