Peugeot workers and market forces
…when we are gone the waters close over our heads without so much as a gurgle
the capitalist system [is] the best available protection for the interests of the working man, since it is this very flexibility of labour, and mobility of capital, that allows new jobs to be created and all the joy and excitement of industrial innovation
these labour-market conditions .. make the future job prospects of these car workers so much better than on the Continent
thanks to the vibrancy of the industry, and the flexibility of the labour market, your columnist will happily find employment writing headlines for Poultry Breeders Weekly
Ryton workers have a better future than French brothers
It is no consolation to the workers of Ryton and their families who face the misery of a factory closure that one day this column must, with Darwinian inevitability, face the same extinction.
I do not wish to diminish the gravity of events at the Peugeot plant when I say that there will also come a time when the forces of international capital will decree that there is no longer any economic justification for this space to be filled by the manual labour of this particular semi-skilled artisan.
The ancient word-plant will be shut. The gerundive turning-sheds will fall silent. The lathes will cease to hone the metaphors, and no sound will be heard in the vast grammatical assembly lines save the drip-drip-drip from the cracked skylight and the scuttling of rats in the stock of unused similes.
It will be a sad day, my friends, but no matter how tragic the prospect may now appear, it would be very odd to expect any kind of solidarity from my journalistic brethren. Will they down tools at the News of the World? Will the Sun come out in sympathy? Could I even expect any kind of secondary picketing from the lads and the lasses in The Daily Telegraph sports and arts departments? I rather fancy not.
Every columnist, every journalist, is impelled to write by the terrifying knowledge that ranged beneath us, smacking their chops, are hordes of brilliant and pustulant young thrusters, only too keen to show what magic they could produce in our places. Whatever delusions we may have about the affection in which we are held by the readers, the truth is that when we are gone the waters close over our heads without so much as a gurgle.
That is why I very much fear that Tony Woodley of the T&G and Derek Simpson of Amicus are laughably mistaken if they believe that the workers of Peugeot in France will strike in protest at the loss of 2,300 jobs in the UK.
It was in 1864 that Karl Marx stood up in London and announced that the hour of the international proletariat was at hand. If only they could see their common class interest, he raved, the workers could unite across frontiers, dispossess the bosses, and throw off their shackles.
As we all know, Marx was completely wrong. So strong was the feeling of national particularism that, far from uniting, the workers of the world spent much of the next century slaughtering each other. Indeed, the international proletariat has consistently shown that it is loyal to family, community, factory, country – but never to the international proletariat.
The workers of France and Spain will not go on strike for the workers of Ryton, for the simple prudential reason that they know that international capital will always be able to relocate, just as Peugeot itself is building a new factory in Slovakia and global manufacturing is moving to China, and whatever their sympathies for families in Coventry, the workers of France will feel that their first duty is to themselves and their families.
Now put like that it sounds cruel and ruthless; and yet what Marx also failed to understand was that this capitalist system was, in fact, the best available protection for the interests of the working man, since it is this very flexibility of labour, and mobility of capital, that allows new jobs to be created and all the joy and excitement of industrial innovation.
It is frankly rubbish to say that the Ryton closure is a “body blow” to British manufacturing, or even to the British motor-car industry. The amazing truth is that this supposedly services-obsessed economy is currently producing about 1.6 million cars a year – almost an all-time record, and far more than were being produced in the 1970s.
Look at Land Rover, free from the ossification of its design, now going through the biggest sales boom in its history. Look at those wonderful new Minis – brilliant, burly, bustling scarabs – most of them made by the ingenious workforce of south Oxfordshire. The German parent company is planning to pump in another £100 million, pushing sales up from 200,000 to 250,000, and we wouldn’t be able to attract that kind of German money if it were not for the labour-market flexibility now being denounced by Amicus and the T&G.
No one would have the confidence to invest so much in the car industry, and to employ so many people, if they did not have the simultaneous confidence that they could also lay people off when the market became difficult.
The Ryton Peugeot 206s were no doubt excellent machines, and no doubt produced to a very good standard, but they were not only rolling off the assembly line at a time when there is a car glut, with five vehicles being produced for every potential consumer: they were also being created in a piece of industrial heritage.
