The Fight Must Be Fought and Won!

Workers' Daily Internet Edition: Article Index :

Coventry Protests over Jaguar Closure:
The Fight Must Be Fought and Won!

More than 2,500 workers from all over Britain joined a protest march in Coventry on Saturday against Ford's planned closure of Jaguar's Browns Lane plant in the city. Many of the marchers came from other car plants, including Jaguar's Halewood on Merseyside, as well as Peugeot and Vauxhall factories. "The Coventry workers supported us during our picketing in Wales two and a half years ago. Now we're here to give them our support when they need it," said Gerald Parry, TGWU shop steward from Friction Dynamex plant in Caernarfon, North Wales.

Ford has refused to give the unions a breakdown of the £80 million cost savings it claims will be made from closing Browns Lane. The government has already handed over £86 million in subsidies to Jaguar in response to its requests for assistance to maintain car production in Coventry.

It was only last year, and no doubt more recently also, that Ford Chief Operating Officer Nick Scheele was denying reports that the plant was to close. "The answer is no," Scheele had said. "This is really speculation that’s been running around now for six to nine months." And Jaguar had in September this year registered its best sales figures in Britain. It reported that it sold in excess of 6,200 vehicles. Sales of Jaguar’s best-selling model, the X-Type, were 19 per cent up on the same period last year. The XJ and S-Type saloons and the XK sports car all saw sales gains in Britain during the month.

Ballot papers for strike action are being issued to Amicus and T&G workers at Browns Lane today, Monday, complying with the trade union laws, as the workers decide on action to prevent the loss of 1,150 workers’ jobs, with the accompanying knock-on effect in the region, and the adverse effect on the national economy. The ballot closes on December 13 and votes will be counted on December 14.

The demonstrators carried a multitude of placards and banners. As well as the banners of branches of Amicus and the Transport and General, there were red Amicus flags, placards and banners expressing support, others capturing the sentiment of the workers that they are determined not to let Detroit make the decisions which affect their lives and livelihoods, and others expressing that the big cat of Jaguar was not yet finished. Among the placards held aloft were those declaring "Jaguar workers fighting for our future", "Can you ever trust Ford?" and "No to 1,150 job cuts".

Workers were present from Jaguar’s Castle Bromwich site in Birmingham, where Ford says it is to switch production of the XJ Saloon and XK Sports Car. There are no illusions among these workers that the loss at Browns Lane will be Castle Bromwich’s gain, and these workers are determined to fight alongside their fellow workers against Ford’s plans with the sentiment that an injury to one is an injury to all. Recently Jaguar has also intensified working arrangements on the shop floor at Castle Bromwich, attempting to screw up productivity and counteract the falling rate of profit.

The protest march began at the Coventry Transport Museum in Millennium Place, where the workers, many in the green Jaguar jackets, thronged tightly as they assembled with an atmosphere of determination, unity and solidarity. As well as a traditional jazz band playing such numbers as the Red Flag, two members of the Indian working class community in Coventry struck up a beat on the dhol drums. Following the mayor of Coventry’s Jaguar at the head of the march were Brendan Barber, TUC general secretary, together with general secretary of the TGWU, Tony Woodley, and his counterpart from Amicus, Derek Simpson. They were accompanied by Coventry Labour MP Bob Ainsworth, himself a former Jaguar worker who had left in 1991, and other local MPs and political figures, including former Coventry MP Dave Nellist of the Socialist Party, and held a banner proclaiming "Ford Keep Your Promise!". The demonstration wound through the compact Coventry city centre, skirting the Cathedral, to a rally with speeches at the City Council Buildings. Shoppers in Coventry city centre backed the protest, as it passed by, very concerned that, having already seen job losses at plants such as Massey Ferguson and Marconi, that Coventry is going to be further devastated.

