Brown pressed to help save factory

Feb 11 2008 by Richard Down, Liverpool Daily Post

THE Prime Minister will meet a trade union leader this week in another push to save 200 jobs at a Merseyside factory earmarked for closure.

Tony Woodley, joint general secretary of Unite, said he had spoken to Gordon Brown and had asked him to “personally intervene” to stop the Rolls-Royce factory in Bootle being shut.

Workers marched through Liverpool city centre in their hundreds on Saturday.

Holding placards and Union Jack flags, supporters marched to the front of St George’s Hall.

Rolls-Royce worker Mike Pugh, 60, who has worked at the plant in Bootle for six years and lives in Heswall, Wirral, said: “The thing we find difficult to accept is that we’re awash with work at the moment. This fight is more for the younger people – those with families and mortgages.”

After the rally, Unite’s regional officer Debbie Brennan, said: “I’m amazed by the turnout. This shows the people of Merseyside are not accepting the exploitation of our jobs. This is winnable.”

Union leaders claim Rolls-Royce intends to transfer manufacturing to its plant in Mount Vernon in Ohio, USA.

Mr Woodley said Whitehall needed to get involved because Rolls-Royce management was not listening.

He said: “We’ve got a company making massive profits, we’ve got a plant that is very profitable, its got good, strong order books and all we’ve got here is corporate greed. Our kids later will pay the price and that’s why I have made contact with Gordon Brown this morning asking him to personally intervene now.

“This is a blue chip, major British manufacturing company, they rely on our Government for orders and grant aid and they have had tens of millions of pounds from this Government in the past.

“My message is this: if they can’t support our country and our jobs, then they are not entitled to taxpayers’ money for projects in the future.”

A spokesman for Rolls-Royce has denied there is enough work to sustain a plant in Mt Vernon USA as well as one in Bootle.

He said: “We did things properly and informed our employees of what was happening at every point.”

richarddown