Column 21/01/22
Last Wednesday I met with Rolls-Royce Trade Union representatives. The same day, Mark Porter, the Works Convenor for Unite at the Barnoldswick sites, signed an updated agreement with the company to avoid further strikes and safeguard local jobs.
The agreement secures manufacturing in Barnoldswick for at least 10 years, with new work including some defence work being brought to the site. After multiple rounds of redundancies in recent years, Rolls-Royce have also agreed to no compulsory redundancies for five years.
As I said when this deal was first struck in November last year, I very much hope and expect that this deal will be honoured and would like to pay tribute to the workers who again brought the attention of the media and others to their treatment. Yesterday I met with the Chief Executive of Rolls-Royce, Warren East and made exactly this point. Rolls-Royce need to recognise the huge skills of the Barnoldswick workforce and how that can be harnessed to deliver on everything from Small Modular Reactors to green technology.
Having held countless meetings with Ministers, the company and joined the picket line too, I am pleased that the future of Rolls-Royce in Pendle looks much more secure. I was also pleased to hear upbeat forecasts as the company starts to strongly recover from the Covid-19 pandemic, which saw a massive reduction in demand for aviation. However, we cannot take anything for granted and alongside ensuring this deal is implemented I will continue to do all I can to support advanced manufacturing locally.
Which is why I was delighted to see Nelson and Colne College has been successful in the Government’s £120m competition to establish the next wave of innovative new Institutes of Technology across the country. Institutes of Technology are collaborations between employers and education providers offering education and training in key sectors such as Digital, Construction, Engineering, Manufacturing and Health.
Whilst the final details are yet to be worked out, if negotiations are successful the college is set to benefit from around £1.5 million capital funding, to improve their already impressive facilities. I’d therefore like to congratulate all the staff and students at the college on once again ensuring the Nelson and Colne College remains an outstanding institution of which we can all be proud.
