Government must 'step up to the plate' to prevent unemployment crisis
20 September 2020, 14:15
Len MCCluskey on unemployment after furlough
As the government's job retention scheme comes to a close, this trade union chair told LBC we must find ways to ensure jobs aren't lost on a massive scale.
Len McCluskey told Tom Swarbrick on Swarbrick on Sunday the "clock is ticking in relation to the job retention scheme," which is set to come to a close at the end of October.
"Many companies will be looking at whether they can continue without that financial support," which he suggested would result in businesses making redundancies.
"What angers me more than anything is that German workers are not having sleepless nights," Mr McCluskey said, adding "their Government has stepped up to the plate."
He told Tom that Rishi Sunak and Boris must "step up to the plate for British workers."
"We need to be imaginative, we must come up with all kinds of approaches," he said.
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Mr McCluskey told Tom that he isn't making a political statement in his calls, insisting "this is about getting us through this crisis."
"We need to have an economy that's robust when we come through it," he argued, and government support is crucial to this.
"The Prime Minister is in danger of presiding over the highest record unemployment figures, the highest record poverty ever," Mr McCluskey warned.
