Industry on Teesside...

Mitsubishi in Billingham has been a basket case for years... Energy Costs may be the final excuse for killing it off but they have been trying for a long time.

I went for a middle management job there around 2016 I think... looked great on paper and they seemed keen on me. Went on the site visit as asked and when they told me the duties and responsibilities it was clear they were after a site manager but didnt want to pay the the associated salary.... I told them this and turned the job down.

The position was still being advertised a good 8 months after as no one wanted it for that reason.

Late last year I bumped into the recruitment consultant that put me up for it and she told me they finally got someone that relocated from Lincoln... They lasted 4 months and jacked it in apparently.

Everyone I have spoke to has said they want and do everything on the cheap... its not a great place to work was the general consensus
 
If anyone has time, I’d recommend watching Can’t Get You Out of My Head by Adam Curtis. Especially episode 3 as it makes very strong arguments about economics and government.

Money Changes Everything is the name of that episode. Some people on this board will be old enough to remember some events captured in the programme.
 
I own an engineering company in Teesside. So I will wade in with my two pennies if I may?

I employ around 20 people and we manufacture goods for the offshore renewable sector, oil and gas sector, subsea sector, pharmaceutical sector and food and beverage production. We turnover a 7 figure sum year on year, of which raw material equate to around 30% of that figure. meaning the rest is pure manufacturing turnover. Goods from scratch, if you will.

I think the region has its challenges, but then so does the rest of world. There is a lot of positivity and vibrancy surrounding the area if you cut through the negative noise.
We certainly have our challenges. My energy bills have gone up 299% this year and next year is forecast to be 100% above what I was paying last year. I could mope or blame the government but none of it will do any good, so we just have to cut our cloth to suit.

Take a drive through skippers lane, Riverside park, Thornaby industrial estate. There is a lot of good in the area. We just need to stick together so we can all come out the other side smiling!

Just proud to live, work, employ and fly the 'made in Teesside' flag.

UTB
'cut our cloth to suit' is an easy thing to say when you seem to be running a thriving business, Good on you for that but 1000s and 1000s on Teesside have no choice but to scrimp and save due to the cost of everything. Governments whether it be Blue, Red or Purple want to work us into the ground and make us accept that having less is OK when it simply isnt acceptable and allowing energy companies, rail companies etc over charge us to subsidise their own national energy and rail networks is a complete farce.
 
This is just the consequences of globalisation. Government don't run these industries, they are operated by global businesses worth billions and they will do whatever is cheapest. If it's not economical for them to do it in the UK then they won't, if they can import something cheaper then they will. It's more expensive to do things in a country like the UK than it would be where they can offer much cheaper wages so if they are doing something here it is because it is closer to the market which saves them costs or they are getting a big helping hand from the government. The government just bend over and take anything these companies say for a few crumbs in return even though it costs us more in the long term. Think about the situation where our own natural resources are being sold to us at above market rate while the businesses in between are making massive profits. The only real solutions are for the nation to own the businesses themselves or competing with the lowest prices by offering subsidies.

The amount of arguments I hear people make about "business leaders predict this or that" infuriates me when it is clear as day that they don't give a stuff about employees or customers and all they really mean is we have the power to pull the plug so "do this or we'll go to someone that has bigger brown envelopes".

Every time there is any investment in the area the talk is about how many jobs it will create but they never say how much the government has spent on those jobs and how much of it actually goes to the workers or is recouped via tax and not shareholders. It would probably better to just give that investment to people instead of to shareholders.

Other countries like Norway have made a fortune from their natural resources where we have just given that fortune to global businesses that avoid paying tax here. It's madness.
 
Ditto for steel
Ditto for the electronics industry too.

Since 1979 most of our domestic manufacturing industry for non durable goods has been transferred overseas. Up to 1983 we had a surplus balance on manufactured goods i.e. we exported more than we imported, now its a massive deficit.

In the USA the Government said enough is enough about 8 years ago and began reshoring its manufacturing base, creating lots of new manufacturing jobs in the USA and their country has benefitted.
 
Ditto for the electronics industry too.

