How did Yuasa workers lose out on the same employment, higher education and training opportunities as MG Rover workers?
1. In mid January 2005, Yuasa Batteries (formerly Lucas Batteries) officially announced that it would be closing its Birmingham factory at the end of the year with the loss of 350 jobs. Yuasa is one of the largest, longest established (82 years) and best paying employers in the area.
2. The factory is located in the Springfield Ward (an area of increasing deprivation) and Sparkbrook District (an area of high deprivation with an unemployment rate of 19% in some areas). The government has identified four neighbourhoods in the Springfield Ward which fall into the 10% most deprived in England and Wales. Three of these most deprived neighbourhoods are located between 0.75 and 1.25 km of the Yuasa factory. The primary cause of this deprivation are economic - unemployment, poor qualifications and low income (source: Springfield Ward Committee Minutes 5th October 2005).
3. On being notified of mass redundancies in Dec. 2004 / Jan. 2005, Job Centre Plus (JCP) and Learning and Skills Council (LSC) organised courses to assist Yuasa workers in CV writing, interview techniques and training in fork-lift driving, abrasive wheels (4 employees), welding and AutoCad (4 employees). The courses were trivial ('taster'), basic e.g. Information Technology, of very short duration, poorly organised, 'dumbed' down (Level 2 NVQ in Performing Manufacturing Operations) and unsuitable as they did not address key skills shortages in the West Midlands.
The higher education courses such as plumbing, gas, trade skills, etc., required workers to pay large sums of money e.g. £3,500. Some workers were made redundant in the middle of re-training and so were unable to complete what little was on offer.
4. Despite JCP receiving funding (Government Rapid Response Fund) to handle the redundancies, none of the workers was offered the higher education training that more than 2000 MG Rover workers subsequently received at prestigious institutions such as the £20m state-of-the-art Construction Centre in Bordesley Green. This is curious because the Centre was specifically built to address key skills shortages in the construction industry in the West Midlands (for its regeneration). As of November 2005, the Government Rapid Response Fund was unspent.
5. Former Rover workers who belong to the same Union as Yuasa workers (TGWU) received far more effective support e.g. wives and partners of Rover workers were given full and free access to training courses across the region; over four hundred employers were contacted in the West Midlands who subsequently pledged almost 2,500 jobs to Rover workers and almost 100 Employment Agencies offered help and vacancies. In contrast, only two employers of substance, Toyota and Honda, who are based outside Birmingham were invited to recruit Yuasa workers.
5. Since it was a large scale redundancy, workers were entitled to immediate access to government schemes and re-training programmes without having to wait the normal six months. However, since being made redundant in March 2005, some workers have remained unemployed and have not been able to access any government schemes or re-training programmes as they were promised by JCP.
6. Approximately half of the workforce was made redundant in March 2005 - a few were re-hired by Yuasa on short-term contracts on less favourable terms and conditions. When their contracts expire, they will no longer be classified as being part of a large scale redundancy and so will not be entitled to immediate entry onto government schemes or re-training programmes.
7. None of the local officials e.g. Roger Godsiff MP, nine local councillors and local council officials at the Sparkbrook District Office knew about the mass redundancies at Yuasa until the issue was first raised at the Sparkbrook District Committee Meeting in late September 2005 by Keep Springfield Clean Campaign and a petition was submitted at the Springfield Ward Committee Meeting in October 2005. For senior officials not to be aware of a mass redundancies in
their geographical area of responsibility is shocking considering the Yuasa factory is located near / next to venues where political functions regularly take place e.g. Springfield Ward Conference at Al-Furqan School, Formans Road; councillor surgeries and Ward Committee Meetings at Tyseley and District Community Centre, Formans Road. Moreover, news of the redundancies and closure was published and broadcast in local media outlets and even local Brummie historian Dr. Carl Chinn was aware.
