[Cc-webedit] [workerclimateaction] vestas update for the Climate Camp blog please

[Bob Sutton]

Hey richard. could you put this up, and the rest of you forward it on......
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*Solidarity with the Vestas workers! Maintain the blockade! Build the day of
Action!*

*Call Robin on 07974331053, Ed on 0775763750 or Bob on 07843945005 for
information on travelling down (paid for if necessary)*

*Email workersclimateaction at gmail.com to get on vestas solidarity working
group list – a proper @climatecamp.org.uk hasn’t happened yet due to riseup.
*

*If you would like to make a donation, the details have now changed; please
send cheques payable to “**RMT IOW 2 VESTAS HARDSHIP & DEFENCE FUND” to
Keith Murphy, 57 Well Street, Ryde, IOW PO33 2RY, or you can continue to
donate by PayPal online at the blog*

*Visit savevestas.wordpress.com*

Vestas workers and supporters continue to blockade Britain’s only
wind-turbine blade factory on the Isle of Wight. They have been doing since
the workers’ 18 day occupation ended last month. Management, security and
the police are stepping up their efforts to harass and undermine the workers
and activists who are blocking the path between the plant and the jetty onto
the river Medina. There is still millions of pounds worth of equipment and
blades inside the factory which can only be transported out by barge. This
represents the last real industrial leverage in the struggle, the last
opportunity to really hurt Vestas in an attempt to force them, or the
government to negotiate. This is a statement issued earlier this week;

*“We, the workers, see it as our duty to stop our blades from leaving, as
part of the campaign to nationalise the factory. Vestas have told us that
there is no demand for our products but are still unwilling to sell the site
to other interested parties. It is clear the government must act on such an
important issue as renewable energy production. They should not let our
future be dictated solely by profit. We are calling on the government to
invest in green jobs on the Isle of Wight, and for Vestas to reinstate the
eleven sacked workers who occupied the factory.” *

The workers urgently need help with the blockade, as the company is likely
to try and remove the blades and equipment in the coming days. There was a
massive effort to organise people to go down during, and immediately after
the Climate Camp and the activists recruited there have been absolutely
invaluable in terms of the skills and energy they have brought down. Through
the fundraising efforts of the South London Vestas support group that was
set up we are now able to fund transport down to the Isle of Wight.

A national day of action has been called on the 17th of September. This can
be an opportunity to build on the local support groups that have been set up
and set up new ones.



*Background*

Last month workers at Vestas blades occupied the company’s main factory on
the Isle of Wight to prevent its closure. Vestas is currently the only
manufacturer of wind turbine blades in the country. Not many more examples
will sum up the madness of the bosses’ response to the crisis like this one
– closing a factory that produces something so socially useful.

The factory had previously been a place where anyone trying to set up a
trade union was victimised and sacked, there was no worker organisation. Up
to a couple of months ago, the closure, the job losses [in one of the worst
areas of unemployment in Britain] and the pitiful redundancy payments had
been accepted as inevitable.

However, in early June, a handful of Workers’ Climate Action activists,
having heard about the closure went down to the island, started talking to
workers as they changed shift, got in contact with the local TUC, brought in
different left groups, got people in touch with workers from the Visteon car
part factory occupation, held meetings and soon a group of workers’ emerged
with the confidence and organisation to pull off an occupation of management
offices that lasted for 18 days.

We should see this step taken by a group of people with no real history of
militancy as incredibly inspiring. They have stormed their own workplace,
risked losing their redundancy money, and all in the knowledge of how
putting their heads above the parapet could affect their chances of work
elsewhere. What is more, they have grown politically, seeing this as a fight
against every job loss, every cut and for the planet.

This idea that people should be at the centre of their own liberation – self
emancipation, and that by doing this, by challenging the ideas of society
and who is meant to run it, workers in struggle can look to reshape society
sums up pretty much what something like Workers’ Climate Action is about.
They have raised the slogan loud and clear – ‘Who’s factory? Our factory!’

They have welcomed support from those who have helped build the campaign -
WCA activists, (various campers, socialists and anarchists), the Alliance
for Workers’ Liberty, the Socialist Workers’ Party, local campaigners, trade
unionists and many others. Many of the Vestas workers have joined the Rail
Maritime and Transport Workers’ Union, who came in to offer support when the
previous union, Unite, had done basically nothing to support them.

However the most militant workers have maintained that they are not prepared
to see political leadership of the struggle fall into the hands of any other
group. Political support and experience has been very important but they are
adamant, and rightly so, that the workers’ themselves must be central to how
it is run.

The Climate Camp June national gathering set up a working group to organise
solidarity. This has led to a number of campers coming down to the island
and using their organisational, practical and campaigning skills to
massively contribute to the campaign.

* *

*Direct Action*

One of the first things that came out of the setting up of the working group
was that an affinity group of Climate Camp activists occupied the roof of
the smaller Vestas factory in show of solidarity. This was an immensely
valuable piece of publicity for the campaign and was warmly appreciated.
There have been various other smaller publicity stunts across the country
that have all helped the campaign. The initial attempt by the company to
starve the workers out was broken by a food rush that forced Vestas to
provide daily [if inadequate] meals. Many of the workers’ and their
supporters are now keen to get further training in direct action. Some have
come to the camp. They’ve seen these examples, and of course have gained
their own experiences – rushes, picketing, and the occupation itself. People
from Action Support are heading down to hold training. The value of this
stuff has already been demonstrated, if you are able to help in any way let
us know.


On Sat, Sep 12, 2009 at 2:34 PM, Richard Braude <
richard.braude at googlemail.com> wrote:

> yo to vestas crew,
>
> could one of you write a short blog post for the camp for climate
> action website?
> it could big up the blockade and the national day of action, update on
> what's been going, particularly with hos climate campers have been
> involved. would be best if it came from someone who's down there/ been
> down v recently.
>
> sooner the better, for everyone, and feel free to pass this on to
> others to do. I asked to repost the interview with robin that's up on
> the savevestas blog, but web team (cc'd) would like something
> original, and more climate camp orientated, which is fair enough.
>
> cheers
> r.
>
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