THE Unite and GMB trade unions have issued calls for the Johnson Tory government to take action to save 8,000 Tata workers jobs in the UK. They have handed over their function as a trade union to a Tory government!
The 8,000 jobs are now directly under threat after Tata announced that it is selling Tata Steel Netherlands to Swedish steelmaker SSAB, leaving Tata Steel Port Talbot, the only steel making plant left within Tata’s European business, standing alone.
Tony Brady, Unite National Officer for steel said yesterday: ‘Today’s news effectively means that Tata’s European steel business will now be based solely in the UK.
‘With Brexit fast approaching it is essential that Tata’s UK steel business is able to continue trading effectively across the European Union.
‘This means that it is crucial that the UK comes to a trade agreement with the EU in the coming weeks. The UK government have told us that Brexit will be good for Britain and British jobs. They must deliver on that promise.
‘Alongside this there must be a determination from Westminster to pull out all the stops to help ensure Tata’s British steel plants prosper into the future. If the government wants to retain steelmaking capacity in the UK it can no longer stand on the sidelines watching.
‘The UK steel sector needs a broad and long term strategic commitment from central government, which needs to include a considerable financial investment.
‘Our ability to manufacture and produce steel must be viewed as a core component of the UK’s industrial future. The sector provides thousands of good jobs in communities across Wales and the UK. This is a pivotal moment. The time to act decisively to preserve these jobs for future generations is now.’
Again the unions are abdicating their job, and handing it over to a bankrupt Tory government.
Wales’ Labour Economy Minister Ken Skates, meanwhile, stated the obvious: That the news was ‘extremely worrying’ for Tata’s 8,000 workers across the UK. Stephen Kinnock, Labour MP for Port Talbot’s Aberavon constituency, added it was ‘time for a partnership’ between Tata Steel and the government.
Tata Steel has spelt out its plans that it intended to keep its UK business running without financial support from India, and was speaking to the UK government about the business’s future. It added that it ‘will pursue separate strategic paths for the Netherlands and UK business in the future’.
It added: ‘Tata Steel continues its dialogue with the UK government on potential measures to safeguard the long term future of Tata Steel UK and is also reviewing all options to make the business self-sustaining without the need for any funding support from Tata Steel India in the future.’
There is only one way to save Tata Steel jobs in the UK.
That is for the trade unions involved: Unite, GMB, and the Community union to occupy the plants and demand that the TUC call a general strike to bring down the government, so that Tata Steel and the entire capitalist economy can be nationalised and put under workers’ control and management, in a planned socialist economy.
If the union leaders will not fight for these jobs, they must be forced to resign and replaced by union leaders who are prepared to call a general strike to bring down Johnson and bring in a workers’ government and a UK socialist planned economy.
The union leaders are paralysed by the current capitalist crisis that has shattered world capitalism. However, fear of the working class has led Johnson to extend his furlough till the end of March.
Then all hell will break loose as the government and the bosses push though savage cuts and tax rises and dictate massive wage cuts.
The working class must act now or face the prospect of a return to the Hungry 1930s. Only the WRP spells out how the capitalist crisis must be resolved by a UK socialist revolution.
Join the WRP today and build the new leadership in the unions to call a general strike, to bring down the Johnson government and go forward to socialism and a nationalised and planned economy.
