Received from: GMB
The Stoke-on-Trent potteries are the historic home of the UK ceramics industry, providing highly skilled, decent and unionised jobs in working-class communities. However, global undercutting and failure to provide UK energy security has left the potteries in crisis.
Congress notes that:
i. ceramics sustains tens of thousands of jobs through using local supply chains, the gas network and supplying goods to many sectors in the economy
ii. illegal ‘dumping’ of ceramic goods from competitors abroad and high energy costs in the UK threaten what is left of this world-leading industry.
Congress believes that:
a. government support for ceramic manufacturers with electricity costs must be matched with support for costs of gas as the industry’s main form of energy supply and key to its lower-carbon future through investment in hydrogen and carbon capture technologies
b. leaving unionised UK industries to collapse while importing what they make from other countries with lower labour standards is against trade union values
c. public procurement rules must ensure more contracts are awarded to UK suppliers who utilise domestic supply chains and unionised workforces.
Congress calls on:
1. the TUC and affiliate unions to pledge support for GMB’s campaign to save Britain’s pottery industry by signing The Potters’ Pledge petition
2. the TUC and affiliate unions to commit to purchasing a share of their ceramic needs from unionised UK manufacturers, approved by The Potters’ Pledge campaign
3. the government to urgently take further action called for by Britain’s pottery workers to save their industry and put ceramics at the heart of UK industrial strategy.
GMB