05.08.2009

Vestas fight goes on

Workers keep up the pressure, writes Jim Moody

On August 4 Vestas Blades UK Ltd once again sought the authority of the courts to end the occupation of its factory in Newport, Isle of Wight. This time company officials managed to fill the forms out properly and the application was not rejected on a technicality, as happened the previous week. County court judge Graham White ruled that the occupiers had to go - 600-plus workers are due to lose their jobs.

However, it would definitely be premature to assume that a county court ruling is the end of the matter. Six of the 11 workers in occupation barricaded themselves in and are awaiting an attempt by bailiffs to force them out. The other five occupiers left in orderly fashion immediately following the court decision. But, far from accepting that the legally-backed eviction was a defeat, they all went home for a quick spruce-up ... and were back on the picket line outside the plant in time for the daily meeting at 6pm. It shows their dedication to the cause and illustrates the level of morale of Vestas workers.

On the same day as the hearing, the fight to save the jobs of the Vestas workers took a new turn. Five activists from the RMT (the Vestas workers� union) and the Climate Camp (which has grown up on a traffic island opposite the entrance to the Newport plant) scaled the landmark Union Jack building in Venture Quays in Cowes, a few miles to the north. This houses one of the smaller offshoot Vestas operations. Commemorating the end of the yachting Hooray Henrys� Cowes week in their own way, the rooftop protesters hung a large banner visible from the Solent, including to all arriving on the Red Funnel ferries from Southampton. In huge letters it read: �Vestas workers solidarity - In occupation - Fight for green jobs�.

As long as Vestas workers and supporters keep up the pressure with more novel actions like the latest protest, the issue is kept in the public eye, facilitating further solidarity from working class and democratic organisations. Richard, one of the �roofers�, reported on the Save Vestas blog: �We�ve got a shelter, a tent, and a kitchen up here. We�re taking it in turns to sleep. This is a legal protest, so as far as I can see the police have gone home. We�ve got loads of food up here� (savevestas.wordpress.com). They are there for the duration.

While the court decision is a setback, it was hardly unexpected. In fact there are now plans to snowball the solidarity. As Vestas workers� representative Steve Stotesbury told me, the aim now is to �strengthen forces on the outside�, as the campaign enters a new stage: �We are looking to send representatives to tour the UK� to spread the message.

Vestas workers are confident of their case and encouraged by the breadth of support. Steve Stotesbury stresses that this has come �not just from workers, not just Climate Action�, but from the local community. There is a good mix of ages, even some children, who have been turning up each evening to express their solidarity.

Another excellent feature of the protest. The workers are exercising direct control over things through the regular 6pm meetings outside the factory premises. �These will most definitely continue,� Steve assured me. �They are working well.�

The Vestas workers� determination is a lesson to us all, deserving of the widest support. If the Danish owners of Vestas say they cannot afford to save the plants and the jobs then we ought to demand that the government, in the form of Ed Miliband, secretary of state for energy and climate change, step in.

And in a welcome letter published in The Guardian on August 4, a number of trade union leaders, including leading lefts Bob Crow (RMT), Chris Baugh (PCS), Brian Caton (POA) and Matt Wrack (FBU), have done just that: �The loss of jobs at Vestas will not only have a devastating impact on the Isle of Wight, even more so at a time of recession: it will also mean an almost criminal loss of expertise and jobs that are vital to fighting climate change. We believe that with the political will, even at this late stage, there is still time to take positive action to explore all the options that are available to save the production of wind turbines at the site and secure jobs for the future.�

Such worthy sentiments must be translated into action. Trade unionists and others must be rallied to protect the occupation of the plant from bailiffs and the police. A clear political lead is needed too. Surely the only �positive action� that the government can take �at this late stage� is to nationalise the company. The demand of the trade union movement should not be for giving the owners a bail out with taxpayers� money. There ought to be nationalisation without compensation and the whole enterprise placed under workers� control - the best �option� for the working class as a whole and, of course, the 625 Vestas workers.

Bob Crow, general secretary of the RMT, has certainly given sterling support to the occupiers at Vestas, including helping resist the county court attacks and providing material means of carrying on the protest. He jokingly talked about dropping in supplies by helicopter in view of the restrictions even on food and drink imposed by the company and enforced by police. Comrade Crow has called for nationalisation, which is also very much to his credit - through he had not added the vital phrase �under workers� control�. Unfortunately it is not part of his regular political lexicon.

For his part, Brendan Barber, general secretary of the Trades Union Congress, clearly has an eye on a pending general election and wants to do everything he can to boost Labour Party prospects. So he does not want to rock the boat. Hence his open letter to Miliband reads more like Labour PR than an attempt to rally solidarity with the Vestas protest. Barber is at pains to �acknowledge the considerable efforts you have already made to intervene in respect of the planned closure of the Vestas plant, to secure investment and to tackle the barriers to renewable energy market growth�. He hopes that Miliband has left �no stone unturned in our bid to find an alternative that would protect green manufacturing skills and jobs on the island and elsewhere�.

Ever since 1997 trade union leaders have had the power in their hands to force first Tony Blair and now Gordon Brown to adopt pro-worker policies. For example, they could have threatened to cut off funding for the Labour Party. But the truth is that they dared not risk it.

That is why grassroots organisation independent of the bureaucracy is essential. Indeed, in many ways the workers at Vestas have shown the way on this, as they have in their militancy and elan.

Support the Vestas workers by donating online or by cheque (see the Save Vestas blog for details). They also want messages of support: email savevestas@googlemail.com or post on the blog. The blog also carries details of Vestas solidarity events and meetings around the country.