Penske workers set to strike at Ford's Southampton plant on Wednesday (From Daily Echo)

I hope that at 11am Wednesday the strikers start enquiring about new jobs otherwise a very lean Christmas is on the cards for their families. Well done boys, shooting yourselves in the foot must feel great.

Hari Kari

Do these workers not understand the current financial climate, and that all manufactirung sectors need to tighten belts - good grief; cut your nose off despite your face?????

i see that a few still posting here full of dribble, and dont have a clue what is really going on. time you guys come out of your cosy offices and see what is happening in the real world.
good luck guys stick to your guns and you get your shift allowance back.

southy wrote:
i see that a few still posting here full of dribble, and dont have a clue what is really going on. time you guys come out of your cosy offices and see what is happening in the real world. good luck guys stick to your guns and you get your shift allowance back.

Come on Southy, we did not agree last time, nor I doubt we will today, but is obvious that they are playing into managements hands and bringing forward the loss of their jobs, not saving them.

What is the point of striking in this current climate, when jobs are hard to come by?

Strike for more pay, better conditions and unemployment all in the same month.
No sense.

strike for 4 hours ?
what a joke, what good is this gonna do ? fords will just treat it like an extended tea break.
everyone knows that fords want to shut the swaythling site , this has been on the cards for years, the long old timers who work there know this fact but are just waiting for their big redundancy pay offs,
i think it highly funny that these contract/ ford workers really believe in what the union & bosses tell them. it's the same as our government , when they tell you not to panick then it means PANICK !

It's all about PROFITS & UNFORTUNATELY workers pay rises & wage increases are dipping into the profits of the greedy top bosses big bonuses.

MORE ! NEVER BEFORE DID THEY ASK FOR SOME MORE !

good luck on your 4 hour tea break on wednesday. lol

southy wrote:
i see that a few still posting here full of dribble, and dont have a clue what is really going on. time you guys come out of your cosy offices and see what is happening in the real world. good luck guys stick to your guns and you get your shift allowance back.

As I said - people that dont undrstand.

Tensions have been mounting among the 126-strong workforce after two rounds of redundancies cost the firm more than 40 jobs.

How short are your memories.

A company wants to close its operation down and still maintain the moral high ground so instead of the management standing on a podium and sacking you all (= much litigation) they let the workforce do it themselves.

Lets say theres 100 people there making say a median of $15/hr so equals $1500/hr
They strike for four hours = $6000 saved and shown any supporters they may have that they are militants. Management says as they finally close down the plant that there is too much industrial action making the plant untenable. Whose to blame? The workforce thats who

Ford is closing down the plant so sit in and make money cos it seems there is not a lot of work there just now.

Derek Robinson from Speke Ford plant aka Red Robbo was a gobs**** as well and it was reported sometime back that he has never worked again after his demise at Fords. How true the tale I cannot say but understandable nonetheless.

You have some income from work unlike many others in Soton so bite the bullet and earn in the hope the shoots of growth provide a safe job to step off into when the plant finally closes down

hulla baloo wrote:

southy wrote:
i see that a few still posting here full of dribble, and dont have a clue what is really going on. time you guys come out of your cosy offices and see what is happening in the real world. good luck guys stick to your guns and you get your shift allowance back.

Come on Southy, we did not agree last time, nor I doubt we will today, but is obvious that they are playing into managements hands and bringing forward the loss of their jobs, not saving them.

What is the point of striking in this current climate, when jobs are hard to come by?

Strike for more pay, better conditions and unemployment all in the same month.
No sense.

we agree on that they got nothing to lose, but every thing to gain. they are back into a corner and the only choice left is to take action.

St.DaveH, Southampton thing are changing slowly at the moment but in time you will see.

southy wrote:

hulla baloo wrote:

southy wrote: i see that a few still posting here full of dribble, and dont have a clue what is really going on. time you guys come out of your cosy offices and see what is happening in the real world. good luck guys stick to your guns and you get your shift allowance back.

Come on Southy, we did not agree last time, nor I doubt we will today, but is obvious that they are playing into managements hands and bringing forward the loss of their jobs, not saving them. What is the point of striking in this current climate, when jobs are hard to come by? Strike for more pay, better conditions and unemployment all in the same month. No sense.

we agree on that they got nothing to lose, but every thing to gain. they are back into a corner and the only choice left is to take action. St.DaveH, Southampton thing are changing slowly at the moment but in time you will see.