It is no criticism of the Ryton workforce that they were being asked to build competitively in a 1939 factory that had once produced the Sunbeam Talbot and the Hillman Imp. That is why I am suspicious of the unions’ claim that the factory was otherwise perfect, and only closed because it is easier to lay off workers in Britain than it is in France.
But let us suppose, for a moment, that this was the reason, and that the workers of Ryton are being penalised for our easy-come-easy-go employment law.
The key point, the point the unions wilfully ignore, is that it is precisely these labour-market conditions that make the future job prospects of these car workers so much better than on the Continent, and (as I think I said two weeks ago) it is those 1980s reforms that mean we in Britain have unemployment running at about four per cent, as against 10.2 per cent in France.
One day, perhaps one day soon, shiny new products will emerge from gorgeous refurbished factories on the Ryton site; just as one day this columnar factory will gracefully yield to some gorgeous pouting new agony aunt or sudoku variant, and thanks to the vibrancy of the industry, and the flexibility of the labour market, your columnist will happily find employment writing headlines for Poultry Breeders Weekly.
It’s the market and it’s the only way.
88 Comments
raincoster
possibly but all have definitely joined management unions!
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For some reason, all this reminds me of a saying: ‘Living well is the best revenge’ seems ‘Living well’ is the ultimate corruption? Only if you’ve never had it, like the union managers of this world. Personally I’ve met a few champagne socialists that are happy to use all their powers to change the world around them whilst remaining cocooned from it in their white bread world. They fight for the rights of this ideal and that working man, but they wouldn’t actually want to one!
A different species? Oh there are so many – try men and women for a start before we get onto class divide
PS: I think Boris is the only member of the establishment (journalist/politician) that’s NOT a hypocrite (well ok, excepting Bill Deedes of course
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jaq
I suspect that might make him a rather rare human being.
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You know, to go full-circle on this, a friend of mine used to have a Peugeot. It was a solid car; nothing ever went wrong with it. The problem was, the way it was designed, they actually had to take it into the shop and take the engine out to change the sparkplugs. So I guess you tell people they won’t have tons of things going wrong with it, so they’ll save money. But every time they do a tuneup, it costs them a week’s wages. Is this some sort of scheme?
I’m a socialist. OF COURSE it’s a scheme. The maintenance mechanic’s union obviously has more leverage than the repair mechanic’s union. Duh.
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When I got my first ever student loan in 1998 I went down the car auction every day for a month or so after college looking for something to spend it on.
I found a 1989 Peugeot 405 Mi16. It cost me £950, the syncromesh had gone on second gear and the ABS was on its last legs (only credible option is to convert to normal brakes for over a grand).
But it was the best thing I have ever driven in my life! What an engine! Everyone wanted to be in that car, it just had something special. Every time you got out of it you just wanted to get back in and you didn’t know why.
It blew away the boy racers hot hatches off the mark and kept up with big V6′s on the motorway.
Yes, like you say Raincoaster you needed to take the whole thing apart to fix anything. But the engine was fine and after a repair to the gearbox and clutch you could put up with the dodgy brakes. You didn’t have to slow down for the corners anyway, the handling was perfection itself. I lost control of it once and managed to go from being dead on sideways to being dead on sideways in the other direction without leaving the lane I was in.
Yes it was a ‘nail’ but I still dream about that car today and wake up GUTTED!
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Whereas, like a good proletarian, I had a Honda Civic and ended up consoling myself that I could do the valve adjustments myself.
What! A! Bloody! Thrill!
Yeah, I preferred my friend’s Peugeot too.
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Jack – what are you saying??
raincoaster – lovely thought but as an engineer let me assure you that you are assuming FAR too much organisation and forward thinking. Classic example: the Ford Pinto – fuel tank dirently behind the rear bumper. One small rear shunt and it burst into flames, yet the engineering might of the great Ford car company was behind that one! Then there’s the Liberty ships, I could go on but suffice to say that so called ‘experts’ are not always brilliant. In fact they often miss the in-yer-face-my-own-mother-could-have-seen-that-one bleedin’ obvious! Which, in my humble opinion, is why it’s so scary having social policy and people convicted of murder based on the ravings on ONE supposed expert in the form of Roy Meadow. A dickhead if ever there was one.
