The Workers Party of Britain denounces the threat by aerospace giant Rolls Royce to halt production of its Trent Engine blades at its BarnoldswIck plant in Lancashire, robbing 350 workers of their jobs and dealing another sickening blow to Britain’s fast eroding manufacturing base.
The plan to shift production of the blades to Singapore has met an angry response from workers, with 94% of Unite members voting for industrial action.
The union’s demands are modest: either ditch the plan to expatriate production of the blades or give guarantees that work of an equivalent nature and with similar staffing levels will be provided. The workers are also demanding guarantees that there will be no further compulsory redundancies.
The union at first delayed implementation of the strike decision, giving management the chance to address workers’ concerns. But as Rolls Royce has remained pig-headed, the strikes will now go ahead over a three-week period in November.
Behind this attempted act of industrial vandalism by management lies a global contraction in Rolls Royce jobs, with plans to slash 9,000 out of a global workforce of 52,000 as the capitalist crisis of overproduction takes its toll.
The Workers Party of Britain gives full support to the strikers and endorses their very modest demands.
We also suggest that if Rolls Royce is incapable of preserving and developing such a crucial hub of productive capacity as Barnoldswick, then it is high time that Barnoldswick came under public ownership.