Dismayed by Labour’s inaction over Burberry

I’m surprised and dismayed that the Assembly Government has failed to apply to a special European fund to help offset the loss of the Burberry factory in Treorci - despite the fact that I wrote personally to the minister in March to highlight the establishment of the fund.

I wrote to the then Economic Development Minister Andrew Davies when Burberry went ahead with the closure of the factory in Treorci, pointing out that the European Union has recently established a Globalisation Adjustment Fund to provide funds for workers for training and preparing for alternative work. The idea is to counterbalance the effects of businesses moving from the European Union to places with cheaper labour such as China and India .

It would be invaluable for the Burberry workers hoping to establish a cooperative to take over the Treorci factory.

Although in most cases the fund is available in situations where more than 1,000 workers are made redundant there is a clause which takes into account cases where a community is affected by a closure as it is a major employer in the community, as in the case of Treorci.

Now I learn that there have been just two applications to this 500m Euro fund, and both have been from France.

Bearing in mind that I wrote to Andrew Davies in March, there was plenty of time before the Assembly elections to start the ball rolling. The French government have clearly seen the merits of the fund as they commented that it was there to help people get jobs and get back on their feet.

It is vital that the Assembly Government makes an urgent, albeit belated, case to the UK Government to request funding from this European fund for the former Burberry workers.

Legally binding CSR would have helped Burberry workers

The long awaited report on Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) was discussed today in the European Parliament, with members voting tomorrow.

The recent example of Burberry in Treorci has quite plainly shown that voluntary Corporate Social Responsibility does not work. Their Corporate Social Responsibility policies which spoke of working closely with the community were worthless and have been ignored.

This demonstrates with absolute clarity the need for measures to be legally binding and this is what I will be calling for in the European Parliament report.

I urge all MEPs to vote responsibly on this issue in tomorrow’s vote and support the workers - not the disgraceful actions of Burberry. We must make companies accountable to their workforce and answerable for their actions.

Congratulations Burberry workers

Congratulations to the Burberry workers on winning a better deal from the company, even though it seems as determined as ever to move production out of Treorci.

The workers have put up a wonderful fight for their jobs and the community. We have to do everything we can now to ensure that if the closure goes ahead we create new jobs in the Rhondda.

There are a number of schemes being looked at. I have written to the Assembly and Westminster Government Ministers to urge them to apply for money under the new European Union Globalisation Fund to help areas like this, which are devastated when companies move out.