
The Socialist 21 July 2009
Defend every job
Corus... Vestas... Defend every job!
Vestas: Support the occupation
Action to save steel jobs at Corus
Defend the Four: Protest at the Unison witch-hunt
Unison witch-hunt verdict causes outrage amongst trade unionists
Youth fight for jobs fortnight of action
National strike action to halt attacks on workers and our postal services
Tube workers' action wins concessions
South Yorkshire First Buses strike over pay
Every little helps Tesco's as they attack workers
Teachers strike against job cuts
Union action to fight the attacks on our pensions
BNP get police to arrest socialists
Lincoln fights back against racist BNP
Stop the BNP's 'festival' of hate
Build the Tamil Solidarity campaign
Devon residents against incinerators: Alternative waste schemes needed
Another stepping stone towards health privatisation
20th anniversary of Soviet miners' strike
40th anniversary of the moon landing What steps has humanity taken?
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Home | The Socialist 21 July 2009 | Join the Socialist Party
Corus... Vestas... Defend every job!
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Corus workers protest, photo by Paul Mattsson |
Around 5,000 people marched in Redcar, Teesside on 18 July, in support of the Save our Steel campaign. This has been set up to defend the 2,000 Corus steel jobs at risk. Plants in Teesside, Scunthorpe and Rotherham are under threat, on top of thousands of job cuts in January. Corus is owned by the Tata Steel conglomerate which made a £2.8 billion profit in 2007-08.
John Malcolm, Teesside Socialist Party
The march was organised by Unite and the steel industry union Community. Steel workers were joined by their families and supporters from the community and workers from other steel plants across the UK.
Unite leader Derek Simpson was one of the main speakers at the rally. He was applauded for calling on the steel industry to receive the same level of government support as the banks and finance industry. But Vera Baird, one of the local Labour MPs, was booed from the outset and came under fire when all she mentioned was setting aside £5 million for retraining of redundant steel workers.
Speakers spoke passionately about the impact the loss of steel production would have on the local economy and about the knock-on effect of unemployment in firms servicing the steel plant.
Teesside has lost most of its steel production since the 1980s and the chemical industry has also been scaled down. 150 dock workers also face redundancy due to falling imports of coke and iron ore.
One Corus worker, Frank Harrison, brought his own banner which condemned greedy MPs and the banks. He said: "The steel industry needs to be renationalised... today's Labour Party is no different to the Tories". Many of those on the march shared his views.
This was a great show of support for Corus workers. But what was missing was a strategy or plan to take the campaign forward or demands to occupy the plant to fight against it being closed down. Demands were made for subsidy but no clear call for renationalisation under workers' control with a plan for steel production for socially useful projects.
- Bail out the workers not the bankers.
- No redundancies - share out the work.
- No attacks on pay and conditions.
- No to concession bargaining.
- The steel industry - alongside the construction and car industries - should be renationalised under democratic workers' control.
In this issue
Corus... Vestas... Defend every job!
No Job Cuts
Vestas: Support the occupation
Action to save steel jobs at Corus
Unison witchhunt
Defend the Four: Protest at the Unison witch-hunt
Unison witch-hunt verdict causes outrage amongst trade unionists
Youth fight for jobs
Youth fight for jobs fortnight of action
Workplace news
National strike action to halt attacks on workers and our postal services
Tube workers' action wins concessions
South Yorkshire First Buses strike over pay
Every little helps Tesco's as they attack workers
Teachers strike against job cuts
Pensions
Union action to fight the attacks on our pensions
Anti-racism
BNP get police to arrest socialists
Lincoln fights back against racist BNP
Stop the BNP's 'festival' of hate
Socialist Party campaigns
Build the Tamil Solidarity campaign
Devon residents against incinerators: Alternative waste schemes needed
Another stepping stone towards health privatisation
Marxist analysis: history
20th anniversary of Soviet miners' strike
Comment
40th anniversary of the moon landing What steps has humanity taken?
Home | The Socialist 21 July 2009 | Join the Socialist Party
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Construction workers fight pay cuts
Fight Tata Steel jobs threat - nationalise now!
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Exams scrapped again - young people need a future with jobs and free education