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Vol. 71/No. 7      February 19, 2007

 
Factory workers in Scotland
stage sit-in to protest layoffs
 
BY PETER CLIFFORD  
IRVINE, Scotland—“What do we want? Justice!” shouted 20 electronics workers February 3 as they marched out of the Simclar factory in Kilwinning, Ayrshire, in Scotland. Members of the Community union had been occupying the plant since the previous morning in response to a company announcement that 420 jobs were being eliminated with the closing of this plant and one here in Irvine. Cheered on by a crowd of workers and family members gathered at the gates, many then jumped in cars to head down to picket the Irvine factory.

“We’re here to get what’s due to us,” said Robert Gallagher, who has worked at Simclar for 17 years. He explained that when they arrived for work on January 29 the company took the workers into the canteen and read a letter telling them both plants were to go into liquidation. Gallagher described how company owner Samuel Russell had legally separated out these two plants from the rest of his business operations in order to make this move.

Patrick Harkins, another worker at the plant, pointed out that there was no guarantee that workers would receive any redundancy (severance) payments. “We don’t even get the normal 90 days notice,” a legal requirement if job losses are to be made in an ongoing company, he said.

Picketers at the Irvine plant stopped a lorry destined for Simclar’s Dunfermline factory, which is not affected by the company liquidation.

The job actions began after more than 200 workers attended a Community union meeting February 1. The unionists decided to picket the next morning. As workers gathered at both factories, they rushed the gates when security guards made a shift change. As the first factory sit-in for many years, the job action at the Kilwinning plant rapidly gained media attention and support delegations from other unions, as well as from some Labour Members of Parliament.

Community union president Jimmy McKee told the media that Russell “has closed three plants over the last years, with 1,500 losing their jobs.” He pointed to a report in the January 31 Scotsman that described the company owner as a Scottish hero for his business acumen. “Russell claims these two plants are different from the rest of his group, so he can shut them and continue to make profits at the other plants. Is that what makes him a hero?” stated McKee. The difference between these two plants and Russell’s other factories is that these are the only two factories in where he has to deal with the union,” noted McKee.

With the conclusion of the Kilwinning sit-in, the union is now concentrating on maintaining a 24-hour picket at the Irvine site.
 
 
Related articles:
On the Picket Line  
 
 
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