Wildcat strikes ‘reflect skills failure’
By Alex Stevenson
This week’s wildcat strikes at the Lindsey oil refinery have been condemned by a senior MP as an “indictment” of Britain’s skills shortage problem.
Phil Willis, chairman of the Commons’ innovation, universities, science and skills committee, told politics.co.uk he believes the government’s policies were partly responsible for British workers’ inability to complete the task required of them by Italian firm IREM.
A deal has now been struck which will see around half of the Italian and Portuguese workers originally sub-contracted to complete the work at the Lincolnshire refingery replaced by British staff.
It comes too late for Gordon Brown, however. His 2007 pledge of “British jobs for British workers” during the 2007 Labour party conference has come back to haunt him, even if it remains unclear whether the EU posted workers directive had an impact in the dispute.
Mr Willis said IREM’s decision to employ foreign workers was a direct reflection of the lack of skills available from the UK workforce.
“The British jobs for British workers dispute is central to this,” he said.
“English workers didn’t have the skills. That is unforgivable. For an employer to say we can get cheap labour is one thing – to justify it on the basis of skills is an indictment of all concerned.”
Mr Willis said the government’s “well-intentioned” record on skills was not having the effect required.
While applauding its success in raising literacy and numeracy levels he referred to “the law of unintended consequences” to explain how this commitment had a derogatory knock-on effect on level three and four skills.
“There are big flaws in the government’s policy,” he added, explaining that a narrowing funding agenda was seeing further education colleges struggle to provide “reskilling” and “upskilling” opportunities for the already-qualified graduates who have lost jobs in the City and elsewhere.
“Funding has been targeted at the government’s agenda. There seems to be little in the way of what I would call forward thinking,” he continued.
“What they’ve got to do is recognise colleges are the engine room of the skills agenda.”
He admitted the government has already begun to make its Train 2 Gain scheme, which critics say is too focused on level one and two skills, more flexible to accommodate the needs of workers in the recession.
Yesterday the Department for Innovation, Universities and Skills announced its apprenticeships, skills, children and learning bill, which will give all suitably qualified young people the legal right to on-the-job training.
