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From The Socialist newspaper, 21 July 2010
Swansea Linamar
Workers at the Linamar car parts plant in Swansea voted overwhelmingly to reluctantly accept the company's closure terms, at a mass meeting on Monday 12 July.
It could cost the Canadian company as much as £11 million to close the plant they have owned since July 2008 and put the 208 workers on the dole.
This deal, among the highest in the whole of the car industry, is testament to the continuous struggle of the workforce against both Visteon and Linamar's attacks on jobs, terms and conditions and pensions, as well as last year's successful reinstatement of sacked Unite convenor, Socialist Party member Rob Williams.
It proved impossible to convince the stewards and the workers that it was possible to stop the closure.
No doubt the reduced number of workers in the plant was also a factor. Workers understood the scale of action that would have been necessary to achieve a victory.
Socialist Party members argued for a rejection of the deal and for a strike ballot. This would have been used to raise the idea of an occupation. It would also be necessary to appeal for workers at Swansea's customer plants for its promised new work, the Ford engine plants in Bridgend and Dagenham, not to touch Linamar work.
Unfortunately, but understandably, this was rejected, and the plant is expected to close before Christmas.
The stewards were given a massive ovation by the workforce at the end of the meeting. As Rob Williams told the meeting: "We can hold our heads up high."
We will carry further material over the next few weeks on the lessons of the experiences at the Swansea Visteon/Linamar plant.
Alec Thraves, Swansea 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 21 July 2010:
Socialist Party youth and students
Youth and students: organise to fight for a future
Socialist Party Marxist analysis
Anti-cuts campaign
Education workers must teach Tories a lesson
Socialist Party workplace news
Wales: No to fire service cuts
Strike action wins at Tube Lines
Socialist Party workplace analysis
PCS: a strategy to stop the cuts
Unite the struggle to defend pensions
Socialist Party NHS campaign
Con-Dems propose denationalisation of the NHS
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