Department of Trade and
Industry, London - Tuesday December 12th 2006.
Unity General Secretary Geoff Bagnall
and Assistant Secretary Garry Oakes joined with North Staffordshire MPs and
directors representing pottery manufacturers at a meeting with Ian McCartney
(Minister of State - Foreign and Commonwealth Office and Department of Trade and
Industry).
This meeting was one of a series that have been held between the Department of
Trade and Industry and our industry leaders, and yet again was held with the
threat
of further job loss in the potteries - this time at Spode, Shires Bathrooms,
Twyfords
and Royal Stafford.
The representatives from the industry wanted to highlight the continued
pressures
facing ceramic manufacturers, and included on the agenda were issues of concern
for the industry. These included - Counterfeiting, US Import Tariffs, and
a mandatory
backstamp for ceramics.
A further meeting is planned for early in the new year and the minister has
promised
to make every effort to visit North Staffordshire during 2007.
Department of Trade and
Industry, London - Tuesday December 19th 2006.
Unity General Secretary Geoff Bagnall
and Assistant Secretary Garry Oakes held a
meeting with Minister of State Margaret Hodge at her office at the DTI in London
on
Tuesday 19th December.
Members of Parliament: Rob Flello (Stoke South), Mark Fisher (Stoke North),
Charlotte
Atkins (Moorlands), Paul Farrelly (Newcastle), and a representative for Joan
Walley
(Stoke North) were also present.
The delegation wished to discuss with the minister the apparent lack of inward
investment in our area.
Our Ceramic Resource Centre is becoming a major influence on incoming business
because of its source of readily available, and in some cases, already trained
workers.
It appears however that businesses interested in locating new ventures into
North Staffordshire are being deterred by a lack of available opportune sites,
and the fact that
potentially suitable sites have not even got outline planning permission.
The proposed "Business Quarter" in Stoke on Trent was also discussed at great
length
and all parties agreed that this will provide a major boost for the area which
will attract a
better quality, and in a lot of cases better paid job opportunities, than are
currently being
lost by redundancy and closure.
The worrying aspect of the Business Quarter is that work on the planned site
will not
commence until 2009/2010, by that time Stoke on Trent will once again have
missed
out on vital investment and job creation.
Other items on the agenda for this meeting included the current laws on Trade
Union Recognition which Unity believe are far too stringent, and are seeking
some relaxation
to this legislation.