The Socialist 7 January 2009

Stop the slaughter in Gaza

Stop the Slaughter in Gaza

Thousands protest against the Israeli onslaught

2009 - putting socialism back on the agenda

Youth fight for jobs

The great rail fares rip-off

Madoff with the money!

No festive joy for shop workers

Labour ministers' unsocial fund

Plutocrats lose

Make the poor pay

Tommy Sheridan in Celebrity Big Brother

USA: Chicago factory workers occupation wins concessions

For a fighting Usdaw leadership

South Wales: Workers vow to fight job losses

BT: reluctant vote for pension cuts

No redundancies at GSK!

Salford council: Equal pay, not pay cuts!

No to the toxic incinerator!

Previous issues, etc

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No redundancies at GSK!

GSK (Glaxo Smith Klein) is adding to the growing ranks of the unemployed. GSK made over £6 billion last year but that is not enough, they want more, transferring high paid jobs here for cheap wages in Poland. With losses in the US market last year GSK are looking to rip every penny from its workforce.

Plants at Dartford and Crawley have both been closed and redundancies are taking place at Ware and Barnard Castle. On the promise of new drugs coming through the pipeline it was agreed that old work could go to Poland, but the new drugs have not been forthcoming. Just after 200 workers took voluntary redundancy another 421 jobs are to go at Ware, with more due through the closure of the tablet packaging department.

The only goal the union have been fighting for is no compulsory redundancies. They have no confidence in the workforce to fight, after nearly getting killed in the rush for the last lot of redundancies.

National Shop Stewards Network members from Stevenage decided to act, leafleting the Ware site just before Christmas advertising a meeting the following evening.

Linda Taaffe from the NSSN national committee spoke to NSSN members and GSK workers from the Ware site. After a heated discussion on the role of the union and the need to fight, it was agreed to hold a follow-up meeting on 10 January to agree a press release and to start to organise the workforce into a combative fighting force.