Socialist Appeal - Rob Williams Reinstated

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Rob Williams Reinstated

By Steve Jones

Thursday, 11 June 2009

Sacked convenor Rob Williams has been reinstated in his job at the Linamar factory in Wales. This represents a great victory for organised trade unionism.

As reported previously Rob had been sacked without notice from his job at the Linamar factory - once part of Fords/Visteon - in Swansea on the basis of his trade union activity as a convenor. Clearly Linamar (well known globally as an anti-union firm) were hoping to avoid the trouble Visteon had when they shut their sites without breaking the union first. But their tactic did not work. After a long fight, Rob is back at work.

Rob won for two reasons. Firstly he got the immediate and total backing of the workforce at Linamar. To this was added the support of many other workers - incluiding those from Visteon - who came came and gave solidarity. Earlier this week the CWU conference in Bournemouth also gave full support as has the PCS union.

The second reason was that Rob got some decent support from his union leadership. Tony Woodley's declaration that Rob would get the "fastest strike ballot in Unite's history" - which was done - was an important factor. The Linamar management could see that the union nationally wasn't just blowing hot air. Other trade unionists facing victimisation might like to note how Unite acted this time and the end result of that compared to the usual feet dragging to be seen in some cases.

Well done to all those involved - the message is clear. To win you nust fight! If you fight you can win!

To read an earlier report on this click here

To read about the fight of the Visteon workers click here

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