End the bosses lockout at Grangemouth

Ineos are playing a game of Russian roulette with the Grangemouth plant and the jobs of more than 1,300 workers. By shutting down the plant for a week and threatening not to open it again unless they secure a no strike agreement and huge concessions from staff, Ineos are effectively implementing a lock-out. Should the bosses refuse to restart operations after Tuesday, urgent preparations must be made for the occupation of the plant. An appeal for trade unionists across Scotland for solidarity action in support of maintaining jobs and trade union rights at Grangemouth is neccessary.

If the lock-out continues after Tuesday, Unite and the shop stewards at Grangemouth should convene, with the support of the STUC, an emergency conference of shop stewards and trade unions from the public and private sector to build urgent solidarity action.

No concessions

Ineos are holding a gun to the head of workers demanding savage cuts to wages, bonuses, pensions and the ending of effective trade union organisation by Unite, including a no strike deal or the plant will stay shut.

This scandalous behaviour must be resisted at all costs. There should be no concessions given by Unite to the idea that workers should pay for the kamikaze strategy of the bosses and their billionaire chairman, Jim Ratcliffe. The only result of making concessions to Ineos would be to increase profits going into the pockets of Ratcliffe and Ineos. It would embolden the company to pursue even further their anti-union agenda.

The lie that Ineos are losing money hand over fist has been well and truly exposed. Unite’s own investigation has proven that the company expect to make £500 million over the next few years. Tax dodger, Ratcliffe has avoided tens of millions in corporation tax by basing Ineos in Switzerland.

The jobs and futures of the workers at Grangemouth and the wider community cannot be left in the hands of the current profit hungry regime. We demand Ineos open their books for inspection to full trade union scrutiny which will help expose the financial lies of the company.

Nationalise the plant now

Socialist Party Scotland believes that Unite should demand that the Grangemouth plant should immediately be brought into public ownership to protect the jobs, wages and conditions of the workers. We are calling on both the Scottish government and the UK government to act now and take this asset out of the hands of Ratcliffe and Ineos.

No compensation should be paid to the fat cats who are attempting to bring Grangemouth to its knees. Nor should any more public money be given to Ineos, who have been effectively blackmailing, the Scottish and UK governments for £150 million in loans, grants and guarantees.

Defend trade union rights

The current dispute is a continuation of Ineos’s crusade to break effective trade unionism at Grangemouth. As we saw in the 2008 strike over attempts to tear up the final salary pension scheme and the threatened walkout earlier this year over the victimisation of Unite shop steward Stevie Deans, workers at Grangemouth have real power to defeat the bosses attacks.

Ineos’s strategy to force Stevie Deans out was temporarily defeated by the threat of strike action. Now the company are attempting to smash union rights and the pay and conditions of the Unite members. They understand a weak trade union is easier to walk over and to impose the company’s anti-worker agenda.

Workers need a political voice to represent them

It should be remembered that it was the suspension of Stevie Deans by the Labour Party leadership as chair of Falkirk Labour Party that emboldened Ineos to launch their witchhunt against him. Labour, scandalously handed a dossier into the police asking them to investigate the role of Unite members. The need for Unite to break their links from the Labour party and help build a new mass working class party to represent trade unionists is clear.

The SNP don’t offer any alternative. Alex Salmond has backed the idea of a no strike agreement. Instead they should be acting now to use all their powers to ensure that Ineos is kicked out and the plant at Grangemouth is nationalised. At a time of savage austerity for the majority we need a party that stands up for us. Socialist Party Scotland is fighting for the building of such a party.

• Don’t sign up to Ineos’s blackmail
• No concessions on wages, bonuses and pensions
• Reject a No strike agreement
• Prepare for the occupation of Grangemouth
• Nationalise the plant now
• Defend trade union rights. No victimisation

Come to the demo on Sunday. 12 noon.Gate 4, Boness Road, Grangemouth plant