Report to the People
Easter "Holidays"
I hope you're enjoying your holiday Monday.
Although, asides from those of you lucky enough to have small children and, hence, a generous supply of Easter eggs to work your way through, I'm not sure how many of us would genuinely call this a "holiday."
This is traditionally the busiest weekend of the year for DIY (in case you were wondering, that's why the ad-breaks have been full of public information films showing you how climb a ladder and how not to drill through an electrical cable when hanging a picture), so I imagine most of us have been press-ganged into joining our own Garden Tidy schemes.
But before we moan about having to put up a couple of shelves or cut the grass, consider those for whom this is an enforced holiday, or those who are unsure if they will have a job to go back to.
For staff at Brands, Compaq, Fullarton's, Motorola and others, this will not be a very relaxing break.
The whole electronics sector is very tense. A series of companies are issuing profits warnings, which are panicking their investors, who dump their shares, lowering the price. The wave of panic then seems to rebound on the company who, in a knee-jerk attempt to reassure the market, decides to cut staff.
If we are to stop this self-destructive, short-sighted cycle, we need to look at the wider picture and understand the underlying causes.
When I recently discussed the situation with Scottish Enterprise Renfrewshire's Chief Executive (and the national organisation's liaison officer with the electronics industry), Lorraine Macmillan, she stressed that the industry must not overreact to economic cycles.
Indeed cycles, by definition, demand a measured response. If companies' attitudes to downturns are limited to a simple "sack the workforce", how will they be in a position to take advantage of the next upturn?
This, I believe, is the critical point and one which I intend to put to electronics industry bosses when they give evidence to the Enterprise & Lifelong Learning Committee later this month. This will give the industry an opportunity to explain in detail the challenges they face, how they plan to protect their substantial investment in Scotland and how the Scottish Parliament can best help make them become able to compete at the top end of a global marketplace?
Providing answers to these questions is central, not only to the long-term future of the electronics industry in Scotland, but to the continued regeneration of our own community.
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