Since 1979 most of our domestic manufacturing industry for non durable goods has been transferred overseas. Up to 1983 we had a surplus balance on manufactured goods i.e. we exported more than we imported, now its a massive deficit.

In the USA the Government said enough is enough about 8 years ago and began reshoring its manufacturing base, creating lots of new manufacturing jobs in the USA and their country has benefitted.
Manufacturing in the UK has always been looked down on and now we have become what Douglas Adams predicted forty years ago - a nation of telephone sanitisers.
 
This is just the consequences of globalisation. Government don't run these industries, they are operated by global businesses worth billions and they will do whatever is cheapest. If it's not economical for them to do it in the UK then they won't, if they can import something cheaper then they will. It's more expensive to do things in a country like the UK than it would be where they can offer much cheaper wages so if they are doing something here it is because it is closer to the market which saves them costs or they are getting a big helping hand from the government. The government just bend over and take anything these companies say for a few crumbs in return even though it costs us more in the long term. Think about the situation where our own natural resources are being sold to us at above market rate while the businesses in between are making massive profits. The only real solutions are for the nation to own the businesses themselves or competing with the lowest prices by offering subsidies.

The amount of arguments I hear people make about "business leaders predict this or that" infuriates me when it is clear as day that they don't give a stuff about employees or customers and all they really mean is we have the power to pull the plug so "do this or we'll go to someone that has bigger brown envelopes".

Every time there is any investment in the area the talk is about how many jobs it will create but they never say how much the government has spent on those jobs and how much of it actually goes to the workers or is recouped via tax and not shareholders. It would probably better to just give that investment to people instead of to shareholders.

Other countries like Norway have made a fortune from their natural resources where we have just given that fortune to global businesses that avoid paying tax here. It's madness.
USA Government used to to think like this, but no longer. They have paid companies to build new manufacturing facilities in key industries such as microprocessors, EV batteries in areas like Kentucky which had suffered badly from Globalisation.
 
USA Government used to to think like this, but no longer. They have paid companies to build new manufacturing facilities in key industries such as microprocessors, EV batteries in areas like Kentucky which had suffered badly from Globalisation.
Yes, the IRA act. EU is intending to do similar. There is no way the UK can compete with such (protectionist) policies, even if it wanted to.
 
200 plus employee's out of work and one of the main factors is that energy costs are so high it makes running the plants unviable. Surely the government step in and enforce cheaper energy rather than another industry being closed and flattened and 200+ people potentially out of work. There is no way we should be using the term 'energy crisis' when energy companies are reporting record breaking profits. Its not a crisis its a racket! Also France capped energy rises to 4% so definitely not a worldwide issue...
How can you enforce cheaper energy?
 
Yes, the IRA act. EU is intending to do similar. There is no way the UK can compete with such (protectionist) policies, even if it wanted to.
The USA can't afford it neither but they have done it. The US Government has so much debt it may have to close down this summer for a while i.e not pay its employees. They see it as spending now for a benefit in the future and is needed to give national security. Some economists see it as the new New Deal as it stimulutes demand in depressed regional areas of the USA as the New Deal did in the 1930s and 40s.
 
The USA can't afford it neither but they have done it. The US Government has so much debt it may have to close down this summer for a while i.e not pay its employees. They see it as spending now for a benefit in the future and is needed to give national security. Some economists see it as the new New Deal as it stimulutes demand in depressed regional areas of the USA as the New Deal did in the 1930s and 40s.
It's not a question of 'affordability', - it's a political choice by Congress regarding the size and role of the public sector.
 
How can you enforce cheaper energy?
For the companies to lower their astronomical charges or put it back in the hands of the state. You do realise we get most of our energy from France (EDF) which basically subsidises the French to have lower rates, same for the Swiss and their rail network.
 
We are going green, no need for new fields.
Look at the state of the push for electric cars. The infrastructure just isn't ready for it. Electric car deals whether it be lease or PCP and ridiculously high for bang average cars. Then you have to factor in the cost of a charger and the extra from electricity unless you can get a good EV deal but even then your electric is only cheap at night. I know at least 3 people who went electric who are either going back full petrol or hybrid as a compromise because they are sick of having to plan in a charge stop for longer journey's.
 
Back
Top