I’d normally make a joke here and say it was the same as me creating a syndrome for thisthatortheother but some stupid arse with a degree, ambition and not much else would use it and patent it
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Bytheway, I’m not a stupid arse with a degree, ambition and not much else.
Actually I have two degrees, have always been told I have a nice arse, and no ambition.
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I’m sure your arse is breathtaking. As is your obvious patience with civilians such as myself.
Ah, but you never worked for Ford.
Fix
Or
Repair
Daily
That joke is so old among mechanics that it was current before the Beatles broke up.
And every time a Pinto exploded, they got to sell another car! Honestly, in North America, in certain cities, you could not drive a Japanese car for fear of having it torched. Although even torched, it probably would have run better than some of the crap Detroit put out.
Is this the point to tie it in to the China thread? Or just bring up a Grosse Point Blank reference?
What the hey, I’ve had a couple of Martinis. John Cusack trumps Hu any day. Grosse Point Blank, if you haven’t seen it, is an interesting commentary on America’s engineering decline. As well as a hilarious, retro-80′s dramedy with an awesome soundtrack.
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Haven’t seen grosse point thingy and thanks for the tip raincoaster, I’ll rent it.
Thanks also for the biggest laugh today:
Fix
Or
Repair
Daily
That joke is so old among mechanics that it was current before the Beatles broke up.
(I wont try pointy brackets as this pc is steam driven and failing)
No I’ve never worked for Ford and never did like the Beatles – could never understand why PH hates then with a vengance as in my opinion they were about as dangerous as bubblegum.
And yes, thankyou raincoaster he was breathtaking but we broke up
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You guys are not listening. Get a Peugeot (or Citroen) with one of those fast 16v engines.
When the 306 GTI6 came out none other than Jeremy Clarkson remarked that ‘on the right A-road it’s as much fun as a Ferrari 355′!
Nothing really happens until the little red needle hits 5,000rpm. Next thing you know your front seat passenger is cowering behind their raised arms and begging you to slow down. Then you go flying forward into your seat-belt as the fuel cuts out (at about 7,200rpm) and you have to change up a gear.
Once that surge of acceleration starts it just gets faster and faster and faster and faster and faster. I’ve driven much faster cars but I have never seen anything that scares people like those 16v Peugeot engines!
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So, Columbus was right all along.
He said it WAS John Prescott !!!!!
And the bloody Labours were picking on our Boris, Melissa?!!!!
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“but I have never seen anything that scares people like
those 16v Peugeot engines!”??
Then you’re an idiot Steven L – scaring people and putting their lives in danger is neither big or clever.
Go skydiving, go water skiing, don’t try to scare other people when either they or some innocent bystander could die.
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Thought Mrs Prescott’s alleged response to allegations of him having a 2 yr affair was hilarious: apparently she said it was a big weight of her chest. hahahaaa
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According to some newspaper report Prescott’s paramour was allegedly spotted ‘…nuzzling Mr Prescott’s neck in a lift.’
However nauseating the vision this conjures, it must be rubbish; he hasn’t got a neck.
(or a brain, as some would have it)
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You’re obviously a city boy Jaq.
There aren’t many bystanders in the middle of Northumberland
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Oh, and why can’t Sountherners drive in the snow? One centimetre of the stuffin Kent and the whole of the South East is suddenly on some sort of severe weather alert.
It’s not difficult. Front wheel drive you use your handbrake, rear wheel drive you brake left footed duh!
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Hmmm, not sure I agree with that. You don’t see that much snow. Either that or brake repairs are way cheaper there than here.
I live in Canada, so I have some little experience of snow. What amuses me is that in Vancouver (which gets snow about once every three years, literally) every time it DOES snow the news crews go out and film the eedjuts spinning their tires.
“So, how are you handling the snow?”
“Great. Easy. Nuthin to it. I grew up in Ontario, ya know.”
cut to film of same eedjut spinning his tires and going backwards down the slope.
I honestly think it’s a matter of pride to these people to forget everything they knew about driving in snow once they come to Vancouver. They are the biggest idiots.
