SCOTLAND has lost almost 40,000 manufacturing jobs since the financial crash, new analysis by GMB has shown.
The union claims that under the Conservatives, vital contracts are being “gambled away” overseas, resulting in a loss of Scottish workforce, especially in the shipbuilding and renewables sectors.
The figures, discussed at GMB’s Manufacturing Conference in Belfast last week, show that 39,900 jobs in the sector disappeared between 2007 and 2019, a fall of almost 16% – more than the entire population of Stirling.
In 2007, Scotland supported 252,300 permanent and temporary manufacturing jobs, but by 2019 that figure had slumped to 212,400.
GMB says the slump has been worsened by the Conservative Government’s lack of industrial strategy and failure to invest in UK jobs is costing a generation of workers their futures.
The union is campaigning for procurement decisions to take account of tax and spending in the UK, as well as subsidies paid to non-UK competitors.
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Jude Brimble (below), GMB National Secretary, said: “It’s a scandal the Conservatives are willing to gamble away manufacturing’s future.
“Under their watch, vital contracts are being sent overseas at the expense of industries, including shipbuilding and renewables manufacturing.
“The absence of any kind of industrial strategy, coupled with a complete lack of investment is robbing a whole generation of their futures.
“This has not happened by chance. There are thousands of jobs that could be created in sustainable energy and renewables, but this government have failed to invest and let our contracts go overseas.
“Labour are promising a green industrial revolution that creates the jobs our manufacturing industry that communities are crying out for.”
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