Now Is the Time to Get Organised!
Security Lies in the Fight for Our Rights and Interests!

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Tata Take-Over of Jaguar and Land Rover:
Now Is the Time to Get Organised! Security Lies in the Fight for Our Rights and Interests!

A deal has been agreed for Tata Motors to buy Jaguar and Land Rover from the Ford Motor Company. The sale is expected to be completed by the second quarter of this year. Is this the end of the matter for the workers? What does the workers’ experience say about the security of their jobs and of the car industry in the West Midlands and Merseyside?

            The fact is that the car industry has witnessed quite a number of false dawns in the past. Management buyouts and takeovers by other car giants have led to the warranted conclusion that the security of the workers, of the car industry, of the West Midlands and of the whole economy does not rest in the boardrooms over which the workers have no control and say in, nor in the corridors of Westminster as long as the interests of the independent programme of the working class are not represented there. It lies in the workers organising to restrict the unfettered claims of the monopolies to do whatever they choose, and ultimately in being able themselves to set the direction of the economy for the public good. Specifically, the workers’ experience shows that security only lies in their fight for their rights and interests, and that this step also throws up the lesson that this fight must be continued through to the end, and that it is the workers’ outlook that will safeguard the economic interests of the country as a whole.

            This being the case, the takeover by Tata of Jaguar and Land Rover is no justification for the workers to give up their stance of being proactive. On the contrary, the workers must continue their deliberations and continue strengthening their organisations at the grass roots, whether the decisions which affect their future are made in Detroit or Mumbai. The workers cannot afford to let the lessons of the past go unheeded if they are to safeguard their future and the future of the regional and national economy.

            It is understandable that the union leaders are making the point that it is better that the future of the industry is in the hands of a carmaker rather than asset-stripping private equity. But the question still arises, if the industry was doing badly under the Ford monopoly, how can things improve for the industry and for the workers under Tata control? Is Tata gearing up to make the car industry in Britain more competitive in the global market, come what may, or will the workers decide what is of benefit to the regional and national economy?

            It was on April 1, 2000, that workers demonstrated in Birmingham against the Rover sell-off at Longbridge. Justice has still not been done for when MG Rover collapsed five years later and 6,400 workers lost their jobs, the government could offer no more than an “inquiry”, which still shows no sign of publishing any findings, and has cost almost £12 million of public money. It is difficult to avoid the conclusion that while the car industry and its workers were devastated, the government was determined that no lessons were to be learned and that the monopolies should be allowed to wreck the economy as they please. This, of course, is in marked contrast to the billions of pounds sunk into Northern Rock, which at all costs had to be “saved”.

            Written guarantees by the monopolies have also come and gone before. These multinationals did not get where they are today – giant monopolies – by having scruples and taking a humanitarian approach. These monopolies have always some pretext for not honouring their agreements. Although the trade unions have said that Tata has not offshored or outsourced any jobs and that its record with the former Anglo-Dutch steelmaker Corus (the one-time British Steel) is “most impressive”, they have also seen fit to offer Tata a warning not to renege on its promises.

            Industry analysts have been more robust. For example, Krish Bhaskar who heads the Motor Industry Research Unit (MIRU), based in Nice, has said (reported in the Financial Times) that in his opinion there is only one way for the deal to add up, and that is to switch production to India. He believes that it would mean the end of any large-scale British-owned car industry. “It has to move to India, and that means the direct workforce of about 22,000 goes and the wider supplier industry involves about 200,000. The knock-on effect will kill UK suppliers, and kill the UK-owned automotive industry, this is the killer blow,” Bhaskar said.

            This is one prediction, but the underlying point is that even if Tata persist with its promises, it has its own global agenda which is to plan car production, as part of its overall manufacturing empire, to maximise its profits. A multinational like Tata with its many tentacles in crucial sectors of the economy globally will recognise the interests of regional and national economies only in the context of its global empire. The analysts who are asking the question “why?” in relation to the Tata purchase of Jaguar and Land Rover must be paid heed to, and act as a caution to the workers to deliberate on their allegedly secure future.

            The point is that the workers must have their own agenda, and organise to ensure that it prevails. Anarchy of production and the sole yardstick of being competitive in the global market cannot be allowed to continue unchecked and without challenge. Workers have no choice but to get together to discuss these issues in order that the history of knights in shining armour followed by closures and movement of capital and production does not repeat itself. The elaboration of their own programme needs to be carried out in the context of the struggle for they themselves to become the decision-makers and decide how the national economy is run, for whose benefit and in which direction. Competing in the global market in order to make inroads and eventually come to dominate it is the name of Tata’s game. The financiers who are to reap interest on the approximately £2 billion of loans to Tata to finance the deal will suck away the produced values from Jaguar and Land Rover. Tata’s social responsibility could be said to only extend so far, and it is the workers who must actively organise firstly to remind Tata and hold it to this responsibility, but more crucially to take up this social responsibility themselves, and not accepting the narrow role of workers without a say or without dignity.

            In particular, the workers must look at the car industry in the context of the need for such important sectors of the economy to be under public control and direction – and, it must be said, this applies even more crucially to steel production, which in Britain has also come under the control of the Tata empire, the energy-production industry, and other foundations of a national socialised economy. This is crucially part of the programme of the working class that it must consciously adopt and fight for. Rather than, as with Northern Rock, “nationalisation” meaning pulling the chestnuts out of the fire for the financial oligarchy, the workers must organise to ensure that public control over the important sectors of the economy (and the financial institutions), which is the responsibility of a modern government, means that political control is in the hands of the working class and the institutions that they build.

            The conclusion for the workers is that now is the time to get organised to avert future disasters. A secure future cannot be guaranteed by the workers relinquishing the initiative, but our security can only lie in the fight for our rights and interests. Jaguar workers are still fighting for a future!