BMW - MINI OXFORD PLANT SACKING AGENCY WORKERS

meeting between trade union and agency workers held 16/02/2008 at plant oxford 30 minutes before sacking shift C "yellow"

Category:

News & Politics

Tags:

• BMW
• Mini
• Oxford

[esjayay]

i heard they all came back, is it true?

[adamtys79]

@esjayay most of them

[esjayay]

@adamtys79 do they still have the weekend shift?

[adamtys79]

@esjayay no there is no weekend shift any more.

[LowestoftBoy64]

why were these guys still temps after 4 years? Union should've negotiated better terms during the good times. Govt should use this case to reform the UK's employment laws to be on a par with other western european countries. ie. Germany.

[98059907]

At no point in this clip does anyone argue against being laid off. We accept that. What we dont accept is the union signing deals with BMW to remain silent until the last hour. Oh sorry, I forgot....the Union didnt know anything about all this. I retract this comment; how stupid of me. The Union is great. Thousands of pounds taken from the workers and they provide us with a newsletter with complaints.

Im glad our money has been used in the right way.

Curruption comes to mind

[SideshowBob44]

They were agency workers BMW are completely within there right to get rid of them whenever they please. I now its not right but its the truth.

[RedAbz18]

To do this we must blame who needs to be blamed in the unions. And that is primarily the leadership and those who defend it. We should remove people like Simpson and put in the likes of Jerry Hicks.

[RedAbz18]

To be united and defend ourselves we of course need to be organised and therefore need to be unionised. So the most import task is not to stop blaming unions, but is the opposite. We must expose the undemocratic and anti-working class union leadership. We must transform our unions into organisations which will actually defend us, and in doing so bring in the most exploited (migrant, young and unskilled) workers into the unions and work to defend the our class as a whole.

[RedAbz18]

The leadership in most unions is very corrupt. The heads of these bureaucracies do not defend our interests and often work to divide our class along profession and race. Just look at Derik Simpson and the way he helped to present the wildcat strikes as being for British jobs for British workers, when the slogans of the strikers had nothing whatsoever to do with nationality it was a struggle for conditions.

[RedAbz18]

RMT underground, you are certainly right that the only way to effectively defend ourselves during the recession will be through unity with our class against the capitalists. But the role of unions and their leadership is not isolated from this mate.

[huwlemmey]

Brothers and Sisters don't lie to their brother and sisters on behalf of the bosses. It's a simple question mate- which side are you on?