We’re saying “no to no deal” – because our jobs matter

I spent a day at Southampton docks last week, chatting with our shop stewards and members about the way the port could change in the event of a no deal Brexit. As a national officer, I used to represent dock workers across the UK and I know how the place runs – like clockwork, operating 24 hours a day, 363 days a year. Ships docking here circle the globe, carrying up to 24,000 containers packed with cargo, including food supplies and components for our auto, aerospace and wider manufacturing industries. Coming from outside the EU, these can be cleared in an hour, while for EU traffic there are currently no customs tariffs to be levied or paperwork to be checked. Following a no deal Brexit, quite apart from tariffs raising prices, delays at the port due to paperwork or clearance, will be a catastrophic disaster for UK Plc. Unite will do everything in its power to stop no deal.

Standing on the dock, I remembered the sight of helicopters landing, sent in to collect a consignment of Honda car door seals from a ship late into port. The demands of a synchronised “just-in-time” manufacturing system are such that the entire Swindon production line would have ground to a halt if those door seals hadn’t got to the car plant on schedule. ‘Just-in-time’ would have become ‘just-too-late’ if they had waited for delivery by road.

And that’s why Unite members working across the UK’s manufacturing sectors will be lobbying their MPs in parliament today to demand that they oppose a no deal. If the UK is forced to trade on World Trade Organisation terms, the smooth running of Southampton and other UK ports, alongside the industries they serve, will be severely disrupted, delaying delivery and undermining UK competitiveness. Tariffs will hike up the price of products made by our members – cars alone by up to 10% on exports. Hundreds of thousands of jobs could be hit, not just in autos in which some 850,000 work, but in aerospace, steel, shipbuilding, food manufacturing and more, along with our colleagues on the docks and any number of others in extended supply chains and logistics operations.

Talking of food manufacturing, Boris Johnson’s comedic (if only he were funny) efforts to win votes and dismiss the impact of a no deal with his false claims about Mars bars and kippers are absolutely shameful. This is a man who actually said “fuck business” in response to concerns over Brexit uncertainty. As are the claims of Patrick Minford, surely the only economist who actually thinks everything will be fine with no deal. He claimed to a select committee that it’s in our country’s interests to run down the car and steel industries, the industries our members work in and that support families and communities – communities that are a world away from that of the privilege, wealth and security inhabited by Boris Johnson, Jacob Rees-Mogg and Nigel Farage.

MPs must now step up. They may have defeated the government twice last week, but their vote to block a government suspending parliament to force through a no deal was only symbolic. The legal default is still to leave on 31 October with no deal.

We’ve carried out the largest ever study on the impact of Brexit at work. Brexit uncertainty has impacted on almost all those we interviewed, with many reporting that their employer has used it to cast doubt on job security and established terms and conditions. Manufacturing employers in particular have fuelled anxiety on their shop floors with threats and warnings of withdrawing planned investment and new products in the event of a no deal – and it’s not just the automotive and aerospace industries employers doing this, though they’ve been doing so most publicly.

In Northern Ireland, our research shows that crashing out of the EU will mean at least 40,000 job losses, with nearly every major sector impacted. A no deal Brexit represents a grave threat to virtually every aspect of Northern Ireland’s economy and an absolute threat to the on-going peace process as an inevitable hard border between the UK and EU is introduced. Such a move must be averted at all costs.

Meanwhile, our members who drive goods across our nations have been disgracefully left in the dark about how their safety and welfare will be protected post-Brexit. Road hauliers have been forced by the government to sign non-disclosure agreements about no deal contingency plans that are rumoured to include the suspension of safety-critical working time limitations.

More than anything, no deal will destroy our communities. If these jobs go, they won’t come back. We’re talking good jobs, jobs with skills, well-paid unionised jobs, alongside hope of an apprenticeship for coming generations that rightly demand a future. The loss of wage packets that support both families and communities will devastate already crippled high streets and local services.

Today in the House of Commons, with our stewards from across UK Plc, we’ll be telling MPs of all political parties that our jobs and communities matter. Now is the time for them to stand up and take action to ensure we deliver a resounding “No to no deal”.