Reviving the Sick Man of Europe

...People are on a huge buying spree and, monstrous congestion at British airports permitting, going in droves on foreign holidays...

...But while all prognostications indicate that the outlook remains strong for the British economy, the possibility of trouble ahead cannot be ruled out...

...The emphasis has been on value for money...

...Dramatic advances in manufacturing notwithstanding, the balance of trade figures remains disquieting...

...In addition, despite forecasts that British workers, internationally famous for being "bolshie," would never adjust to demanding Japanese production standards, efficiency at the Nissan factory built at Sunderland in the north of England is as high as in an equivalent Japanese factory...

...As has been the case with those from other industries whose personnel was sharply reduced, though, they have for the most part been redeployed in new, more productive jobs...

...And they were increasingly emasculated by Thatcher's pushing through wide-reaching antiunion legislation...

...That, too, has changed...

...Fifty-eight per cent said they were fairly satisfied and 16 per cent said they were very satisfied...

...Norman Gelb writes regularly for The New Leader on British affairs...

...One after another, the country's key industries—ship building, steel fabrication, coal mining—ran into grievous trouble, compounding the problems arising from overseas competition...

...THATCHERS MIRACLE Reviving the Sick Man of Europe BY NORMAN GELB London A public opinion poll published recently in the London Sunday Times told a remarkable story about the state of Britain today...

...Pundits wondered gloomily how this sick man of Europe would survive economically once the revenues from North Sea oil ran out, as they are expected to do soon after the turn of the century...

...So striking has been the improvement compared with a decade ago that General Motors has decided to move some of its production from West Germany to Luton, an hour north of London...

...The worry about the pound sterling, which had been on its way to enfeeblement, is that it may be too strong...

...Warnings by union leaders that British workers would never accept Thatcherite suppression appear to have been without substance...

...We shall see...

...But that's all history...

...Whether or not she actually cares, she has done little to direct any of the increased wealth of the nation toward its most vulnerable citizens...

...Though strikes are not illegal, obstructive picketing is banned by law and unions are no longer immune from legal responsibility for their actions, as they were under the previous Labor Government...

...These people have been swept away in the great economic revival...

...The turnaround could not have been achieved without a revolution in labor relations...

...Those Britons to whom the benefits of economic expansion have not trickled down do not feature much in the Thatcherite scheme of things...

...Nor is it any longer possible to retain a position if one obviously lacks the ability to deal with the work force, streamline production and improve sales...

...Interest rates have been forced up to try to keep the economy from overheating...

...That has changed...

...Foreign investors have been pouring in to be part of the fast-paced revival...

...A general mood of malaise and disgruntlement shrouded the green and pleasant land...

...The easy spending has been accompanied by a credit orgy...

...Perhaps more disturbing to people who worry about such things is the extremely thin social policy of the Thatcher revolution...

...Indeed, countless union members voted for the Iron Lady in last year's election...

...Many more managers are coming from working-class origins than ever before...

...The revenue accruing to the government from North Sea oil is at present easily outmatched by the additional corporate taxes flowing into the Treasury's cofers...

...Old-time revolutionaries who still maintain otherwise, like United Mine Workers President Arthur Scargill, are being scoffed at as largely irrelevant, not to mention abominated as reactionary and damaging, even by the leadership of the Labor Party...

...Britain's national wealth depends on the export of manufactured goods...

...In a burst of candor unusual for his trade, a British economist confessed, "We don't really know what's happening...

...At times it seemed that tourism and The City (the square mile of London that houses the country's financial services) were the only major economic activities immune from stagnation...

...imported from Japan and elsewhere—made angry headlines...

...Now the British "economic miracle" is the talk of the European Community...

...If the poll, conducted by a reputable agency, conveys a true picture, some three-quarters of the population in Britain is content as far as personal economic circumstances are concerned...

...Only 18 per cent ? f the people interviewed said they were dissatisfied with their current standard of living...

...Despite some persisting pockets of serious joblessness, unemployment has fallen sharply and is still coming down...

...Specifically, that has meant the modernization of key industries, the ruthless trimming of unprofitable ones, and concentration on the creation of competitive high-tech operations...

...There has been no great outcry, except from the union leaders, and not even all of them...

...Convinced, with some justification, that the Welfare State approach impoverished Britain, she has opted for the opposite...

...The structure of the British boom is not yet firm enough for comfort...

...The British steel industry, formerly one of the world's biggest losers, and thus another heavy burden on the taxpayer, has become one of the most efficient and profitable steel producers anywhere...

...Convertingtomoreefficient, modern equipment meant putting thousands of steel workers on the street...

...New businesses and industries have been launched in impressive profusion...

...The Prime Minister herself is regularly called "uncaring" (and worse) by her critics...

...A recent report that the domestic consumer electronics industry leaves much to be desired—with virtually all televisions, VCRs, etc...

...Credit for the turnabout must go to Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher's industrial policies...

...Gone are the days when one could become a manager simply by virtue of family or social connections...

...Worker morale there also seems very good...

...Such a high level of contentment is rather amazing when one remembers that a mere three years ago Britain was not an overly happy place for most people who had to work for a living...

...Incompetent, untrained management was equally responsible for British industrial shortcomings in the past...

...She never even speaks ofthepoor, thehomeless, orthe victims of racial bigotry...

...During the years leading up to the Thatcher arrival at 10 Downing Street, the trade unions here, locked in an ideological dispute, lost sight not only of the interests of the country but of their own members as well...

...By imposing a labor-management climate marked by exorbitant wage claims, grotesque onthe-job jurisdictional restrictions, and epidemics of strikes, the unions made it impossible for British manufacturing to be competitive abroad or profitable at home...

...The government was spending fortunes underwriting the huge losses of subsidized industries...

...The country suffered then from one of the highest rates of unemployment in the industrial world...

...The impact of savage levels of unemployment sharply reduced the pressures the trade unions could exert on management...

...The emphasis on better training and aggressiveness in seeking results is already having an impact that goes far beyond the realm of economics...

...The precious oil money, albeit still substantial, is seen largely as having served the purpose of picking up the huge tab for unemployment pay-outs to the armies of men deprived of work while the changeover was being effected...

...In short, Britain has been transformed into a classic "trickle down" society, with much of the wealth generated trickling down to a broad segment of the population...

...Businesses were folding everywhere...

...Managers are now judged exclusively on performance and, in contrast to the not too distant past, are roundly condemned publicly if they are found wanting...

...Sustained growth naturally depends on continued investment, and that tends to be discouraged by higher interest rates...

...the workplace is no longer a battleground of the class war...

...It no longer takes British car manufacturers twice as long as their West German counterparts to send an automobile rolling off the assembly line...

...Her expectation, presumably, is that in time, if left to its own devices, the achievements of the non-Welfare State will finally spread comfort and joy to all...

...Some unions have agreed to no-strike contracts, once unheard of here and still condemned as heretical by the much weakened Trade Union Congress...

...The remaining 8 per cent had no opinion...

...it cost the taxpayer £40 for every ton of coal dug out of the earth here...