<meta http-equiv="Content-Type" content="text/html; charset=utf-8"><meta name="ProgId" content="Word.Document"><meta name="Generator" content="Microsoft Word 11"><meta name="Originator" content="Microsoft Word 11"><link rel="File-List" href="file:///C:%5CDOCUME%7E1%5CSMARTS%7E1%5CLOCALS%7E1%5CTemp%5Cmsohtml1%5C01%5Cclip_filelist.xml"><style>
<!--
/* Style Definitions */
p.MsoNormal, li.MsoNormal, div.MsoNormal
{mso-style-parent:"";
margin:0cm;
margin-bottom:.0001pt;
mso-pagination:widow-orphan;
font-size:12.0pt;
font-family:"Times New Roman";
mso-fareast-font-family:"Times New Roman";}
a:link, span.MsoHyperlink
{color:blue;
text-decoration:underline;
text-underline:single;}
a:visited, span.MsoHyperlinkFollowed
{color:purple;
text-decoration:underline;
text-underline:single;}
p
{mso-margin-top-alt:auto;
margin-right:0cm;
mso-margin-bottom-alt:auto;
margin-left:0cm;
mso-pagination:widow-orphan;
font-size:12.0pt;
font-family:"Times New Roman";
mso-fareast-font-family:"Times New Roman";}
@page Section1
{size:595.3pt 841.9pt;
margin:26.95pt 55.3pt 26.95pt 45.0pt;
mso-header-margin:35.45pt;
mso-footer-margin:35.45pt;
mso-paper-source:0;}
div.Section1
{page:Section1;}
-->
</style>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="">Hey richard. could you put this up, and the rest of you forward it on......<br><b style=""><span style="font-size: 18pt;"></span></b></p><p class="MsoNormal" style=""><b style=""><span style="font-size: 18pt;"><br>
</span></b></p><p class="MsoNormal" style=""><b style=""><span style="font-size: 18pt;">Solidarity with the Vestas workers!
Maintain the blockade! Build the day of Action!</span></b></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style=""><b style="">Call Robin on 07974331053, Ed on 0775763750 or Bob on 07843945005 for
information on travelling down (paid for if necessary)</b></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style=""><b style="">Email <a href="mailto:workersclimateaction@gmail.com">workersclimateaction@gmail.com</a>
to get on vestas solidarity working group list – a proper @<a href="http://climatecamp.org.uk">climatecamp.org.uk</a> hasn’t
happened yet due to riseup.</b></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style=""><b style="">If you would like to make a donation, the details have now changed;
please send cheques payable to “</b><b style=""><span style="" lang="EN">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</span></b></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style=""><b style=""><span style="" lang="EN">Visit
<a href="http://savevestas.wordpress.com">savevestas.wordpress.com</a></span></b></p>
<p>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;</p>
<p><i style="">“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.” </i></p>
<p><span style="">The workers urgently need help with
the blockade</span>, 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. </p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="">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.<span style=""> </span></p>
<p> </p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style=""><b style=""><u>Background</u></b></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="">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.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="">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.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="">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.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="">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.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="">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!’</p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="">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.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="">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.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="">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.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style=""><b style=""> </b></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style=""><b style="">Direct Action</b></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="">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.</p>
<br><br><div class="gmail_quote">On Sat, Sep 12, 2009 at 2:34 PM, Richard Braude <span dir="ltr"><<a href="mailto:richard.braude@googlemail.com">richard.braude@googlemail.com</a>></span> wrote:<br><blockquote class="gmail_quote" style="border-left: 1px solid rgb(204, 204, 204); margin: 0pt 0pt 0pt 0.8ex; padding-left: 1ex;">
yo to vestas crew,<br>
<br>
could one of you write a short blog post for the camp for climate<br>
action website?<br>
it could big up the blockade and the national day of action, update on<br>
what's been going, particularly with hos climate campers have been<br>
involved. would be best if it came from someone who's down there/ been<br>
down v recently.<br>
<br>
sooner the better, for everyone, and feel free to pass this on to<br>
others to do. I asked to repost the interview with robin that's up on<br>
the savevestas blog, but web team (cc'd) would like something<br>
original, and more climate camp orientated, which is fair enough.<br>
<br>
cheers<br>
<font color="#888888">r.<br>
</font></blockquote></div><br>