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From The Socialist newspaper, 23 September 2009
Portsmouth shipbuilders vote for strike
Four hundred GMB shipyard workers in Portsmouth have voted to take strike action over working conditions and proposals forcing them to work in other parts of the UK.
They are employed by BVT, a consortium of BAE systems and shipbuilders Vosper Thornycroft, formed to build two new aircraft carriers. However, while part of these vessels will be built in Portsmouth, BVT are trying to force workers to move to other parts of the UK, including Scotland and Cumbria for up to three months at a time, while they are being built.
In the recent ballot, 82% of GMB members voted for strike action. GMB organiser Bob Stokes said: "Unless we get a settlement we'd be starting with a total stoppage of work for a period, for one day probably. If we stop work we'll picket all the gates. An overtime ban and work-to-rule arrangements would follow, but there are no dates fixed for action yet".
Portsmouth Socialist Party
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The coronavirus crisis has laid bare the class character of society in numerous ways. It is making clear to many that it is the working class that keeps society running, not the CEOs of major corporations.
The results of austerity have been graphically demonstrated as public services strain to cope with the crisis.
The government has now ripped up its 'austerity' mantra and turned to policies that not long ago were denounced as socialist. But after the corona crisis, it will try to make the working class pay for it, by trying to claw back what has been given.
- The Socialist Party's material is more vital than ever, so we can continue to report from workers who are fighting for better health and safety measures, against layoffs, for adequate staffing levels, etc.
- When the health crisis subsides, we must be ready for the stormy events ahead and the need to arm workers' movements with a socialist programme - one which puts the health and needs of humanity before the profits of a few.
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In The Socialist 23 September 2009:
Prepare political challenge to cuts agenda
Education
Higher education - cuts cuts cuts!
Universities in crisis - Join Socialist Students
Defend education - stop the £2 billion cuts in spending
TUC
TUC congress: Anger on the fringes, inaction at the top
War and occupation
Afghanistan: An unwinnable war
Postal workers strike
Postal workers strike as national ballot continues
Vestas
Vestas workers determined to continue fight for jobs
Youth fight for jobs
Youth unemployment hits record level
Future Jobs Fund - massaging the figures
Socialist Party news and analysis
Campaign for a Salford workers' MP
International socialist news
Socialist Party MEP denounces "campaign of fear" on Lisbon Treaty
Workers' fightback grows in Italy
Socialist Party workplace news
Engineering construction: Stewards' forum recommends bosses' offer Workers should reject!
Portsmouth shipbuilders vote for strike
Bosses ask JCB workers for sacrifice
Battle over pensions means strike threat at Corus
Liverpool bin workers score victory
Socialist Party reviews
Listening to Grasshoppers by Arundhati Roy
The Dirty Thirty - Heroes of the Miners' Strike
The Anti-Flag album 'The People or the Gun'
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