Ex-Transit worker takes battle to EU (From Daily Echo)

Oh dear
Another sad attempt to revive the Fordasgonefergud dinosaur that became extinct c2008. I guess he can show the grand kids a piccie of grandad in the local papers before being forgotton forever just like the Ford factory

Finlay wrote:
Oh dear
Another sad attempt to revive the Fordasgonefergud dinosaur that became extinct c2008. I guess he can show the grand kids a piccie of grandad in the local papers before being forgotton forever just like the Ford factory

Most people can't see how membership of the EU has decimated Local jobs.
Ford is transferring to Turkey because the EU customs union allows them to build Transits there, outside the EU, cheaply and import them in again without Tariffs. Pirelli went to Spain subsidised by an EU regional development grant. The Eastleigh Railway works were privatised out of exsistence by EU procurement directives - a fate that will soon befall our postal services.
Over the last 20 years the South East has seen jobs, investment and industry siphoned off by the EU.
Its time to stop the rot and I for one will be voting NO2EU in the forthcoming Euro Elections. Find out more at NO2EU.com.

good post Militant Ford Worker, Eastleigh.
good luck kevin. you have my vote in june for the EU elections.
may i also point out he and many others stand for
No2EU - Yes to Democracy platform
● Reject the Lisbon Treaty
● No to EU directives that privatise our public services
● Defend and develop manufacturing, agriculture and fishing industries
● Repeal anti-trade union ECJ rulings and EU rules exploiting workers
● No to racism and fascism. Yes to international solidarity of working people
● No to EU militarisation or an EU army
● Repatriate democratic powers to EU member states
● Replace unequal EU trade deals with fair trade that benefits developing nations
● Scrap EU rules designed to stop member states from implementing independent economic policies
if its not for fords to vote for them, the other reasons are well worth the vote.

good luck kevin ,we are to easy giving up our industrys to every country in europe despite the posters who keep knocking everything in our great country,who want third world pay and conditions,

Hey, Southy why dont you go to your friends in RUSSIA they need idiots like you.

Sothy

There is better way to deal with the menace of the EU, that is to simply pull out of the EU and start dealing independently with the whole world on equal basis, rather than trying to exploit it by staying in this basically club of bankers and gangsters.

forcaster wrote:
Hey, Southy why dont you go to your friends in RUSSIA they need idiots like you.

Are you infering that Russia is a Communist Country?
Dont you read history books? Russia is as capitalist as the UK!!

Idiot!

Finlay wrote:
Oh dear Another sad attempt to revive the Fordasgonefergud dinosaur that became extinct c2008. I guess he can show the grand kids a piccie of grandad in the local papers before being forgotton forever just like the Ford factory

Finlay, why did you leave the UK?
Is it because you are a coward and cant confront the real issues facing people in this country?
Youy comments bring hilarity to all who read them. Like forcaster from Spain you are an idiot!!

Iw61 wrote:

Finlay wrote:
Oh dear Another sad attempt to revive the Fordasgonefergud dinosaur that became extinct c2008. I guess he can show the grand kids a piccie of grandad in the local papers before being forgotton forever just like the Ford factory

Finlay, why did you leave the UK?
Is it because you are a coward and cant confront the real issues facing people in this country?
Youy comments bring hilarity to all who read them. Like forcaster from Spain you are an idiot!!

take no notice off this guy, the only person he care about is him self he had greed bread into him for so long he dont know any other way.
best country for IW61 is the usa where they like screwing up other people lives.

sorry i made an error i ment finlay not 1w61 sorry about that m8

How will he fare against the candidate for "save LDV vans"?
Or perhaps the save the Pontiac Firebird candidate?

I suspect there are better things that people could spend their money on in preference to supporting a lame duck industry. Likewise I suspect there are more useful things someone can do with their redundancy payout, rather than pay their election expenses

stay local wrote:
How will he fare against the candidate for "save LDV vans"?
Or perhaps the save the Pontiac Firebird candidate?

I suspect there are better things that people could spend their money on in preference to supporting a lame duck industry. Likewise I suspect there are more useful things someone can do with their redundancy payout, rather than pay their election expenses

He is not using his redundacy payout for a deposit. The NO2EU campaign is being sposored by the RMT trade union to give a voice to ordinary working people like you and me.People whose jobs are under threat from EU free market lunacy. Here in the South East we have a Ford worker standing elsewhere there is a postman - there may well be an LDV candidate in the west midlands. Don't know where Kev is on the list but if he is near the top under PR he stands a good chance of winning - he would only need 14% of Vote - thats how the greens and UKIP get in.
Why not come along to a public meeting to meet candidates and find out more? Dockers Club, Brunswick Sq, Southampton. Thurs 7th May, 7.30.

