Find out more HERE
Robert Childs’ (pictured right) great grandfather, William, helped to build the Titanic at Harland and Wolff; his grandfather also worked at the Belfast shipyard, as did his father, mother and son. There was no way Childs, or the colleagues he has worked side-by-side with for decades, were going to let the 160-year-old yard sink without a fight.
On July 29, just a few days before the firm went into administration, workers barred the gates and began a round the clock vigil. It was the start of an occupation to save the yard that, at the time of writing, is still ongoing with workers vowing to stay on site until a suitable buyer is found or it’s nationalised.
“The morale at the company has always been good but what’s happened here has really galvanised the workforce,” commented electrical engineer and Unite member Childs, who began work at Harland and Wolff four decades ago as a 16-year-old apprentice. “We’re a good solid unit. We’re all pretty hopeful now that we’re going to get a good outcome.”
Harland and Wolff’s 130 strong workforce were forced into the occupation after Northern Ireland cruise ship fitter MJM pulled out of exclusive negotiations to buy the yard from Norwegian energy firm Fred Olsen. The cynical move plunged Harland and Wolff into administration, leaving the shipyard at risk of being picked over by vulture capitalists, including MJM, at knockdown prices, with its staff being given their marching orders.
In the days after MJM dropped its bid, the yard’s workforce set up their own committee, named Cobra after the government’s emergency council. There was no time to find a new buyer in the few days before the firm went into administration, so the shipbuilders decided to take radical action and occupy the yard.
“We knew what was happening was morally corrupt,” said Unite senior shop steward Joe Passmore (pictured left), “We had nothing to lose. But we were inside the facility. Call it squatting, call it whatever you want, we had control. No one was going to argue with us because we were all united. We blocked off the exits and took control of the site.
“We’re still at the gate and we still control who goes in and who goes out. If we see people who don’t have the interests of our industry at heart we won’t let them in. Up to now they’ve been sensible enough to stay away but we’re going stay here right up until we have the buyer that we want in place.”
The worker-led occupation was immediately backed by the two unions representing the yard, Unite and the GMB, and received solidarity and support from across the labour movement and local community.
Administrators BDO have said there have been “positive discussions” over the site’s sale. In the meantime, Unite and the GMB are paying the workers occupying the yard and have signed an agreement with BDO formalising their position as caretakers.
“The administrators are happy to run a lot of things past us and work with us, which is unusual in itself,” said Passmore. “They can recognise the power of what we’re doing and the influence it’s having.”
As well as helping to secure a positive future for yard, the occupation has made unexpected and positive political waves – the fight to save Harland and Wolff has united Northern Ireland’s notoriously divided political landscape.
Unfair perception “Thirty years ago Harland and Wolff was known as a loyalist hotbed,” explained Passmore. “It hasn’t been like that in a long long time. But the perception was always there and was used as a bat to hit us with. It was totally unfair, so rather than giving people that opportunity we went to Stormont and met Sinn Fein and started chanting ‘save our shipyard’ in Gaelic.
“The barriers broken down that day were absolutely incredible. It made a lot of people who were dubious about us before became our backers.
“We did the same thing at the City Hall and for once got Belfast City Council to agree, which never happens. The DUP has met with us regularly. We’re not getting the money we wanted (for nationalisation) but we are getting the political support we’ve been asking for.”
11 uniteWORKS Autumn 2019
BY RYAN FLETCHER
The main aim of the workers’ political lobbying is to persuade UK government to put the shipyard into the hands of the official receiver and underwrite the firm while a buyer is found. This would enable the shipyard to continue operating, sign contracts for on-going work and give confidence to customers, suppliers and contractors to commit already allocated work, including a £22m refit contract.
“Harland and Wolff has the largest dry dock in the UK and the only one big enough to fit our new Royal Navy aircraft carriers” said Unite assistant general secretary Steve Turner. “The shipyard works has an important part to play in the building of the Royal Navy’s new Type 31e Frigates and is central to the UK consortium’s bid to build the navy’s fleet solid support ships.
“All this proud workforce needs is a temporary boost from government and a commitment from UK ministers that they will back UK shipbuilding by block building the new fleet solid support ships in yards across the UK.”
“Hopefully we can start building ships again,” Robert Childs said. “One of the big things for me would be to get a training centre up and running. The workforce age profile is quite high so we need to get young people trained before those skills are lost.”
As we go to press the Babcock-led consortium will be named preferred bidder for the supply pf £1.25 bn contract for five Type 31e frigates to the Royal Navy. Unite is demanding this must also include direct UK government intervention, with the nationalisation of
Harland and Wolff, so the proud shipbuilding heritage of Belfast is secured for years to come.
See page 38 “
Call it squatting, call it what- ever you want, we had control. No one was going to argue with us because we were all united. We blocked off the exits and took control of the site
Joe Passmore
Unite senior shop steward, Harland and Wolff
”
Mark Thomas
Page 1 |
Page 2 |
Page 3 |
Page 4 |
Page 5 |
Page 6 |
Page 7 |
Page 8 |
Page 9 |
Page 10 |
Page 11 |
Page 12 |
Page 13 |
Page 14 |
Page 15 |
Page 16 |
Page 17 |
Page 18 |
Page 19 |
Page 20 |
Page 21 |
Page 22 |
Page 23 |
Page 24 |
Page 25 |
Page 26 |
Page 27 |
Page 28 |
Page 29 |
Page 30 |
Page 31 |
Page 32 |
Page 33 |
Page 34 |
Page 35 |
Page 36 |
Page 37 |
Page 38 |
Page 39 |
Page 40