It had been reported, following a private meeting last Monday between Tony Woodley, Derek Simpson and Mark Fields, the chairman of Ford of Europe and also Ford's Premier Automotive Group, which includes Jaguar and Land Rover, that the union leaders feared that Ford may close another of Jaguar’s car plants in order to appease investors in the United States. Tony Woodley said that Ford's plan to produce 130,000 Jaguars a year would only require one plant. He said that he believes the Castle Bromwich plant in Birmingham or the Halewood facility on Merseyside could also be vulnerable. The T&G general secretary accused the Ford boss of reneging on earlier pledges to try to bring production of new models to Britain. He said that union officials had been told during wage negotiations last month that Ford was hoping to locate production of a new Volvo sports utility vehicle in Britain, but on Monday night Mr Fields denied the existence of such a car.

The rally first heard from 16 year-old schoolboy Martin Humphrey, who made an impassioned plea for saving the Browns Lane plant, where his parents had already been made redundant and where his grandfather works. Martin, who had hoped to start an apprenticeship at Jaguar, said afterwards to reporters: "Why should they close the place when it's one of Jaguar's most productive factories? I don't want to see a good business go down because of someone's decision to just close it. I think that kids of my generation should have the opportunity to work in their local area and not have to move."

All three city MPs have strong links to the company; Coventry North East MP Bob Ainsworth is a former sheet metal worker at Browns Lane; former Paymaster General Geoffrey Robinson, who represents Coventry North West, is an ex-Jaguar executive. And Jim Cunningham’s Coventry South constituency takes in the Jaguar research and development centre at Whitley.

Bob Ainsworth said that great strides had been made at Browns Lane since he left in 1991. He told the rally: "Nobody in this city doubts that the Browns Lane plant is profitable. The productivity levels are second to none and the quality levels are the best in the whole of Ford. Why then are they facing the threat of closure? That's the answer we need from Ford and the answer they have flatly refused, to date, to give us."

Home Office minister Mike O'Brien, who is Labour MP for neighbouring North Warwickshire, said that the end of production at Browns Lane would have a knock-on effect throughout the West Midlands and would also be felt further afield in British manufacturing. He said workers had been "kicked in the teeth".

TUC general secretary Brendan Barber unequivocally said that the TUC was fully behind the struggle of the Jaguar workers of Coventry.

Tony Woodley in a very militant and rousing speech said: "We call on not just Jaguar workers but also the wider community of Coventry and the West Midlands to stand together and fight this unjust closure." He renewed his call for employment legislation to be changed, which he alleged had allowed Ford to put forward the proposals without proper consultation. He said, to great acclaim, that Britain’s trade union laws were "a joke", making British manufacturing a "soft touch". He roundly condemned Ford management for not giving the unions answers to the actual cost of switching production to Castle Bromwich, under the hoax that they did not know. Tony Woodley pointed out that it would cost more to shut down the Coventry plant than keep it open.

Derek Simpson’s speech was more low key, full of Yorkshire dourness, and centred around countering the fear that taking a stand would mean hardship for the workers. He said: "The next two weeks are critical in our fight against the closure of Browns Lane. We hope the strike ballot will send a clear message to Ford that Jaguar workers and the people of Coventry will do everything they can to resist the effective closure of Browns Lane. We want them to work with us in considering alternative plans to closure."

There were other speakers from the Jaguar trade union officials, including the chair of the Rally, who all poured scorn on the argument that the weakness of the dollar against the pound meant that Ford had no alternative but to transfer production from its Coventry plant. The final speaker to address the workers was the wife of a Browns Lane worker, who called on everyone to support the struggle and back strike action to keep the plant open.

There was indeed a marked atmosphere of solidarity and determination as the rally broke up and speedily dispersed. There was scepticism that the government could be relied on to stand up to Ford, a hope that the trade union leaders would prove up to their job in leading the fight through to the end, and a realisation that the fighting unity of the workers, of all for one and one for all, was going to be the decisive factor in the struggle, a determination that in the struggle as to who decides the fate of Browns Lane, Detroit must not have the last word! This fight must be fought and won!