#StrongUnionStrongFuture Conference – Light Industries Speech

National Secretary Paul McKenna moved the chapter on the light industries during Community’s Biennial Delegates Conference earlier this month.

You can watch his speech in full below.

National Secretary for the Light Industries, Paul McKenna, said:

“When we talk about manufacturing in this country, the conversation often turns to the big beasts – shipbuilding, steel, heavy engineering – and rightly so. Those industries built our towns, forged our unions, and defined our working-class identity.

“But, today, I want to talk about the part of manufacturing that doesn’t always make the headlines. The part that employs thousands of our members in communities across the UK, the part that makes the things we use every single day. I’m, of course, talking about light industries.

“Light industries is the manufacturing of consumer goods – clothes and shoes, furniture and household appliances, food processing, consumer electronics, and many more products. It’s less capital-intensive than heavy industry, and it’s more consumer oriented. It’s the factories that produce the goods that fill our homes and our high streets.

“Conference, here’s the thing: light industry is everywhere. It’s not confined to the industrial north or the big cities. It’s in our market towns, our suburban industrial estates, and our city fringes. It’s the backbone of local economies in places that don’t always get the attention they deserve.

“Now, I don’t have a single headline figure for total light industry employment, because it’s spread across so many subsectors, but let me give you a sense of the scale. Food and drink, alone, is the UK’s largest manufacturing subsector, accounting for over 18% of all manufacturing gross value added. Electric lighting equipment manufacturing employs over 16,000 people. And that’s just two of the subsectors.

“There are light industries manufacturers of many different products across the entire UK. One amazing site is the City Building Glasgow. The work done by our members there should be replicated across other towns and cities to support and ensure job opportunities are created for everyone.

“This is not a niche industry. This is a vital part of our economy and our communities.

“Conference, let’s not pretend it’s easy. Our members in light industries are facing the same pressures as the rest of manufacturing; Sky-high energy costs, rising employment costs, skills shortages that make it harder to fill the jobs of today, let alone the jobs of tomorrow.

“Our members are feeling the pinch. They’re worried about their jobs, their pay, and their futures, and they’re looking to us – to this union – to fight for them. Community is the union for light industries, and that’s exactly what we do.

“Community is proud to be the trade union for workers across the light industries sector. We represent anyone working in food processing, leather and textiles, consumer goods, automobiles, household appliances, furniture, and electrical goods.

“We’re the recognised union at businesses like John Smedley, Clarks Shoes, Johnson Matthey, Vaillant, Scottish Leather, and across the UK boot and shoe industry. We have a dedicated network of branch officials fighting for our members in factories across the UK.

“We will be launching our campaign, Modernising Light Industries, soon. This campaign was the result of the outcome of the questionnaire we asked members to complete and this will be in partnership with companies that want to work with us to ensure that we can deliver for our members – this was endorsed by our light industries sector committee.

“Conference, what do we need to do to support light industries?

“First, we need delivery, not just ambition. The Government’s Modern Industrial Strategy has secured over £250 billion investment, supporting 45,000 jobs. That’s welcome. But our members need to see that investment reach their factories, their communities and their pay packets.

“Second, we need action on costs – energy costs, employment costs, and the cost of doing business. Every pound that goes to the energy bill is a pound that doesn’t go to wages, investment, or jobs.

“Third, we need investment in skills. The jobs of the future are changing. Our members need the training and support to adapt and thrive.

“And finally, we need recognition. Recognition that light industries is not a footnote to the manufacturing story, it is a central part of it. It is the engine room of our communities, the source of good, unionised jobs, and the foundation of a resilient economy.

“Conference, light industries may not always make the headlines, but it makes the goods that matter. It makes the jobs that sustain our families. And it makes the communities that we call home.

“Let’s stand together, for every factory worker, every warehouse operative, every assembly line technician. Let’s fight for better pay, better conditions, and better recognition. Because when light industry thrives, our communities thrive.”