NEWS RELEASE
Scottish Executive can and should act now to help ensure that service sector jobs are retained in Scotland
Commenting on the TUC report `Global Offshoring' published today, Stephen Boyd, STUC Assistant Secretary said:
"The STUC fully supports the TUC's call for a clear strategy to maintain full employment in the UK economy in the face of growing competition from developing economies for global service sector trade".
"The STUC believes that large-scale offshoring of Scottish service sector jobs is not inevitable and that the process can be mitigated by the public policy response. The Scottish Executive can and should act now to help ensure that service sector jobs are retained in Scotland".
"Call Centres in particular provide important jobs, often in areas that have been ravaged by the decline in manufacturing and more can be done to ensure that Scotland's competitive advantage in relation to these jobs is enhanced. The enterprise networks must ensure that employers are encouraged and supported to train their employees in the language and higher-level ICT skills that will be so important to the call centre work of the future. It is also vital that Scotland's telecommunications and transport infrastructure are not just maintained but improved to a level that continues to offer Scotland a substantial edge over developing economies".
"The service sector is currently driving the Scottish economy. Ministers must seek to promote the sector and the important jobs it provides. That Scottish Ministers have little influence over global economic forces should not prevent them from embarking on a mature discussion with their employer and trade union partners on how the quality and sustainability of service sector jobs in Scotland might be improved".
ENDS
For further details contact: Stephen Boyd David Moxham
Tel: 0141 337 8100 / Fax: 0141 337 8101 www.stuc.org.uk
NOTES
The TUC report calls for:
· the DTI to undertake a mapping exercise and assessment of all jobs at risk to provide an accurate picture of the current offshoring situation and potential developments in every UK region.
· the research to form the basis of a strategic response to offshoring that operates at a national, regional and workplace level.
· The DTI-led strategy should produce and promote best practice guidance on offshoring that requires companies to present a thorough business case justifying plans to move jobs, fully consult staff and unions on any plans and guarantee no compulsory redundancies and the retraining and redeployment of any staff affected. The guidance should also stipulate the responsibility of companies in the UK to ensure decent pay and conditions for workers they employ in developing economies.
More from 'Global offshoring':
· Full employment depends on the UK winning a bigger share of an expanding global service sector. This presents a potentially major industrial restructuring challenge as the TUC estimates that between 150,000 - 750,000 UK private service sector jobs could become vulnerable to global competition over the next two or three decades. This is an estimate and although the service sector could grow enough to prevent net job losses we cannot afford to be complacent.
· The TUC proposes that the strategy to meet the challenge should also include smart regional and industrial policies that give regional development agencies the responsibility to:
a) help firms to develop alternatives to offshoring through investment in technology and the workforce
b) ensure that any adverse impact of off-shoring on regional and local economies are offset by policies to create new jobs