Siemens Hull - Photo: Unite the Union

July 20 is the fifteenth anniversary of the workers' occupation of the Vestas wind turbine factory on the Isle of Wight in 2009. This was an inspirational, political stand of the workers upholding their rights and defending the interests of their communities against the imposed monopoly right to close the factory [1]. This is a company, which, prior to the closure, had blocked the Vestas workers from defending either their conditions of work or their claims over their product, and actively prevented unionisation [2]. The workers, determined to thwart the dictate of the owners of capital, were guided by their own independent thinking and acted according to the decisions of their own collective, under their central demand to Keep Vestas Open! [3].

Vestas workers had confronted then Energy and Climate Change Minister Ed Miliband at Oxford Town Hall [4]. The workers took over the agenda set for the meeting and instead led the debate, taking centre-stage. They proved that workers have a voice and are determined to speak out in defence of their rights and interests.

Fifteen years later, turbine workers are again in dispute. As at Vestas fifteen years ago, the issues of working conditions, claims over the value workers create, even whether production takes place at all, remain. Indeed, these issues have only got more urgent as the disequilibrium in the relation between employer and employed, and between the ruling elite and the governed, has deepened.

The facts are that wages at the Siemens Gamesa Humber estuary factory have dropped by 11.9% in real terms since 2018, reports Unite. According to the union, this is due to below-RPI inflation pay rises and the company's use of a performance-related bonus scheme to hold back pay.

This is despite the company accumulating massive sums even on the terms of capital-centred accounting. Siemens Group recently declared ¬8.5 billion in profits. Siemens Gamesa Renewable Energy (SGRE), which owns the factory, made £394 million in profits over the last five years and paid out two dividends worth £226 million. SGRE's revenue is expected to double in 2024 to £1.5 billion, with pre-tax profits expected to hit £100 million for the year, reports the union.

Around 300 of the company's wind turbine workers in Alexandra Dock, Hull, are being balloted for strike action, Unite announced on July 12. The workers, who construct the 108 metre-long blades by hand, are angry at a 4.5% pay offer and an opaque incentive scheme. The ballot will close on July 24, with the potential strikes scheduled for the end of the month, reports the union, impacting operations at the plant and set to disrupt construction of the East Anglia 3 and Moray West offshore windfarms [5].

The union notes that the company, being part of the Humber Freeport Zone, benefits from various economic incentives due to the absence of normal tax and customs rules.

Unite General Secretary Sharon Graham indicated what the company is doing to effect their exploitative position over the workforce. "Siemens is a colossally profitable company, yet wages at its Hull factory have fallen in real terms year on year," she said. "The company is using the bonus scheme to suppress wages and the workforce have had enough. Unite does not accept attacks on our members' jobs, pay and conditions and Siemens' Hull workers have their union's total backing."

In the present, production of the means of production of energy by monopolies such as Siemens takes place in the context of a profound crisis of human control over the massive productive forces - the inability of the imperialist economy to put these forces to meeting the needs of the people - and the contention over those forces by competing private interests, where what cannot be controlled is destroyed, and which is increasingly breaking out into open war.

The strike struggle is a result, not only of exploitative practices on the part of Siemens, but also of the politicisation of private interests and aims, including government collusion over impossible energy crisis "solutions," including the Green New Deal fraud and war-aligned schemes to ensure "British energy independence".

Workers' dignity is being trampled under these schemes and energy policies. They have had enough of their labour being manipulated and pushed from pillar to post. They want control over their labour and destiny, and their organisation will develop, demanding a greater say and empowerment.

Notes
1. "Organising for What Is Just", WDIE, Year 2010 No. 36, July 22, 2010
https://www.rcpbml.org.uk/wdie-10/d10-036.htm
2."To the Working Men and Women at Vestas", Ryde Trades Union Council, July 28, 2009
http://rtuc.wordpress.com
3. "All Success to the Vestas Workers! No to the Plans to Evict the Workers!", WDIE, Year 2009 No. 54, July 29, 2009
https://www.rcpbml.org.uk/wdie-09/d09-054.htm
4. "Confronting Ed Miliband", WDIE, Year 2009 No. 55, August 3, 2009
https://www.rcpbml.org.uk/wdie-09/d09-055.htm
5. "Hull Siemens Gamesa wind turbine workers ballot for pay strikes", Unite, July 12, 2024
https://www.unitetheunion.org/news-events/news/2024/july/hull-siemens-gamesa-wind-turbine-workers-ballot-for-pay-strikes

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