The decline of the British tyre industry - Newcastle University

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in the workforce from 40,000 to about 34,000 in 1981. The NEDO estimated that this reduction could be achieved through ‘natural wastage’ while guaranteeing secure employment for the remaining employees. 52 Efficiency Dialogues The SWP’s strategy to increase output and efficiency and simultaneously guarantee job security was to be achieved through the mechanism of ‘efficiency dialogues’. To initiate this strategy, J Walter Thompson was engaged in 1978 to develop a communications programme for the industry. The objectives of this programme were: (i) to extend the dialogue beyond the SWP; (ii) to inform employees about the world outside the factory; and (iii) to reinforce the management and trade unions’ leadership in companies. 53 During visits to tyre plants, and after interviewing nearly 100 key opinion formers in the industry, the consultants received feedback from the shop floor that the major cause of the industry’s troubles was cheap imports from Eastern Europe. 54 Although this viewpoint was incorrect, the SWP decided to use this issue to raise its public profile with rank-and-file employees, who were largely unaware of its existence. A ‘strongly worded’ letter was sent by the SWP to the Secretary of State for Trade requesting anti-dumping action and/or selective controls on imports from Eastern Europe. This letter paved the way for the first major tyre industry conference held in Birmingham during November 1978. The aim was to introduce the Rubber Processing SWP and to establish its credibility with the industry’s major opinion formers. Nearly 400 representatives from all seventeen domestic tyre plants, plus government and trade union officials attended the conference. It was the first time that management and unions had assembled together on a multi-plant basis. 55 The conference was held ‘amidst rumours of plant closures and redundancies’. 56 The delegates unanimously agreed that plant level ‘efficiency dialogues’ was needed to reverse the serious decline in competitiveness and employment in the British rubber industry.
The SWP proposed a two-pronged attack to improve performance: (i) an aggressive marketing of competitively priced tyres; and (ii) more efficient use of plant and manpower. 57 This strategy entailed reducing unit costs to make the British plants competitive with those in Europe. The government argued that productivity improvements depended only partly on investment and crucially required ‘making better use of existing plant and getting higher output (as competitors do) from new buildings and plant’. 58 To achieve change, the SWP suggested that two conditions should be met: (i) those working in the industry should feel and be involved in any initiative to achieve higher efficiency; and (ii) workers participating in efficiency schemes should have assurances on security of employment. 59 However, raising productivity in a stagnant market was incompatible with employment security, and this should have been obvious to the SWP. Further, without increased investment, the British plants could not match the efficiency of the European plants. Overcapacity was an indicator that the older, less efficient British factories would close. The SWP advocated that ‘efficiency dialogues’ should be conducted at plant level through existing consultative committees, or new plant development committees. 60 These committees would not just address increasing efficiency, but would cover issues beyond joint consultation including marketing strategy, employment trends, and profits as they related to the plant. 61 The SWP suggested that divisional and/or company level bodies could also be established to discuss the financial performance, new legislation, investment, manpower policies, and market position. It was argued that discussions on these issues would help to ‘improve the quality of decisions and would complement the decision-making procedure’. 62 composition and procedural arrangements for plant and company-level bodies were to be agreed between management and unions. Mr David Warburton, the National Officer for the rubber and chemical industries at the General Municipal Workers Union, welcomed the document. He stressed that greater disclosure of information was paramount to enable the exercise to go ahead. In return the unions made a commitment to discuss manpower planning. He warned against any attempts to use ‘efficiency dialogues’ as a ‘sophisticated exercise in indiscriminate The
Page 1 and 2: Discussion Papers in Management and
Page 3 and 4: According to McKay and Grant the im
Page 5 and 6: institutional constraints that impa
Page 7: weight of throughput per man hour)
Page 11 and 12: productivity (productivity index) f
Page 13 and 14: None of the voluntary targets were
Page 15 and 16: Professor Bain found that Dunlop ha
Page 17 and 18: structure, but it soon became morib
Page 19 and 20: prepared to discuss common problems
Page 21 and 22: Bhaskar, Krish. The Future of the U
Page 23 and 24: 1983. NEDO. Industrial Strategy. Re
Page 25 and 26: 10 Grant, “Government,” 101. 11
Page 27 and 28: 61 Ibid, 7. 62 Ibid, 8. 63 NEDO, Th
Page 29 and 30: 119 Wilks, Industrial Policy, 268.

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