They didn’t close down because of strikes, they closed down because of complacency, inefficiency and lack of strategic management. The “do nothing” attitude is a general trend in the British approach to major problems. “Leave it alone and it will all be well in the end” simply does not work for business. But the way things are managed here is that if it’s in the “too difficult” box then accountability evaporates. Problems are moved around like hot potatoes and a vacuum of responsibility appears. The buck just doesn’t stop and everyone blames someone else. Very us and them. Saying that striking staff are somehow separate from the organisations and country and villains is unhelpful.
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Britain has always been a trading nation. That’s how the wealth here has been created. The Empire etc. In terms of the economy it’s not just about ensuring a net zero on your balance sheet. You have to sweat assets or you have no growth.
go back to sleep we’ll tell ya when we’ve fixed it all! shhhhhhhh???
It was worse than that in some cases. In the 80’s and 90’s companies like BTR and Hanson actively destroyed british manufacturing businesses. They would identify a business, usually an engineering company that was not terribly well run and usually under-invested. Then they’d double, triple or quadriple after sales prices (spares and service) so that existing clients had to fork out tons to keep their kit running. Of course these clients would eventually change their kit but not for a couple of years. These conglomerates would cut costs harshly so that this, added to extra profit from the after sales prices, made the engineering company look really profitable. Then they’d sell it (often breaking it up into smaller businesses to do this) and take the profit. During their ownership there would be so little invested in these businesses that they were run into the ground - plus the existing clients would be dumping their kit. The new owners would quickly find they’d bought a problem, they’d have to right off the costs and they absolutely would have to shut the factories. No wonder we have nothing left to export.
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Yes it was a jungle at the best of times. I’m pretty sure there was very little understanding of good financial management in some of these organisations.
It goes back to how industry evolved in Britain. Basically cash on a plate for rich imperial magnates/upper classes, creamed off various nations using slave labour etc. Cash used to build the “dark satanic mills” fueled by the desperation of the poor, whose livelihoods were destroyed by the industrial revolution. For the owners this required very little effort for great rewards. No major strategic decisions or direct competition. So cumbersome, top-heavy corporations, full of self-serving, privileged leaders mushroomed during Victorian times and well into the 20th C. This all came to a head when the British Empire’s gravy train ran dry after WWII. But the organisations trundled on with myopic inertia until the oil crisis hit in the 70s.
I am pointing that out purely to explain the original rich pickings environment that led to the establishment of our great industries and then the culture of complacency that led to their deterioration and demise. The inherent problems were passed onto the government when these organisations were nationalised. The us and them mentality is well-documented and doesn’t exist if you value the people who are doing the work rather than just assume everything will carry on regardless.
https://www.makeuk.org/insights/publications/uk-manufacturing-the-facts--2022#/
With an annual output of £183 billion, the UK remains the ninth largest manufacturing nation in the world. Our analysis debunks multiple myths, including the misconception that manufacturing jobs are poorly paid, with the average manufacturing wage being 12% higher than the whole economy.
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I happen to know make.uk very well. They used to be EEF (engineering employers federation) and they are a campaigning organisation for manufacturers in the UK (plus offer services to manufacturing businesses). They campaign to promote manufacturing in the UK and defend the interests of UK manufacturing. Which is why they campaigned so very strongly against Brexit.
And they are right, the UK still makes stuff. But not enough or not enough of the right things to create a positive balance of payments.
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ALEX BRUMMER: Don't sell Britain short | This is Moneyrlxlez_gaMjY0MjgyMTE0LjE1OTU2MTYwMjg._ga_XE0XLFFF16*MTY3MTI5NjgzMi4zNS4xLjE2NzEyOTc1NjAuMC4wLjA.
Don’t sell Britain short - there is a tendency in Whitehall, the Bank of England and parts of the media to wallow in misery
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Hmm, this’ll be why we are thriving then, eh? Nothing to do with a corrupt government and everybody on strike because they can’t afford to heat their homes and cook a decent dinner for their kids. Ok then 
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You must be reading different reports to me…European countries are facing strikes and protests due to high energy prices and mounting costs of living. Here are a few examples …
Around 45% of France’s oil refining capacity remained offline on Nov. 2 following strike action last month, but supply was set to improve, with one major refinery back on stream and another due to return to full capacity by the end of the week.
The UNAC and SNGAF trade unions said they were calling for strike action over work conditions at Air France during the Christmas holidays from Dec. 22 to Jan. 2.
Thousands of Spaniards packed Madrid’s landmark Plaza Mayor square on Nov. 3 to demand higher pay, in the country’s first mass protest since the start of the cost of living crisis.
Thousands of Portugal’s doctors, nurses, teachers and civil servants walked off the job on Nov. 18 to demand wage increases amid rampant inflation, challenging the majority Socialist government a week before a final vote on the 2023 budget.
Workers at Volkswagen’ Autoeuropa car plant - one of Portugal’s top exporters - will go on strike in the first two hours of each of the four shifts on Nov. 17 and 18 to demand an extraordinary pay rise due to galloping inflation, and unions do not rule out widening the strike if their demands are not met…
Austrian metal workers secured on Nov. 4 an annual pay rise of more than 7% on average, above the 6.3% inflation rate for the negotiating period. Generally to avert the threat of strikes.
It’s not easy to be traveling to and from many places across Europe at the moment with train and flight cancellations and delays due to spreading strikes by transportation workers ranging from Britain and Belgium to Spain and France — and set to continue through the Christmas and New Year holidays…
Sounds familiar to me
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Omg Pixie you don’t half exaggerate not everybody is on strike and the majority who are on strike didn’t vote to go on strike anyway. And yes there is corruption in Government, but at least we get a say in that, unlike this if we were still in it:
Important and necessary services that are impacting on us, are on strike.
I don’t understand this point, can you explain?
Post has been turning up a couple of days later. People have had to find different ways of travelling on occasions.
There’s 215 Trusts in England and only 44 of them went on strike. 58 could strike and 113 aren’t striking:
Huh what don’t you understand about us being able to vote out our Government, but EU members populations don’t get to choose who runs the EU. Have you ever seen what Ursula von der Leyen got up to before she was elected.
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We don’t get to decide about the EU either because we aren’t part of it, are we, because people believed the lies our government fed them, and voted accordingly. So the EU isn’t up for discussion here. And I wouldn’t be so confident about being able to vote out our government…given their actions and the fact they are still in power speaks volumes.
Nurses aren’t the only ones on strike.
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And that’s why I wrote:
Did you read this part of my post:
Yes, and while its difficult to tell with text only, I’m getting the impression you might be thinking it isn’t worth getting in a tizzy about? As if it isn’t particularly serious?
Pixie did you actually read the article that I posted and you responded to?
This bit stands out :
These are not the best of times. The cost of living shock has squeezed household budgets, interest rates have surged, striking public service workers are disrupting normal life and the Liz Truss tax cuts have been reversed.
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