It amused me when I first moved here to see people carrying umbrellas in snow. The only place I’d encountered that was The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe. But then, I grew up in Winnipeg: one of the first pics of me shows me standing on a snowbank…even with the top of the telephone poles. Some summers the snowbanks would hardly melt by July, and all our Halloween costumes had to fit over snowsuits.
In Vancouver, when the temperature approaches freezing (once a year or so) they give very serious frostbite warnings and tell you to be sure to take out your earrings, lest your lobes freeze and drop to the sidewalk. Honestly, I kill myself laughing.
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Steven L – I rest my case
Joe – indeed! Laughed at that one but sincere apologies for the impression I must have given to everyone about the affair. It seems that the Mrs was none the wiser and I was given the impression she encouraged. My apologies. I suppose it’s just that most of us WOULD encourage.
(oh, and by the way, you accelerate faster, generally go quicker, scare better and die faster on a motorbike. Try showing off on that in the snow, rain, floods, even a river once, across continents. Been there, done that, got the T shirt
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raincoaster – I rode to Germany once from the UK and was sat on luggage strapped across the seat with cord. I didn’t realise that the cord had cut the blood off to my legs as they still seemed to do what I wanted, until I made a stop in Belgium. Left foot on the ground, swung the other over and crashed to the ground. Then I couldn’t get up. You had to be there.
Me on skis? Bridget Jones. For skiing in the snow, Melissa is The One. And gorgeous with it I might add – where’s the piccy Mel?
Anyone see the prog on the Jew that lives with 7 wives here? PH seemed to think that situation preferable to giving support to single mothers. What barmy logic is that?? I’m sure that man is from Krypton and he’s been sitting near Kryptonite for years and doesn’t know it. Yep, definately, underpants on top, blue tights in private and a seriously addled brain. You heard it here first folks
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Jaq, OK, yes when I was 18 I was an idiot. Driving fast (unless you do it on a racetrack) is not big or clever.
For your peace of mind I no longer have a car as I do not need one for uni and will not need one to work in London when I start the real world.
More beer money suits me fine! Cars just make you skint.
If you insult me when I’m stressed out trying to finish my dissertation I will probably try to insult you back though.
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If possible please stick with insulting Prezza. Oh and go buy a Daily Mirror today (never thought I would say that) the front page is worth framing today though.
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Oh, you’d be so proud of me! I looked at the pic posted on Guido Fawkes’ blog and said:
WHO LET THE DOGS OUT?
I dunno what kinda crowd Guido gets, but they seemed to think I was out of line and she was a total hottie. All I can say is hmmmmm…I should come to London. I’d wipe the sidewalks with the competition.
In North American polygamists always seem to show a marked preference for isolation and xenophobia. This should be encouraged, as it means that within a few generations the’ll be so inbred they’ll be quadruped.
I know whereof I speak, as in the late seventies a couple of familes of hillbillies were found in the mountains outside Vancouver. They’d been isolated so long they had no idea Canada was a formal “country” (ie for more than a hundred years, four generations) and, of course, they were feuding. Once the media exposure got to be too much, one of the families (the Bergs, if I recall) decided they were better off before, and picked up and moved further into the mountains. Haven’t been heard from since, presumably cross-breeding with grizzlies and mountain lions.
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Steven L – that wasn’t insulting, that was caring. Ask around the board honey, if I insult you, believe me, you’ll know about it. Glad to hear you didn’t kill yourself or anyone else and have grown out of that nonsense. Cheers! (clink, glug, ahh happy days)
Bytheway, I grew out of the motorbike nonsense. Still have the leathers though, there’s just something about the smell……. sorry, had a moment there.
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raincoaster – excellent! that would explain the man, too much inbreeding!
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Having said that Jaq, if in a few years I saw a well cared for example in the paper I’d be very tempted.
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But who’s that Eliza? Hmm, the plot thickens, or as in John Prescott’s case, the plot fattens!
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Oh Steven sweetie don’t be tempted, believe me, a woman is better, she’s got spline curves and everything….honestly!
Sex within marriage is supposed to be wonderful but you’ll have to apply to someone married to find that out. Try Peter Hitchens – he’s ALWAYS banging on about how fab marriage is, or on this board you’ve got Melissa, Jack, Mark, Mac, and of course Boris.
Ask away my friend!
