More than 600 workers at Rosyth naval dockyard in Fife walked out in a
wildcat strike on June 21 over an attack on their pensions. The
former Royal navy base was privatised in 1987 under Thatcher’s Tories and is
now owned by Babcock International. The situation as it stands means workers
who paid into the company pension scheme can expect on average a reduction
of around £60-£70 a week on the expected return.
The problem surfaced as Babcock prepared its bid for the proposed building
of 2 super carriers worth millions of pounds. They had taken advantage of
legislation on pension funds that could have been drawn up by the obese
thief and serial crook, Robert Maxwell the late newspaper owner. For 6 of
the past 10 years, Babcocks paid zero into the fund for employee pensions,
and in the last 3 years they took a "partial holiday", leaving a massive
shortfall that the company now expects the workers to make up. The money
went instead on fat cat salaries and share dividends.
We doubt there will be many jaws hitting chests at yet another setback for a
section of the working class, coming as it does on the same day as bosses at
Royal Mail reverted to a new attack on their workforce leaving staff with no
option but to strike on June 24, the first for over 10 years. The news about
Rosyth is on the surface, another attempt by working people to resist cuts
and protect themselves. However, what makes the Rosyth action different is
it spontaniety; reflecting as it does a mood of rage among ordinary people.
Prime Minister designate Gordon Brown has a home in the area. He was also
the MP until boundary changes in 2005 and is a member of the T&G who are
represented in the yard. The widespread pessimism rapidly spreading through
the working class was clearly reflected in the SNP winning the Scottish
parliamentary elections in May. While Fife has a long tradition of socialism
and labour politics (Communist Willie Gallacher was the MP for years), the
Labour Party has been on the receiving end of some humiliating electoral
defeats in the past few years, at every level. In fact, the Labour Party as
an organisation is an empty shell, just as it is in many parts of the
country. It has Parliamentary Advice Offices and so on, complete with
immpressive indoor plants, but as a living, breathing political movement
with ideas, debate, accountability and democracy it is found wanting. This
is the direct result of the centralisation of the party and the destruction
of internal democracy by extremist interlopers who are responsible for the
state of the party nationally.
Year on year since the yard was de-nationalised the workers have been
squeezed until they are now very badly bruised. At the time it was
privatised, more than 7,000 were employed. Now it employs around 1100. At
the time of the walk-out the remainder of the workforce was on backshift or
nightshift. A lunchtime meeting was conveyened by the representatives of
AMICUS, GMB, T&G and Prospect who are in the yard. The workers rejected
union officials recommendations to remain at work and held their own mass
meeting, voting by 621 – 11 to down tools and walk out for the day.
Socialist Appeal and socialist.net has consistently explained the madness of
allowing the boss class to take "pension holidays" and what it meant to
workers. It is clear that Babcocks will not be alone among the big employers
whose total contempt for their employees is undeniable. It is the economics
of Robert Maxwell come Bob the Builder. Socialist Appeal sends a message of
solidarity to every worker at the yard. The unions must press for Babcocks
to pay their way in this matter. Not a worker should be a penny out of
pocket. Every Labour MP and MSP, and especially those who are members of
any of the trade unions at the dockyard should have already contacted the
workers and pledged support – of course this is unlikely given the DNA of
many of the present New Labour upstarts, under who’s watch the disgrace
unfolded. Gordon Brown must be taken to task by every Labour Party member
and the trade union movement and explain his position.
There is no doubt that the big picture in this country is developing as
Socialist Appeal and socialist.net predicted. In fact, our perspectives
document: Where is Britain Going? written only last month pinpointed these
developments in almost laboratory detail. When the radical rhetoric of the
SNP is stripped away the situation is illustrated perfectly because the fact
is that we live in a global economy. The parasitic (in economic terms)
service industries are now larger than the manufacturing industries for the
first time. We are now completely at the mercy of successful capitalism –
but the success of OTHER countries, not our own! Myopic bosses and spivs
continue to ship jobs to other lands where labour costs are less and it is
at their feet that the problems must be laid. However, the equally
short-sighted Labour Party have facillitated it. New Labour’s policies have
exhausted the patience of the working class and now their electoral base has
begun to rebel.
Please make sure you read "Where is Britain Going" on this site. Better
still, for the most comprehensive and accurate insight into politics here
and internationally, take out a subscription to Socialist Appeal , the
monthly Marxist journal of the labour movement, written in clear,
straightforward language, free of the bile of the Heinz 57 varieties of
left-wing sects who are all on the fringes of the movement.