Airbus walkout - joint action needed across Europe

THE VAST majority of the 7,000 strong workforce at the Airbus UK factory at Broughton in North Wales, walked out on strike on 23 March.

Jobs at the factory, that makes wings for Airbus' A380 passenger jet, are under threat.

Airbus, the giant European plane manufacturers, announced a few weeks ago that they wanted to ditch over 10,000 jobs from factories in Germany, France, Spain and Britain.

As we reported (the socialist 8-14 March) there were huge militant protests in factories in Europe, but the response in Britain was far weaker. After the walkout at Broughton, the Amicus convenor said he was trying to persuade the workers to return to work.

They went back but not without noticing the lack of leadership from many trade union officials.

Clearly, though, workers at Broughton and other Airbus plants are worried about their future.

The demand raised in our previous article for joint action across the continent including a Europe-wide Airbus strike is still the only way to safeguard jobs in an aviation market threatened by overproduction and other problems.