In the hands of Fords and the bosses across Europe production is for profit. When the market collapses into another recession the workers are thrown onto and industry lies idle. What a waste. What a scandal that skilled labour and industrial capacity is unused when there are so many needs to be met. Imagine if workers had control of industry, planned production could be geared towards societies needs, environmentally efficient Transits for every school and community group,clean public transport and so much more. Come and here more at launch of No2EU - Yes to Democracy, Thurs 7th May, 7pm, Dockers Club, Brunswick Square, Southampton

Finlay wrote:
Oh dear
Another sad attempt to revive the Fordasgonefergud dinosaur that became extinct c2008. I guess he can show the grand kids a piccie of grandad in the local papers before being forgotton forever just like the Ford factory

yep like the usa usa bankers who gave loans to hillbillys,and how is the usa car industry doing,oh i forgot its europe bailing them out with the profits in europe,

Militant Ford Worker wrote:

stay local wrote: How will he fare against the candidate for "save LDV vans"? Or perhaps the save the Pontiac Firebird candidate? I suspect there are better things that people could spend their money on in preference to supporting a lame duck industry. Likewise I suspect there are more useful things someone can do with their redundancy payout, rather than pay their election expenses

He is not using his redundacy payout for a deposit. The NO2EU campaign is being sposored by the RMT trade union to give a voice to ordinary working people like you and me.People whose jobs are under threat from EU free market lunacy. Here in the South East we have a Ford worker standing elsewhere there is a postman - there may well be an LDV candidate in the west midlands. Don't know where Kev is on the list but if he is near the top under PR he stands a good chance of winning - he would only need 14% of Vote - thats how the greens and UKIP get in. Why not come along to a public meeting to meet candidates and find out more? Dockers Club, Brunswick Sq, Southampton. Thurs 7th May, 7.30.

"sposored by the RMT trade union to give a voice to ordinary working people like you and me." was that not the job of the labour party? If they are not supporting the voice of the working man why is the union financing them?

Also why are the militant ford workers not following the lead of the other car unions in the US where they have agree a reduction in their package as a means of supporting the company and making it more sustainable or are you hoping to be a militant redundant ex ford worker?

stay local what has the labour party done for the ordinary people off this country "nothing" this why they are losing the support and losing it fast, unions are with drawing there support and starting up anew.

Iw61 wrote:

forcaster wrote:
Hey, Southy why dont you go to your friends in RUSSIA they need idiots like you.

Are you infering that Russia is a Communist Country?
Dont you read history books? Russia is as capitalist as the UK!!

Idiot!

No, he's implying it. You're inferring that that's what he's implying. Right, pedantry over :)

lol Georgem, bored again

southy wrote:
lol Georgem, bored again

Heh heh yeh! The "imply/infer" mix-up is just one of my pet peeves!

stay local wrote:

Militant Ford Worker wrote:

stay local wrote: How will he fare against the candidate for "save LDV vans"? Or perhaps the save the Pontiac Firebird candidate? I suspect there are better things that people could spend their money on in preference to supporting a lame duck industry. Likewise I suspect there are more useful things someone can do with their redundancy payout, rather than pay their election expenses

He is not using his redundacy payout for a deposit. The NO2EU campaign is being sposored by the RMT trade union to give a voice to ordinary working people like you and me.People whose jobs are under threat from EU free market lunacy. Here in the South East we have a Ford worker standing elsewhere there is a postman - there may well be an LDV candidate in the west midlands. Don't know where Kev is on the list but if he is near the top under PR he stands a good chance of winning - he would only need 14% of Vote - thats how the greens and UKIP get in. Why not come along to a public meeting to meet candidates and find out more? Dockers Club, Brunswick Sq, Southampton. Thurs 7th May, 7.30.

"sposored by the RMT trade union to give a voice to ordinary working people like you and me." was that not the job of the labour party? If they are not supporting the voice of the working man why is the union financing them?

Also why are the militant ford workers not following the lead of the other car unions in the US where they have agree a reduction in their package as a means of supporting the company and making it more sustainable or are you hoping to be a militant redundant ex ford worker?

