Cammell crash Laird-unions on the 291 lay-offs announced from the shipbuilding company



The ten weeks of trade-union agitations which proclaimed from the British unions in order to protest against the reduction of 40% of the force job of the navalmeccanica company Cammell Laird it risks to newly put in knee the historical English ship yard that is survivor to a procedure of failure and a period of administration controlled activated in 2001. Today the company has diffused a note turned to the workers on strike and the unions in which it evidences that "their action is moving away the customers, placing to risk the places of work of all all the workers, many of which - it has emphasized management of Cammell Laird - they are contrary to strike".

Strike, begun friday, has been indetto against the announced cuts of the staff from the society, that they would involve the lay-off of 291 dependent within next March. According to the unions, the initiative would be put into effect also with the attempt to contract out job to external companies to the yard: the labor organization Joined in fact has denounced that the company of Birkenhead would replace workers with interim workers full-time: "the heads of Cammell Lard - the regional responsible for United has asserted, Ross Quinn - must not have doubts on the determination of the workers in defending their places of work and to line up itself against these useless cuts of places of work, with people who could lose the job before Christmas".

Diametrically opposite the position of the summits of the company: "this counter-productive strike - the managing director of Cammell Laird has declared, John Syvret - undermines only our ability to create places of work and working activities. We are - it has explained - a society that works on contract and, as all the others, must increase and diminish the resources, in agreement with the norms on the job, in order to assure of being able to tackle to our obligations and in order to maintain a base of costs competitive. This trade-union agitation - it has emphasized Syvret - has contributed to the loss of beyond 1,5 million activity pounds and, with an increasing worry by the customers, greater losses are imminent. It can seem obvious, but in poor words: without customers not there are places of work. These contracts that we have lost are time realized from other yards".

For union GMB, instead, "if the decision to cut hundred of places of work will not be revoked, this will cause to numberless difficulties for the workers and their families". The labor organization has remembered that the cut of the staff is announced by the company when Cammell Laird has obtained two contracts of the value of beyond 600 million pounds for maintenance of ships of the Royal Navy. Moreover GMB has remembered that the company has not received a proposal "credible and very reasonable" alternative that is introduced by the unions to the aim to ask for the lay-off of the first group of workers previewed to December. "For the workers - it has specified the regional responsible for GMB, Albie McGuigan - to decide to strike, especially at this time of the year, it demonstrates how much angry and is frustrated for the lack of support by Cammell Laird. Our associates in the long term considered that the their future graves sure after recent announcements of award of contracts and the contractual agreements".

The managing director of the company has replied that these lay-offs are unfortunately necessary because the contracts are turning to the term and it is not possible from the economic point of view to tackle to huge operating costs without job. Syvret has manifested optimism about the future increase of the activity of the yard of Birkenhead evidencing that the objective is "to conclude huge contracts with the Defense Ministry, between which the contract from 1,25 billion pounds for the construction of five frigates". Moreover Syvret has flatly rejected the turned accusation to the company to have the intention of precarizzare the job: the CEO of Cammell Laird has remembered that the company "never has not taken in consideration contracts "to zero hours" and has restarted one of the more important programs than formation of Great Britain with investments for beyond 18 million pounds for the formation of 250 apprentices".