(peter.hitchens [Email address: peter.hitchens #AT# mailonsunday.co.uk - replace #AT# with @ ])
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jaq, are you implying that they’re all having sex? Good heavens, and I thought our office parties were lively!
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raincoaster – I’m suprised they can find the strength to blog at all! Especially Melissa – women always have to do the laundry don’t they?? Men never do.
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Laundry? You mean that stuff piled in the hallway? I’ve been waiting for someone to get to that.
Incidentally, Quentin Crisp was right: after three years, the dust doesn’t get any worse, so why bother dusting?
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Who says men don’t do laundry? Here’s one who does, but not out of choice .
And Q Crisp was right . At least I know where everything is!
Dust or no!
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The SUN had this question yesterday on page 5:
” Have you too Laboured under the Deputy Prime Minister – John Prescott – or would you prepared to sleep with him? Give us a call on 020 7782 4068 ( don’t worry, we won’t tell anyone ).”
Who says John Prescott and Tracey Temple were having sex together? No, they were making pancakes together for wholesalers !!!
God, now we have to look at their pictures on the front pages everyday. They are both so damn ugly which makes the whole business horribly nauseating !!!
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John Prescott’s love affair will make his wife Pauline’s famous hairdo stand on end permanently and this will save her a lot of money on hairsray. Don’t you think?
Pauline should look on the bright side.
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You mean her gravity defying hairdo? Hahahahaha!!! It’s so Bet Lynch!!!!!!
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sure did give me a chuckle, Chuckle!
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The poor woman’s been cuckolded and you slag off her hairdo!!
Beauty and attraction are in the eye of the beholder – Ken Livingstone had an affair didn’t he? And some arseh— married Cherie Booth!
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She’s still a lot prettier than her husband…or the “suspects.”
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I wouldn’t shag ” 2 Shags ” even for one of his Jags.
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Eew! just the thought!!
who’s sexier then – Tory MP’s, New Labour or Dem Libs??
(and who really cares, oh yes, the admin staff in westminster, ah the ups and downs of government)
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Hasn’t someone already likened the subterranean part of Westminster to a rabbit warren. I think Pauline must have demanded that the buck stop here!
It’s cost him what looks like a total makeover for their turreted home in Hull already, maybe he’ll end up in the moat. A mote is what I rate Two S**gs as anyway.
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Someone told me a Prezza joke yesterday at a cricket match.
She said ‘I was lying in bed with my husband the other day when he asked me “what is a diary secretary anyway?”. I said “I suppose its the person who keeps his diary for him.” To which he replied “There must be a lot of space in it then”.’
Jaq, that Justine Greening from Putney is by a mile the best looking MP. (Sorry Boris but you’re not my type)
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I just loved that women’s program that consulted Edwina Currie on how to maintain marital fidelity. Honestly, the jokes just write themselves!
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Steven L – Boris is not your type? Have you read Eliza’s poem ” The Lover ” on this blog ?
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To be honest, I have always fancied Duncan. He is so awfully, awfully temptingly sexy. But, it is a case of… suivre l’amour, l’amour fuir… fuir l’amour, l’amour suivre…
Still, I send him my pure love today and everyday.
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I liked what C. Freud said on HIGNFY – in his day they used to pay their secretaried and sleep with their wives. Blair is so keen on paperwork it makes you wonder what these contracts are worth. Is there an insanity clause do you think?
(don’t be silly, everyone knows there aint no sanity clause, groan)
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Tracey Temple’s fiance said: ” Never mind 2 shags … my Tracey was 9 SHAGS. ”
Tracey must be one fit lady !
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Charles Clark did NOT offer to quit last week over the freed foreign convicts scandal.
He told the BBC that he had offered to go but Blair ASKED him to stay – which infuriated Blair.
Blair stormed out of the Commons on Wednesday after being humiliated about his refusal to accept the ” phantom ” resignation!!!
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So if he lied about Bliar and infuriated him, how come he’s still in post?
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Well, Charles Clarke is a brazen hussy.
Blair is not only a cuckoled wimp but also does not want to disrupt his government just before the local elections- and by the time the local elections are over, ALL these scandals will have been old snows- and Charles Clarke KNOWS that !!!!!
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