Manufacturers are seeking urgent advice from the Government on whether they should be operating during the coronavirus crisis amid public fears that staff are being put at risk.
With many factories, in addition to construction sites, up and running, there is growing pressure for them to be closed down to prevent possible spread of COVID-19.
But the Government has yet to order a complete shutdown and there was no direct mention of manufacturing in Tory Prime Minister Boris Johnson ’s address to the nation on Monday, March 23.
The PM, in announcing draconian measures to keep people at home, expressly closed businesses in some sectors, but he did not tell factories to shut.
This has led to confusion among bosses and the national manufacturers’ organisation Make UK and Plymouth Manufacturers Group (PMG) are seeking an urgent explanation from ministers.
In Plymouth, for example, firms such as Babcock International, Rittal-CSM, Barden Corporation, Kawasaki Precision Machinery, Bandvulc, Alderman Tooling, BD and Plessey Semiconductors, are still operating.
However, luxury yacht maker Princess Yachts finally bowed to growing public pressure, including an online petition, and closed its five Plymouth sites on March 24 and sent most of its 3,000 workers home.
Some of these other companies, however, are engaged in vital medical, defence and logistics work, essential in the current crisis. Others, on the other hand, may not be, adding to confusion over who should be operating.
PMG also wants clarification on other recent announcements, including who qualifies as key workers and how the Job Retention Scheme, which guarantees laid off workers 80 per cent of salaries, works for manufacturers.
Steve Gerry, PMG secretary, said firms are trying to do the best they can to keep their workers safe but need guidance on whether to keep operating, and stressed: “Everybody is treating the health and wellbeing of people extremely seriously – they want to do what’s right.
“So we are seeking clarification from the Government following the Prime Minister’s announcement. Everything we have read seems to imply manufacturing can continue but we are waiting further clarification.”
He added that some firms wanted to know what constitutes a key worker, details about statutory sick pay and availability of grants, and said: “There’s also lack of clarity over furloughing.”
But he stressed: “Firms have heightened hygiene arrangements and maximised the number of people that can work from home.”
Meanwhile, the crisis has interrupted a period of relative stability for manufacturers following the turmoil surrounding the UK’s Brexit from the EU.
Mr Gerry said most firms’ stocks of materials have not run down yet, with some having stockpiled in case of a Brexit problem.
And he said trade had been good, pre-coronavirus, though the relaxation of restrictions in China now meant “encouragingly there are orders from China coming back into the system”.
But he said: “People are seeing longer term problems on the horizon. We are taking it one shift at a time.”
