Workers occupying Harland and Wolff shipyard, Belfast, July 2019, photo CWI

Workers occupying Harland and Wolff shipyard, Belfast, July 2019, photo CWI   (Click to enlarge: opens in new window)

The GMB and Unite trade unions representing workers at the Harland and Wolff shipyard in Belfast have announced the extension of the unpaid temporary lay-off of staff until 30 September.

Administrators say “they have received a number of non-binding offers to buy the business as a going concern.”

Workers who continue to occupy the yard and their unions have called for its nationalisation which the Socialist Party supports.

In 1971, workers in Upper Clydeside Shipbuilders in Glasgow undertook a working occupation, supported by a demonstration of 80,000 trade unionists, and forced a Tory government to intervene to keep the yards open.

We say nationalise the shipyard under the democratic control of the workers!