Council of War over Rolls-Royce closure

21 November 2007

Workers from Rolls-Royce sites across the country will be meeting on Merseyside tomorrow (Thursday 22nd November) to discuss coordinated action to stop the closure of the site in Bootle and the potential loss of 212 jobs.

Unite members at Rolls-Royce in Merseyside will be asking their fellow workers from across the UK to pledge their solidarity and join the fight against the proposed closure.

Over 200 highly skilled engineering workers at Rolls-Royce, Bootle, which makes turbines for the oil and gas industries, are to lose their jobs next year if company plans to shift production to its plant in Mount Vernon, USA, go ahead.

The union wants Rolls-Royce to review their proposals and says it and the workers will pursue every avenue in fighting to retain production at the Merseyside plant. Unite has already gained huge support for the campaign petition amongst North West MPs, Local Authority Councillors and the people of Merseyside.

Unite Regional Officer, Debbie Brannan, said: "We have already gained a lot of support in the fight to keep this profitable plant open and we're hoping that the many thousands of Rolls Royce employees from the 11 major plants can add their support to keeping these high value, highly skilled jobs here in the UK."

Unite Senior Rep at Rolls-Royce, Dermott Finn said: "We're going to fight this. Our colleagues support will be invaluable during this difficult time. We believe with their and the communities backing we can win this fight, but we must all pull together to keep Rolls-Royce on Merseyside."

The meeting is taking place at Unite offices, Sefton Street, Liverpool from 11.00am. The plants which will be represented at the meeting include: Bootle, Bristol, Coventry, Derby, Hucknall, Inchinnan, Scotland, Sunderland and Barnoldswick.

Lord Chancellor Jack Straw and Children’s Minister Bev Hughes along with North West MPs, Local Authority Councillors and delegates gave their support to workers at the threatened site Bootle at the North West Labour Party conference in Southport on November 3.

Unite has launched a campaign "Keep Rolls-Royce Pride on Merseyside" and is calling on the people of Merseyside to lend their support. Unite will lobby the government and Local MPs at Westminster next month. To support our campaign please sign the petition which can be downloaded here