Ford closure announcement must be met with united response of defiance

By Rob Williams (former Unite convenor at ex-Swansea Ford plant)

After months if not years of rumours and speculation, which have shredded the nerves of workers and their families, Ford have finally announced the closure of the Bridgend Engine Plant after nearly 40 years of production.

This is a catastrophe for these 1,700 workers, their families and communities and the whole Welsh economy. The message that must be immediately sent by the unions and Jeremy Corbyn’s Labour Party in Cardiff and Westminster to Ford and the Tory government is that the plant will not be allowed to close.

This would be the platform to build a mass campaign from the workforce on the Bridgend shopfloor and workers in the related companies that depend on the Engine Plant that make the components and provide services. If a determined programme of industrial action is spelt out, it can give workers confidence to fight and build the pressure on the company and the politicians.

The Labour-run Welsh Government should tell Ford that the plant will be nationalised to save jobs and communities and Jeremy Corbyn must give the commitment that a Labour government led by him will take it into public ownership. This would put huge pressure on the weak and divided Tory government to intervene.

In 1971, a previous Tory government nationalised Rolls-Royce, and months later was forced to intervene when workers at the Upper Clyde Shipbuilders conducted a working occupation and 80,000 marched in solidarity. Honda workers in Swindon and steelworkers in Scunthorpe are facing the same scenario and support the call for nationalisation to save jobs.  Public ownership as the foundation of a socialist plan of production offers the possibility to re-tool the plant for alternative production, without loss of pay and pensions.

The Ford unions have already threatened a national strike ballot if Bridgend is closed. This must be prepared immediately. A national meeting of Ford shop stewards should meet with plant meetings throughout the company’s sites. This is the best way to undermine any Ford ‘divide and rule’ tactics.

The best way to protect the other sites is to fight to keep Bridgend open. The lesson of the last 20 years is that every plant closure makes others easier and more likely. In 2000, there were over 50,000 Ford UK workers but now only a fifth of that remain in work. In Bridgend right now, there will be workers from closed plants such as Treforest, Swansea and Southampton. There is nowhere else to go. 

A national strike would send a clear message of defiance, as would an immediate stoppage at the plant. It is surely not accidental that Ford sent workers home today (Thursday June 6) so that workers can’t discuss together or they may have been concerned about a walkout. Ford should be told, that the plant will stop if there is any attempt to move out machinery and equipment. Even the idea of a plant occupation should be considered.

Two years ago, Unite won an industrial action ballot when it emerged that the company’s sourcing plans threatened the plants’ future. However, no action was called. This was a serious mistake as undoubtedly it would have given Ford the impression that there wouldn’t be a fight. This is a lesson that must be learned now.

As usual, when Ford looks to close plants, it has designed a closure package that attempts to buy off resistance. But no matter how much is offered, it will never be as good as a job on terms and conditions that have been won by the militancy of generations of Ford workers, in Bridgend and nationally. While those 55 or over can get immediate access to a full pension and those 45 or over will qualify when they reach 55, younger workers who face the dole will have to wait until they are 65.

But as ex-Swansea plant workers know, your pension is never safe. They were spun-off to Visteon in 2000 but their pensions went into the Pension Protection Fund which pay out reduced pensions, when the new company went into administration in 2009. Only a 5-year struggle by Visteon pensioners from the closed plants in Swansea, Belfast, Basildon and Enfield forced tens of millions in pounds compensation.

This article was updated on June 6th to take account of developments after the closure announcement.