UNIONS have insisted businesses in Wales need to pay decent wages to resolve recruitment issues in response to a report from the sector.

The report on the pressures facing small businesses is published today by the Federation of Small Businesses Wales.

The federation’s Ben Francis said: “The manufacturing sector in Wales is unique in that it reflects the strength and longevity of the Welsh economy as a whole.

“The current lack of understanding of the pressures facing small firms is a gap that FSB sought to plug with this report.

“Our report includes a series of recommendations based on the experience of our members, which we hope will inform the thinking of decision-makers on the future of the manufacturing sector in Wales.”

Wales TUC general secretary Shavanah Taj said the report is a useful contribution to the discussions on the future of manufacturing in Wales and the need for strengthening supply chains after Brexit. 

“Small businesses seem unwilling to acknowledge that often their difficulties in recruiting are the direct result of the pay, terms and conditions they offer workers,” Ms Taj said.

“For example, the report highlights an SME [small & medium enterprise] owner saying that the business would collapse if the minimum wage were to rise in April and bemoaning calls to better support the workforce.

“Equally it cannot be the case that the SMEs just see the Welsh government as an endless source of support without being willing to concede that there must be conditionality to that support to further social aims like fairer work or the net-zero goal.”