You are obviously unaware that the RMT very publicly disaffliated itself from the Labour Party a little while ago because they believed it no longer represented the aspiraions of ordinary working men and women.
Instead of using the political levy to support New Labour they have decided to use it to sponser real working class candidates in this campaign.
Your comments regarding wage cuts are equally off the mark - some of the contractors at southampton plant have already had pay cuts of up to 40% and all Ford workers have had at least a 17% in loss of shft pay.
There ARE enough orders to keep Southampton busy except they are being sent to Ford's EU sponsored sweatshop in Turkey which is subsidised by YOU the
British taxpayer through EU aid (even though they are not in the EU - they still get EU aid).
10% of all the tax you pay goes to the EU which in turn helps Multi National companies by use it exploiting workers in Eastern europe in order to drive down pay and conditions in western Europe - as Ford is clearly doing here.
We think this is wrong.
We are opposed to redundancies due to the offshoring of our national strategic industries.
If you have any other questions regarding NO2EU or the Ford issue then please Come down May 7th. Join in the debate and learn more about the great Euro jobs swindle.

has this turned into a party political broadcast for UKIP?

Had Blair not caved in to Europe and betrayed us being given up the rebate Mrs T won for us we might not be in this state.

Sadly large scale manufacturing in the UK is dead because we can't offer the low wages that Turkey can.

it was because off what m.thatcher done is why we are in this mess, labour only guilty off carrying on the same work that thacter started and not renationalizing industry. every since 1979 the people off this country have been sold down the river, not just the EU here in the uk to.

southy wrote:
it was because off what m.thatcher done is why we are in this mess, labour only guilty off carrying on the same work that thacter started and not renationalizing industry. every since 1979 the people off this country have been sold down the river, not just the EU here in the uk to.

what? the mess she inherited 30 years ago this week? If you look at some of the crackpot ideas Tony Benn had whilst he was Trade Secretary it was little wonder than the country was bankrupt in the 70's.

The Swaythling plant has been on borrowed time for years, like the LDV factory in Birmingham. Perhaps if the Police didn't use Merc vans they would have gone for Transit instead?

Too much competition, especially when VW produce in Eastern Europe and other stuff is made in Korea. Wait until cars roll in from India and China, no plant in Europe could compete with them.

YOUR FORD JOB IS BEING AXED FOR ONE REASON

Under the EU-Turkey Customs Union, Ford can export your job to Turkey to exploit cheap labour and then import Turkish vans (and parts) back into Britain without paying a penny in tariffs. That’s how the EU has sold you out.

By exporting your job to Turkey, Ford will increase its profit. To make a profit is necessary, but to make an UNFAIR profit is “profiteering”. All definitions of “profiteering” involve “unfairness”. So is it “unfair” for Ford to export your job to Turkey?

A Turkish worker might argue that it IS fair to export your job to Turkey. I have even heard some British people arguing that to enrich the lives of Turkish workers by exporting your job to Turkey is both fair and charitable.

But such views are misplaced and immoral. There is no “charity” in taking our possessions, rights, jobs etc. against our will and giving them to others. That is THEFT not charity. We must blame successive Conservative and Labour governments for this appalling theft and betrayal since 1973.

I therefore accuse Ford of profiteering and betraying Britain and I ACCUSE THE EU OF THEFT OF JOBS. I call on you to show your anger in the forthcoming elections on June 4th, by voting tactically for any party which supports leaving the EU or is committed to offering British voters a referendum on our EU “membership”.

Condor Man wrote:

southy wrote:
it was because off what m.thatcher done is why we are in this mess, labour only guilty off carrying on the same work that thacter started and not renationalizing industry. every since 1979 the people off this country have been sold down the river, not just the EU here in the uk to.

what? the mess she inherited 30 years ago this week? If you look at some of the crackpot ideas Tony Benn had whilst he was Trade Secretary it was little wonder than the country was bankrupt in the 70's.

The Swaythling plant has been on borrowed time for years, like the LDV factory in Birmingham. Perhaps if the Police didn't use Merc vans they would have gone for Transit instead?

Too much competition, especially when VW produce in Eastern Europe and other stuff is made in Korea. Wait until cars roll in from India and China, no plant in Europe could compete with them.

she did some good things and also caused massive breakdown of society,hence the drug problems and the mass unemployment,the effects of a overvalued pound while no worldwide recession,she is not a patch on the likes of churchill,attlee,bev
eridge who acheived things in government .she tamed the unions the only thing she got right .

"Bruce Golding-Coney, 52, of Christchurch, left after 30 years, and said: “I’m one of the lucky ones because I don’t have to work."

WELL HELLO BRUCE. WHAT ARE YOU TRYING TO TELL US? THAT YOU MANAGE TO SATISFY YOUR SOCIAL, CAREER AND SELF-ESTEEM NEEDS IN OTHER WAYS THAN WORK, OR THAT YOU HAVE GOT ENOUGH CASH TO LIVE ON FOR NOW? EITHER WAY, IT WAS NOT THE MOST PROFOUND STATEMENT TO GIVE TO THE WORLD.