8. However, Birmingham City Council (BCC), JCP and LSC knew as far back as Dec. 2004/Jan. 2005 that there would be mass redundancies at Yuasa. BCC knew before the Union and Yuasa workers. It is curious that BCC did not cite the case of Yuasa when the MG Rover crisis broke out in May 2005 - the closure of MG Rover costing the West Midlands economy £500m. JCP and LSC are represented at the highest level on the Birmingham Strategic Partnership Board (BSP). Key objectives of the BSP are to achieve more effective joined up action in relation to regeneration and tackling deprivation, sharing relevant information and closing the gap in deprived areas. JCP and LSC also have representatives at a local level, namely the Sparkbrook District Strategic Partnership (DSP) which meets every six weeks. The key objective of the Sparkbrook DSP is to achieve more joined up action to tackle deprivation, poverty, unemployment; and increase prosperity,
literacy, etc. Yet the Sparkbrook DSP did not know about mass redundancies in the area that it covers and has yet to have Yuasa on its agenda.
9. Over the past twelve months, the BSP has been represented by two elected officials from Sparkbrook District namely Cllr. Talib Hussain and Cllr. Jerry Evans. Cllr. Evans holds six key positions: (i) Councillor for Springfield Ward, (ii) Chair of the Springfield Ward Committee, (iii) Chair of the Springfield Ward Advisory Board, (iv) Chair of the Sparkbrook District Committee, (v) Senior official of the Sparkbrook DSP and (vi) Board Member of BSP. Despite holding all these key positions, Cllr. Evans did not know about mass redundancies on his doorstep! Last year Cllr. Evans unilaterally suspended the
monthly Springfield Ward Advisory Board for five months without consulting other Board Members because he mistakenly believed there was no business to discuss! Yet Springfield Ward contains four
neighbourhoods that fall into the 10% most deprived in England and Wales and the cause of this deprivation are economic - unemployment.... In practical terms, this means mass redundancies by large and long established multi-million pound mass-manufacturing automotive factories...and Institutional Failings whereby such a significant event is not communicated by the relevant agencies to local officials; goes unnoticed by elected local councillors; and not adequately addressed by those given the resources to do so.
Kind Regards
Springfield Neighbourhood Association
2. The factory is located in the Springfield Ward (an area of increasing deprivation) and Sparkbrook District (an area of high deprivation with an unemployment rate of 19% in some areas). The government has identified four neighbourhoods in the Springfield Ward which fall into the 10% most deprived in England and Wales. Three of these most deprived neighbourhoods are located between 0.75 and 1.25 km of the Yuasa factory. The primary cause of this deprivation are economic - unemployment, poor qualifications and low income (source: Springfield Ward Committee Minutes 5th October 2005).
3. On being notified of mass redundancies in Dec. 2004 / Jan. 2005, Job Centre Plus (JCP) and Learning and Skills Council (LSC) organised courses to assist Yuasa workers in CV writing, interview techniques and training in fork-lift driving, abrasive wheels (4 employees), welding and AutoCad (4 employees). The courses were trivial ('taster'), basic e.g. Information Technology, of very short duration, poorly organised, 'dumbed' down (Level 2 NVQ in Performing Manufacturing Operations) and unsuitable as they did not address key skills shortages in the West Midlands.
The higher education courses such as plumbing, gas, trade skills, etc., required workers to pay large sums of money e.g. £3,500. Some workers were made redundant in the middle of re-training and so were unable to complete what little was on offer.
4. Despite JCP receiving funding (Government Rapid Response Fund) to handle the redundancies, none of the workers was offered the higher education training that more than 2000 MG Rover workers subsequently received at prestigious institutions such as the £20m state-of-the-art Construction Centre in Bordesley Green. This is curious because the Centre was specifically built to address key skills shortages in the construction industry in the West Midlands (for its regeneration). As of November 2005, the Government Rapid Response Fund was unspent.
