Workers at the historic Rolls-Royce factory at Barnoldswick in
Lancashire will embark on three weeks of targeted strike action
beginning next month, as part of the campaign led by Unite the
union, to preserve the viability of the factory. In August,
Rolls-Royce announced that it was intent on offshoring the
production of its Trent Engine blades, which are made at
Barnoldswick to a factory in Singapore, with the loss of 350
workers. Unite believes that this would make the factory,
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Workers at the historic Rolls-Royce factory at Barnoldswick in
Lancashire will embark on three weeks of targeted strike action
beginning next month, as part of the campaign led by Unite the
union, to preserve the viability of the factory.
In August, Rolls-Royce announced that it was intent on offshoring
the production of its Trent Engine blades, which are made at
Barnoldswick to a factory in Singapore, with the loss of 350
workers.
Unite believes that this would make the factory, which Rolls-Royce
has owned since 1943 and is the cradle of the jet engine,
potentially unviable.
Earlier this month, members of Unite returned a 94 per cent ‘yes’
vote in favour of industrial action.
Unite delayed issuing strike dates to give Rolls-Royce a final
chance to alter its plans by cancelling its offshoring proposals or
by ensuring that Barnoldswick remains viable by introducing similar
work and employment levels, to settle the dispute over compulsory
redundancies, but with no such commitments forthcoming strike
action has been called.
The targeted strike action will begin on Friday 6 November
at 06:30 and end on Friday 27 November at 19:00.
Since Rolls-Royce’s announcement that it was intent on offshoring
the work there has been a huge outpouring of opposition in
Barnoldswick with the local community uniting to oppose the
offshoring and the threat to the factory, which has been vital to
the town’s economic wellbeing since World War Two.
The announcement of the industrial action comes at a time when
Rolls-Royce is in the process of seeking to secure £5 billion in
additional investment through a £2 billion rights issue, the
issuing of £2 billion of bonds and £1 billion of support from the
UK government.
Unite regional officer Ross Quinn said: “Unite has given
Rolls-Royce every opportunity to change its plans, confirm there
will be no more compulsory redundancies and guarantee the long-term
future of Barnoldswick, but it has refused to do so.
“To offshore work and destroy the viability of this historic
factory would be nothing short of industrial vandalism.
“As a consequence and as a last resort, Unite has instructed its
members to take targeted strike action in order to bring
Rolls-Royce to the negotiating table.
“Barnoldswick is the cradle of the jet engine and the workforce and
the local community will not allow Rolls-Royce to destroy the
viability of the site without a huge fight.
Unite national officer Rhys McCarthy said: “It is simply
unacceptable that Rolls-Royce is seeking to offshore the jobs of
workers in the UK, while at the same time that it is going cap in
hand to the UK government for £1 billion in financial support.
“There is still time before strike action begins for Rolls-Royce to
reverse the decision to offshore jobs, or present alternative plans
to ensure the Barnoldswick factory’s long term future at similar
employment levels. It is hoped it uses the next two weeks
wisely.
“If Rolls-Royce is prepared to propose a viable future for
Barnoldswick, then Unite will meet them at any time to resolve this
dispute and secure a deal to preserve the jobs and the future of
the factory.”
ENDS
Notes to editors:
Exact details of workers taking industrial action:
- MTM department 3078 Manufacturing Services Technicians -
mechanical, manufacturing services technicians - instrumentation
- Department 3013 Twist/ Hot Creep Form/ waterjet: Process
operators, fitters, inspectors
- Department 3008 X-Ray/ NDT : NDT operators
- Works convenor
- Department 3005 Front Bearing Housing: general machinists,
process operators, Inspectors, NDT Operators, welders, fitters.
Rolls-Royce
workforce give resounding yes vote for strike action in battle to
save historic Lancashire factory
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