Union in call for clarity amid fears of shipyard closure
BAE workers are under threat
BAE Systems is facing calls to come clean over whether it has plans to stop building warships in Portsmouth.
The GMB trade union, the largest union of shipbuilders in the city, said uncertainty surrounding the future of the defence giant’s Portsmouth shipyard operations was making workers anxious.
The company has repeatedly refused to comment on speculation that it’s looking to end 500 years of shipbuilding in Portsmouth.
GMB, which represents 500 city shipbuilders, said it was unacceptable that workers are being kept in the dark over the issue.
Union representative Gary Cook said: ‘Our members are obviously anxious and concerned with BAE which is not coming out and telling them what’s going on.
‘They need to hear that work that’s been scheduled to take place in Portsmouth will stay in Portsmouth.’
City shipbuilders are working on large sections for the Royal Navy’s aircraft carriers. The bulk of the steelwork will be completed by 2014, after which nothing is planned. The next potential order, which is for a new fleet of navy frigates, is not due to be signed off by the Ministry of Defence until 2014.
Mr Cook said: ‘No-one expects everything to last forever but we’ve got work until 2014 and what people want to hear right now is the assurance that that work will continue in Portsmouth – but BAE is not giving us that.’
Around 1,500 people are employed by BAE’s shipbuilding division in Portsmouth.
A further 32,000 jobs are created by the dockyard’s supply chain.
As reported in The News yesterday, council leaders have set aside £20,000 for a team of experts to lobby Portsmouth’s case to BAE and the government. Mr Cook said the GMB union welcomed the move.
BAE Systems has said it is conducting a review of its business model, the details of which cannot be discussed.
A spokeswoman said: ‘This work is on-going and we will keep our employees and trade union representatives fully informed, as it progresses.’
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Friday 25 May 2012
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Comments
There are 4 comments to this article
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ConDems Out!
Saturday, February 11, 2012 at 07:27 PM@bladesblue... The sort of garbage you're spouting here really annoys me. It's untrue and it's designed only to cause division. The Major government privatised Rosyth, effectively reconfiguring the function of naval bases as it did so. Babcock took it over just before Blair won his first election. The evolution of Rosyth as a refitting and building establishment has been evolving ever since Babcock took it over. The carriers are being built at several yards along the length of the country and NOT just at Rosyth. I seem to recall that it was decided by Major's government that nuclear submarine refitting should be transferred to Devonport, even though it had earlier been decided that Rosyth should perform that function.
bladesblue
Friday, February 10, 2012 at 06:16 PMWhat can be expected. The Government of the day, Gordon Brown, says to BAE we, the UK taxpayer, will not give you a penny if you close a northern shipyard. However, should you close a southern one you will need support so we will give you £700,000,000 to help. This will also ensure my constituents in Scotland will benefit from full employment and England will have to use expensive, Scottish, ship yards to build their navy.
wizard of oz
Friday, February 10, 2012 at 04:10 PMIn my opinion the best way forward would be to build 6 Khareef class type corvettes for the RN, to be used for low intensity operations. Cost around £800m, plus a useful addition to the fleet which is already suffering from a lack of platforms and keep the shipyards fully employed until T26 comes on line. The Sea Lords wont like it (they like big shinny expensive ships), as these ships would be unsuitable in full blown high intensity operations. The chances of such situations in the next 20 years is very low and whats the the logic of having a £1bn warship chasing Somali pirates. The RN Khareef's could also be the first ships to have the Sea ceptor missiles. Just a thought, chances of it happening very unlikely.
DaveL in Cosham
Friday, February 10, 2012 at 03:28 PMThe best way of avoiding the yard not having any work until the Type 26's go into production is if the Govt. reinstates the 2 canceled Type 45's and gives them work once the Carriers are finished.
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