5. Former Rover workers who belong to the same Union as Yuasa workers (TGWU) received far more effective support e.g. wives and partners of Rover workers were given full and free access to training courses across the region; over four hundred employers were contacted in the West Midlands who subsequently pledged almost 2,500 jobs to Rover workers and almost 100 Employment Agencies offered help and vacancies. In contrast, only two employers of substance, Toyota and Honda, who are based outside Birmingham were invited to recruit Yuasa workers.
5. Since it was a large scale redundancy, workers were entitled to immediate access to government schemes and re-training programmes without having to wait the normal six months. However, since being made redundant in March 2005, some workers have remained unemployed and have not been able to access any government schemes or re-training programmes as they were promised by JCP.
6. Approximately half of the workforce was made redundant in March 2005 - a few were re-hired by Yuasa on short-term contracts on less favourable terms and conditions. When their contracts expire, they will no longer be classified as being part of a large scale redundancy and so will not be entitled to immediate entry onto government schemes or re-training programmes.
7. None of the local officials e.g. Roger Godsiff MP, nine local councillors and local council officials at the Sparkbrook District Office knew about the mass redundancies at Yuasa until the issue was first raised at the Sparkbrook District Committee Meeting in late September 2005 by Keep Springfield Clean Campaign and a petition was submitted at the Springfield Ward Committee Meeting in October 2005. For senior officials not to be aware of a mass redundancies in
their geographical area of responsibility is shocking considering the Yuasa factory is located near / next to venues where political functions regularly take place e.g. Springfield Ward Conference at Al-Furqan School, Formans Road; councillor surgeries and Ward Committee Meetings at Tyseley and District Community Centre, Formans Road. Moreover, news of the redundancies and closure was published and broadcast in local media outlets and even local Brummie historian Dr. Carl Chinn was aware.
8. However, Birmingham City Council (BCC), JCP and LSC knew as far back as Dec. 2004/Jan. 2005 that there would be mass redundancies at Yuasa. BCC knew before the Union and Yuasa workers. It is curious that BCC did not cite the case of Yuasa when the MG Rover crisis broke out in May 2005 - the closure of MG Rover costing the West Midlands economy £500m. JCP and LSC are represented at the highest level on the Birmingham Strategic Partnership Board (BSP). Key objectives of the BSP are to achieve more effective joined up action in relation to regeneration and tackling deprivation, sharing relevant information and closing the gap in deprived areas. JCP and LSC also have representatives at a local level, namely the Sparkbrook District Strategic Partnership (DSP) which meets every six weeks. The key objective of the Sparkbrook DSP is to achieve more joined up action to tackle deprivation, poverty, unemployment; and increase prosperity,
literacy, etc. Yet the Sparkbrook DSP did not know about mass redundancies in the area that it covers and has yet to have Yuasa on its agenda.
9. Over the past twelve months, the BSP has been represented by two elected officials from Sparkbrook District namely Cllr. Talib Hussain and Cllr. Jerry Evans. Cllr. Evans holds six key positions: (i) Councillor for Springfield Ward, (ii) Chair of the Springfield Ward Committee, (iii) Chair of the Springfield Ward Advisory Board, (iv) Chair of the Sparkbrook District Committee, (v) Senior official of the Sparkbrook DSP and (vi) Board Member of BSP. Despite holding all these key positions, Cllr. Evans did not know about mass redundancies on his doorstep! Last year Cllr. Evans unilaterally suspended the
monthly Springfield Ward Advisory Board for five months without consulting other Board Members because he mistakenly believed there was no business to discuss! Yet Springfield Ward contains four
neighbourhoods that fall into the 10% most deprived in England and Wales and the cause of this deprivation are economic - unemployment.... In practical terms, this means mass redundancies by large and long established multi-million pound mass-manufacturing automotive factories...and Institutional Failings whereby such a significant event is not communicated by the relevant agencies to local officials; goes unnoticed by elected local councillors; and not adequately addressed by those given the resources to do so.
Kind Regards
Springfield Neighbourhood Association
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