'We've been left with no alternative'
Rolls-Royce Barnoldswick workers begin strike action in fight to save their historic plant
Reading time: 2 min
Workers at Rolls-Royce Barnoldswick took their first day of strike action on Friday (November 6).
The Unite members are protesting plans by the company, announced in August, to cut 350 jobs at the site in Lancashire and halt all production of wide-cord fan blades, a major function of the site. Instead, this work will be shipped to Singapore.
The plant’s engineers are especially angry at this knee-jerk decision, considering they helped train workers in Singapore in 2009 and were promised that the site there would only be used to “handle extra demand”.
Hear from Unite convenor Mark Porter in the film below, who explains why workers have been forced into this position to down tools by Rolls-Royce’s failure to come to the negotiating table.
Film by the Reverb Factory, subtitled by Martin Scanlon