Hello Southy; it is obvious that those at the plant feel thay are backed into a corner, but modern history shows that industrial action only benefits the parent company. There is more than one way of skinning a cat old boy.

Finlay wrote:
Tensions have been mounting among the 126-strong workforce after two rounds of redundancies cost the firm more than 40 jobs.

How short are your memories.

A company wants to close its operation down and still maintain the moral high ground so instead of the management standing on a podium and sacking you all (= much litigation) they let the workforce do it themselves.

Lets say theres 100 people there making say a median of $15/hr so equals $1500/hr
They strike for four hours = $6000 saved and shown any supporters they may have that they are militants. Management says as they finally close down the plant that there is too much industrial action making the plant untenable. Whose to blame? The workforce thats who

Ford is closing down the plant so sit in and make money cos it seems there is not a lot of work there just now.

Derek Robinson from Speke Ford plant aka Red Robbo was a gobs**** as well and it was reported sometime back that he has never worked again after his demise at Fords. How true the tale I cannot say but understandable nonetheless.

You have some income from work unlike many others in Soton so bite the bullet and earn in the hope the shoots of growth provide a safe job to step off into when the plant finally closes down

Red Robbo was a union convenor at British Leylands plant in Longbridge Birmingham,just like a lot of posts on here you can't get your facts right...so why bother?

voiceof thepeople wrote:

Finlay wrote: Tensions have been mounting among the 126-strong workforce after two rounds of redundancies cost the firm more than 40 jobs. How short are your memories. A company wants to close its operation down and still maintain the moral high ground so instead of the management standing on a podium and sacking you all (= much litigation) they let the workforce do it themselves. Lets say theres 100 people there making say a median of $15/hr so equals $1500/hr They strike for four hours = $6000 saved and shown any supporters they may have that they are militants. Management says as they finally close down the plant that there is too much industrial action making the plant untenable. Whose to blame? The workforce thats who Ford is closing down the plant so sit in and make money cos it seems there is not a lot of work there just now. Derek Robinson from Speke Ford plant aka Red Robbo was a gobs**** as well and it was reported sometime back that he has never worked again after his demise at Fords. How true the tale I cannot say but understandable nonetheless. You have some income from work unlike many others in Soton so bite the bullet and earn in the hope the shoots of growth provide a safe job to step off into when the plant finally closes down

Red Robbo was a union convenor at British Leylands plant in Longbridge Birmingham,just like a lot of posts on here you can't get your facts right...so why bother?

Why let the facts get in the way of a anti union rant. This is how Conservative operate.

Finlay, go play with the worms!!!!

wake up wrote:
strike for 4 hours ? what a joke, what good is this gonna do ? fords will just treat it like an extended tea break. everyone knows that fords want to shut the swaythling site , this has been on the cards for years, the long old timers who work there know this fact but are just waiting for their big redundancy pay offs, i think it highly funny that these contract/ ford workers really believe in what the union & bosses tell them. it's the same as our government , when they tell you not to panick then it means PANICK ! It's all about PROFITS & UNFORTUNATELY workers pay rises & wage increases are dipping into the profits of the greedy top bosses big bonuses. MORE ! NEVER BEFORE DID THEY ASK FOR SOME MORE ! good luck on your 4 hour tea break on wednesday. lol

Actually by taking action next week they preserve their position for another two months. In employment law after a legal ballot a union has to give 7 days notice for strike action within the first 4 weeks since the ballot result.Otherwise it will have to be re run.
This is actually a sensible move.

St.DaveH point of fact for you, take a look at what happen at the linsey refinery, and you think stike actions dont pays any more think again, union members are lerning that anti union laws dont mean a thing, they cant be enforce what so ever. and this is starting to show now where the uk work force in back in to a corner, nothing to lose but every thing to gain. the days off capitalist cheap labour are coming to an end, and if a torys get into power at the next elections then it will become 10 times worse with strike actions. and you might see a general strike, lets face the ordinary man has nothing to lose by calling a general strike, the ones that will lose the most are the big business and capitalist and the government, the real power in this country is in its work force. and not with people with money or power.

its the same old names posting rubbish about fords again.stupid comments about red robbo a name which means nothing to most of the population and 4 hour tea breaks.
what world do these morons live in.
the plant is one of the most productive in europe .i did a tour of the plant and was amazed by the skilled people and methods they use.

