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North East praised for working together

A Government minister has praised workers and businesses in the North East for the way they have worked together to deal with the recession.

Employment Relations Minister Pat McFadden said he believed the North East possesses huge economic strengths and said it was important people remembered that to get it through the downturn. He also praised workers, unions, and business leaders for working together to ensure jobs were preserved.

He said: “I think management, workers, and their trade union representatives have shown a very positive and constructive attitude in some of the agreements. It can’t have been easy because some have involved pay freezes or pay reductions, because hours have been reduced.

“If you think about a person with a mortgage to meet or bills to pay, it isn’t easy, but workers have been willing to sit down and take decisions.”

Last month, Nissan, in Sunderland, became the latest car company to freeze workers’ pay. Senior staff at the factory, which announced 1,200 job cuts earlier in the year, will also have any payments they are entitled to above their normal salary cut by 15%.

In December, about 400 workers at Corus’ Teesside Beam Mill, in Lackenby, near Middlesbrough, agreed to have premium payments for working anti-social hours halved.

Despite the downturn, Mr McFadden said it was important that the region keeps its sense of self-belief.

He said: “In the North-East, I know that people there are losing their jobs and some companies are in difficulty, but it has huge economic strengths and it is important to retain its belief in those. If you look at the region’s position compared to 15 or 20 years ago, it is stronger. It is important to keep that in mind and keep that sense of belief.”

This was posted in Bdaily's Members' News section by Ruth Mitchell .