OUR CHILDREN’S JOBS IN RETURN FOR CHEAP FOREIGN GOODS

WHEN I WERE A LAD in 1979 (yawn!) and Margaret Thatcher was voted into office, rumour had it many of the Unions were riddled with KGB agents bent on destroying British industry and that’s why there were so many strikes.

True or not, there’s no doubt those strikes helped destroy huge amounts of our industrial base by driving custom abroad, and what they failed to destroy, the EU is finishing off – that, coupled with our insatiable greed (I’m alright Jack) – has allowed fat cat globalist entrepreneurs to exchange the remains of our manufacturing base for nothing more than cheap foreign goods.

United we stand – divided we fall!

And united we stood, with our hands by our sides, looking innocently up into the blue, whistling tuneless melodies, while fat-cat globalist entrepreneurs destroyed our industrial base around our feet (which we can claim we couldn’t see because we were looking up at the time) and palmed us off with what they said were “cheap” foreign goods.

So was it a fair exchange: Our children’s jobs in return for cheap foreign goods?

A lot of people point out that wages are a lot cheaper in Korea, Turkey, India etc.
The wage cost element of a Transit built in Southampton is about £380 against a vehicle that will retail for about £18,000. What we are talking about is SHEER GREED by motor manufacteres who want to see the labour shrunk from £380 to about £100. It costs less to produce the same van in turkey but do Ford sell them here for less? No.
We need to protect our industry through selective tarrifs. Ford would still build Vans in the UK - their biggest market- if a tarrf on imports reduced the cost advantage.
We can't do that because it's against EU rules.
(Although the French have stuck 2 fingers up to it to protect Renault workers)

Condor Man wrote:

southy wrote:
it was because off what m.thatcher done is why we are in this mess, labour only guilty off carrying on the same work that thacter started and not renationalizing industry. every since 1979 the people off this country have been sold down the river, not just the EU here in the uk to.

what? the mess she inherited 30 years ago this week? If you look at some of the crackpot ideas Tony Benn had whilst he was Trade Secretary it was little wonder than the country was bankrupt in the 70's.

The Swaythling plant has been on borrowed time for years, like the LDV factory in Birmingham. Perhaps if the Police didn't use Merc vans they would have gone for Transit instead?

Too much competition, especially when VW produce in Eastern Europe and other stuff is made in Korea. Wait until cars roll in from India and China, no plant in Europe could compete with them.

there was no mess till after 1979. by the time labour left office the british war dept was nearly paid up, all thacther had to do was sit it out for the remaining 4 years of the recession that started in 1978. but she could not do that she wanted to line her friends pockets, and made the recession last longer than it should off and push us deeper in to recession and increase the dept we was in, when she took over office there was only about 1million unemployed, a the exports was greater than the imports, with in 3 years off her in office unemployment was over 4 million so she started to cook the books to make it look good by not counting any one that was unemployed for more tham 6mts and there was other things she did not count. the imports became greater than our exports increasing the national dept to the state where we where nearly bankrupt, and still paying for it. she change the banking laws and what was the first thing she do, she moves her money to lichtenstein bank and this only the tip off the ice berg there is much more damage she done ie education health service ect ect ect ect ect the list is to long to go though, so strikes is only a small price to pay for and it did not effect are oversea buyers they still got there goods because off the surplus stock pile this all change in the 80's with our manufactory base gone we was not producing goods for export, the only thing that is saving us from total bankruptcies is the what is know has the hidden trade. but this has only slowed it down and giving us time to correct the 80's government errors whitch the labour government has not done all they been doing is working for the multinationals do a tory job but better.

I left the UK because I could see this coming. The depth and breadth of it was wholly unpredictable but nonetheless inevitable. I have been through the last recession when Britain was pulled out of the pipe and I saw good men lose their homes and relationships smashed by political decisions they had no say in.

The EU is 6 times larger than the US and governed by many diverse and prosaic leaders. The US were instrumental in sucking in the rest of the world but equally were the nation that were coming out first.

Barak Obama is a good and positive President and in his first 100 days prevented global financial catastrophe. It has cost me a lot of money, time and effort to be here and I am doing ok at it too.

Your snide vitiole is unfounded and a positive indication that you just do not understand your own country's politics and economy.

Brown could not govern a tea party and his own Cabinet are now openly echoing that point.

So what are your options? Sit on your hands and spit at those that are doing just a bit better or get out there and do the same, but where? Europe? No chance!