Thats why you are too stoopid to understand reality

You know the union men and their locations but dont grasp the reason of the outcome

You blurt you spit but you dont understand

Ford is dead - Move on

Study stoopid football and you can impress the Chav nation with your in depth knowledge of who scored the first goal and with which foot the ball was kicked but dare you step out into the real world and begin your hypothesis then you will look more stoopid than you do now

Give it up and do what you were put on the Earth for and be an organ donor

southy wrote:
St.DaveH point of fact for you, take a look at what happen at the linsey refinery, and you think stike actions dont pays any more think again, union members are lerning that anti union laws dont mean a thing, they cant be enforce what so ever. and this is starting to show now where the uk work force in back in to a corner, nothing to lose but every thing to gain. the days off capitalist cheap labour are coming to an end, and if a torys get into power at the next elections then it will become 10 times worse with strike actions. and you might see a general strike, lets face the ordinary man has nothing to lose by calling a general strike, the ones that will lose the most are the big business and capitalist and the government, the real power in this country is in its work force. and not with people with money or power.

Southy - the industrial action at Lindsey and the bigger neighbouring Conoco refinery is a totally different situation to that of the Penske workers. Action was taken over foreign labour when redundancy notices were given by a contractor to some erectors, platers and electricians, and because a different contractor would not employ those given notice, but wished to select his own employees. We should not deny those who pay the wages the right to select thier own,and this is what has choked manufacturing in the uk for decades. Incidently, I am a manual worker and have my working all my life in the european refining industry, and I, like the nation can ill afford a general strike.

St.DaveH, you miss the grasp, anti union laws that was made in the 80's can not be enforce, the ordinery work force has just starting to relise this, and those top union bosses who been in company pockets for a long time now, have got a choice to make full back on the work force side or lose there jobs, if you cant ill afford a general strike then i am sorry for you, because you will learn the hard way that you have nothing to lose in the end. when that day comes for you where you cant get a half reasonable paying job just to make ends meet. i take it you cant be all that old, to know what happen back in the 80's. a general strike dont hurt the ordinary man, it only hurts the capitalist way of life, and a general strike is one way to be able to control a government when they get out of hand, and stops doing the right thing.

Southy - let’s beg to differ chap. Those who choose to work hard and buy nice things cannot be classed as capitalist - can they? For someone like me who was raised on a local estate to have a vision of something better cannot be wrong - can it?
I will not argue that that outdated laws introduced to combat the over zealous unions of the 70s & 80s should not be overhauled to modern standards, but as Ayn Rand quoted “There can be no such thing, in law or in morality, as actions to an individual, but permitted to a mob.”
Sound like any a good control measure to me.

St.DaveH, all depends on your vision, are you thinking just about your self, or are you thinking of others than can't or dont make it, because once you for get the less well off, your forgetting your roots and starting to think like a capitalist, a socialist will not forget his roots and will help the less well off and help to improve them selfs. once you relise this and act on this then you find you will improve at the same time even lo it be at a slower rate. dont never forget those less well off people help you in the pass (even lo its was before you was born) for you to improve your self. to many people have forgotten where there roots came from. sooner or later that capitalist system will catch them up and put them down, remember that capitalist saying divide and rule, now is the time to reunite an enforce the change that is needed. and we can start by supporting any union actions and come the next general election put the socialist party in power. because labour is no longer a socialist party its now right wing.

Oh Southy – of course I have not forgotten my roots old boy. I help where I can to aid some of those less fortunate than myself, including recently a second chance rehabilitation of some young offenders from the area. I believe in equal chance for all, but also wish opportunity for those who will never succeed – they too are part of my society. Is this the vision of capitalism?, of selfishness? or of just good old fashioned self esteem?

St.DaveH the best way to help all less well off people is to, back the unions even if means a general skrike, or start voting in the soclist partys in to power, they are the only 2 groups that will help the less well off in a massif scale, its nice to help the one or two now again, but your not going to get very far, for every one you help there 100's more that need it to.