The environment

Stuff about nature etc.

Vestas bosses win eviction order, but day of solidarity called for 12 August

Several hundred Vestas workers and supporters gathered outside Newport courthouse on Tuesday 4 August as Vestas bosses made their second attempt to get a possession order against the workers occupying their wind turbine blade factory at St Cross, Newport. That same morning, several activists had climbed to the roof of the smaller Vestas factory on the Isle of Wight, at East Cowes, to display a huge banner there reading: "Vestas workers' solidarity - In Occupation - Fight for green jobs". As Steve Stotesbury, spokesperson for the Vestas workers' RMT committee, said outside the courthouse when...

Union leaders call on Ed Miliband to save Vestas jobs

In a letter to the Guardian , sixteen union leaders have called on Energy Minister Ed Miliband to save the Vestas wind turbine blade factories in the Isle of Wight. Members in the big Unison, GMB, and Unite unions should call on their leaders to add their signatures. We are seeking the urgent intervention of environment secretary Ed Miliband to save the Vestas wind turbine factory (Police asked to ensure the Vestas protesters receive enough food, 1 August). We know he is committed to promoting green energy, but people will find it difficult to understand that just as the government has...

AWL update from Newport, IoW

On Sunday 2 August, AWL organised a second film showing in Newport, IoW, for Vestas workers and supporters. This time we showed Rocking the Foundations , a film about the "green bans" imposed by the New South Wales Builders Labourers Federation in the early 1970s. For a Workers' Liberty article about the "green bans", click here . Last Sunday it was With Babies and Banners , about the General Motors Flint (USA) factory occupation in 1936-7. Attendance was a bit down on 2 August, with five non-AWL people there in addition to the AWL members who are camping on the roundabout outside the occupied...

Workers' Climate Action blockade Ed Miliband’s offices in Vestas solidarity action

Ed Miliband’s London offices were blockaded this morning by a coalition of “red, green and black” activists in a demonstration of solidarity for the factory workers who have been occupying the Vestas wind turbine plant on the Isle of Wight since 20 July. The occupation in Newport is protesting against the Vestas management’s decision to shut down the factory, cutting 600 jobs and representing a severe blow to the local community and to a green economy. The workers are currently entering their fifteenth day of occupation, calling for nationalisation and workers’ control of the factory. The...

TUC backs Vestas workers

Commenting [31 July] on the planned closure of the Vestas wind turbine factory on the Isle of Wight, TUC General Secretary Brendan Barber said: 'Even at this late stage we are calling on Vestas to halt its closure plan and think again. Business, unions and Government must get around the table and make every effort to secure a future for wind turbine manufacturing in the UK. 'Ed Miliband has proved himself to be a champion of the green agenda and the drive to create new jobs. Now we are asking him to go the extra mile for the 600 workers and the production facility, the only one of its size in...

Make your MP support Vestas workers!

Lobby your MP and get her or him to sign "Early Day Motion" 1925, put down by John McDonnell MP in support of the Vestas workers. That this House expresses its concern that, at the very time when the Government is launching its drive for developing renewable energy sources in the UK, the Vestas company, specialising in renewable energy plant, is shedding 600 jobs and is closing; and calls on the Government to intervene as a matter of urgency to ensure the future of the Vestas operation and the protection of jobs. If the MP is Labour, contact local Labour Party activists and Labour-affiliated...

Vestas: what you can do

• Organise a visible demonstration of solidarity, especially on the next national day of action, 17 September (moved from 9 September). Take a photo with a placard that reads “Save Vestas Jobs” and email the photo to savevestas@gmail.com . • Send a donation from your trade union or other organisation, or make a personal donation, with a message of support: cheques payable to RMT IOW 2 VESTAS HARDSHIP & DEFENCE FUND, and sent to Keith Murphy, 57 Well Street, Ryde, IOW PO33 2RY. Or donate online at savevestas.wordpress.com . • Send a motion to your union leadership demanding they actively back...

Vestas backs off a bit further

On Saturday 1 August, about 200 demonstrators marched in the rain from Newport town centre to the occupied Vestas wind turbine blade factory on the St Cross industrial estate. As they rallied outside the factory entrance after the march, the police and Vestas security guards, for the first time, allowed Vestas workers to take food in to the occupiers. In another boost to the campaign, the TUC is expected to release a statement on Monday 3 August supporting the workers' demand for nationalisation of the factory. This will, at least by implication, commit the Unite union to supporting the...

Workers' control for Vestas!

At the 6pm rally on Friday 31 July outside the occupied Vestas factory in Newport, Isle of Wight, a letter of support was read out from the Danish Red-Green Alliance. Once nationalised, the letter said, the wind turbine blade factory should be run under workers' control. The call for workers' control brought loud applause from the whole crowd. In conversations with Vestas workers a week ago, a question about what sort of management they would want in an occupied factory more usually brought the answers "I don't know", or "any sort of management, as long as it's fair". Also at the rally, a well...

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