Many subscribers cant speak English so forget learning another Euro language. What about Australia? They're in the boondocks too so then that really only leaves a few others. Hey! Guess what? The US is a good choice.

The Land of the free is not 'FREE' you have to work hard and jump through a lot of hoops but it sure pays well in a time when one job in Soton has 6 applicants (and climbing). Is it going to get better? In a year or two maybe.

Will it get worse? YES! A ship without a Captain will hit many rocks before it ultimately sinks below the waves and all those onboard. That does not include me.

Is my leaving the dower shores of England a contributory factor in its demise? No - Nor will ever be but look out you windows and see the huge exodus of academics and specialist skills leaving to do much of what I am doing.

The UK is done for and that is what I believe and so am here and staying here.

If it goes sour then I will go elsewhere. I have made enough to go anywhere and do it all again cos I have a love of working and making money and thats what it takes.

Your survival rate will be enhanced if you forgot about nursing the dead and dying industies and go where the new and growing work is and you dont need me to tell you that isnt Europe. So spit away but you'll be hard pushed to state my philosophy as wrong.

one off the first countrys to come out off the recession will be india. Finlay, Des Moines Iowa one off the last ones to come out off it will be the usa, unless Barak Obama do what he was hinting at in one off his speaches and that was to start to state own industrys to give a lot smaller boom and bust, every country that has a nationalized industry will come out faster off a recession and also they dont go so deep into a recession, unlike countrys that dont have any national industry they all ways the first to going to a recession and go a lot deeper and last to come out. what people need to do is stop thinking off there selfs and start thinking about the bottom off the ladder, you have good solid footings the top will not fall, we need to get back to what we had in the 70's and build from there, and not try and keep building from the 80's that has fail twice now and will keep failing every so often, got to get out off peoples heads that greed is good when its not greed is bad and a destroyer off every thing that is good.

"... Many subscribers cant speak English so forget learning another Euro language."

-----------------
southy, redbridge
-----------------

I have tried but simply do not understand your rantings.

I rest my case.

not ranting finlay simple basics truths.
you bred greed then all you get boom and bust, whitch is what capitalist is all about greed, i am all right jsck, sooner or later it will catch it up, this time we lucky its only a recession next time it could be a full blown depression, and countrys that are capitalist base will get hit the hardest and longest all the time.
where has socialist countrys are the last countrys to go into a recession dont go so deep and first to come out.

Peter Stewart wrote:
YOUR FORD JOB IS BEING AXED FOR ONE REASON

Under the EU-Turkey Customs Union, Ford can export your job to Turkey to exploit cheap labour and then import Turkish vans (and parts) back into Britain without paying a penny in tariffs. That’s how the EU has sold you out.

By exporting your job to Turkey, Ford will increase its profit. To make a profit is necessary, but to make an UNFAIR profit is “profiteering”. All definitions of “profiteering” involve “unfairness”. So is it “unfair” for Ford to export your job to Turkey?

A Turkish worker might argue that it IS fair to export your job to Turkey. I have even heard some British people arguing that to enrich the lives of Turkish workers by exporting your job to Turkey is both fair and charitable.

But such views are misplaced and immoral. There is no “charity” in taking our possessions, rights, jobs etc. against our will and giving them to others. That is THEFT not charity. We must blame successive Conservative and Labour governments for this appalling theft and betrayal since 1973.

I therefore accuse Ford of profiteering and betraying Britain and I ACCUSE THE EU OF THEFT OF JOBS. I call on you to show your anger in the forthcoming elections on June 4th, by voting tactically for any party which supports leaving the EU or is committed to offering British voters a referendum on our EU “membership”.

You are right Peter, Ford has betrayed Britain.
The UK is Fords biggest Market outside of the USA. Germany is one of Fords smallest markets as Germans tend to buy German cars.In fact Britons buy more Ford Cars then France, Italy and Germany put together. How strange then that in 2000 Ford moved it European HQ from Dagenham to Cologne. Should we then be surprised to learn that Ford Europes new German bosses then moved production of the UK's biggest selling car - the Fiesta from the UK to (can you guess yet)...Cologne, even though it was more expensive to produce there?
They then proceeded to share out Ford UK's work to other European countries so that NO Ford cars are made here any more, just the SWB Van (which of course is going to Turkey.)
Anyone interested in the history of the Ford Cologne plant and the politcal ideaology of some of its post war directors ought to google the terms 'BBC FORD NAZI COLOGNE'.
An enlightening read.

I spent my life on "Transits" and I love 'em all the same, without my medication I am criminally insane.

I will be voting for NO2EU