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Attention: industrial, business correspondents

UK needs an offshoring strategy

The UK economy needs a clear strategy to maintain full employment while developing economies take a bigger share of global service sector trade, according to the TUC’s submission to the Department of Trade and Industry’s (DTI) consultation on offshoring, published today (Monday). The TUC opposes a crude protectionist ‘British jobs for British workers’ approach but believes that with the right policies, UK service sector employment can continue to grow.

While recognising that UK economic growth and employment depend on expanding global trade, the TUC ‘Global offshoring’ report says there are steps that can be taken now to maximise the benefits of international competition and minimise costs to individuals who could be affected.

The TUC report calls for:

• the DTI to undertake a mapping exercise and assessment of all jobs at risk to provide an accurate picture of the current offshoring situation and potential developments in every UK region.

• the research to form the basis of a strategic response to offshoring that operates at a national, regional and workplace level.

• The DTI-led strategy should produce and promote best practice guidance on offshoring that requires companies to present a thorough business case justifying plans to move jobs, fully consult staff and unions on any plans and guarantee no compulsory redundancies and the retraining and redeployment of any staff affected. The guidance should also stipulate the responsibility of companies in the UK to ensure decent pay and conditions for workers they employ in developing economies.

• Brendan Barber, TUC General Secretary, said:

• 'Unions are testing business arguments for offshoring which are often flawed and shortsighted. Corporate fashion should not lead to decisions that not only cost jobs, but harm customer service and long-term business success. But no country can be a fortress economy in today’s global market. That is why we want to work with the government and business to ensure that change does not threaten employment, and results in new skilled and rewarding jobs in the UK and a UK service sector fit to compete globally.'

More from ‘Global offshoring’:

· Full employment depends on the UK winning a bigger share of an expanding global service sector. This presents a potentially major industrial restructuring challenge as the TUC estimates that between 150,000 - 750,000 UK private service sector jobs could become vulnerable to global competition over the next two or three decades. This is an estimate and although the service sector could grow enough to prevent net job losses we cannot afford to be complacent.

· The TUC proposes that the strategy to meet the challenge should also include smart regional and industrial policies that give regional development agencies the responsibility to:

a) help firms to develop alternatives to offshoring through investment in technology and the workforce

b) ensure that any adverse impact of off-shoring on regional and local economies are offset by policies to create new jobs

Notes to Editors:

- ‘Global offshoring’ is available at: http://www.tuc.org.uk/economy/tuc-7732-f0.cfm

Contacts:

Media enquiries: Ben Hurley 020 7467 1248 or 07626 317903 (pager) or email bhurley@tuc.org.uk

Press release (600 words) issued 8 Mar 2004