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

[Jon Leighton]

Nice one bob - I've put it up here:
http://climatecamp.org.uk/blog/2009/09/14/latest-from-the-vestas-blockade

On Sun, 2009-09-13 at 17:20 +0100, Bob Sutton wrote:
> Hey richard. could you put this up, and the rest of you forward it
> on......
> 
> 
> 
> 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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