WORKERS at GMM Luton yesterday condemned the refusal of their union leaders to fight, as they waited the outcome of the General Motors board meeting in Detroit. The GM board was discussing the sale of GM Europe unit, which includes Germany’s Opel and the UK’s GM plants.
Last Sunday GMM Luton announced the ending of the night shift on September19, which affects 300 workers.
Referring to the Unite joint general secretary, Luton worker Chris Stagg summed up the feelings of many: ‘We would like Tony Woodley to explain what the union is going to do to save the plant. Why haven’t we had a mass meeting to discuss our future. I remember when Woodley was campaigning to become general secretary. He kept using the slogan “I want a union that does the business, not a business union”. Well this is precisely what Woodley is trying to turn us into – a business union.’
Another GMM worker Kenny added: ‘We want industrial action. Whoever buys us is going to make sackings. There has to be a mass meeting to find out what the union is going to do.
‘The plant will have to be occupied to defend jobs. The union should launch a campaign to nationalise the plant. But I don’t think Tony Woodley is interested in the workers at Luton or Ellesmere Port. We need leaders that will fight for the workers.’
• Up to 20,000 postal workers across the UK are set for another week of strikes as the deadlock between the Communication Workers Union (CWU) and Royal Mail over cuts and non-negotiations continues, the CWU said yesterday.
Research by CWU shows that postal workers are facing unprecedented levels of attacks from management.
On jobs, postal workers fear compulsory redundancies as offices are closed and relocation is an unrealistic option, along with fear of being forced to go part-time as Royal Mail looks to strip out full-time jobs.
On pay, postal workers face a pay-freeze while also losing overtime hours in the same year that Royal Mail announced record profits .
On well being, postal workers are facing daily bullying and harassment from managers piling extra and unrealistic workloads on them in order to meet impractical budget targets.
