HOME | IMC UK | Editorial Guidelines | Mission Statement | About Us | Contact | Help | Support Us

Liverpool Indymedia

Norris Green Workers Protest Sayers Job Cuts

Frank Owen | 20.06.2006 01:47 | Social Struggles | Workers' Movements | Liverpool

Nearly a hundred workers and their families took to the streets of Norris Green, Liverpool on Saturday 17th June, in a protest against almost 200 redundancies at Liverpool bakers Sayers. They called on the company to invest in the site to help improve efficiency, rather than make the redundancies.



Sayers wants to sack half of its staff so they can increase profits, and will move some work to its other bases. They also closed down its pension fund, a move which has angered the workforce. Sayers’ announcement was made in April, just months after the company signed a £2m deal to become a Capital of Culture partner.

Local Labour MP Bob Wareing showed up and took part in the demonstration. He commented that:

"The workers are going to fight on in the hope of reversing the decision. Whether this will happen or not, I am not sure at this juncture. But I will certainly keep putting pressure on the Government to try to save these people's jobs."

It’s not the first time that Wareing has ‘put pressure’ on the government, but his Campaign group is a tiny minority within the Parliamentary Labour Party, and has next to no influence.

He added: "All the Government is offering is to get Job Centre Plus to discuss the futures of some of the workers who could be made redundant. I don't think this is satisfactory.

"The Government won't interfere because this is a commercial decision. But it is also a social decision, because it is the taxpayers who end up footing the bill."

Wareing’s comments show that he does not understand modern economics. Like Thatcher and Major before them, Blair and Brown believe that the government should not intervene in industry, leaving business to ‘regulate itself’ – or do whatever will make it the most money. Old Labour types like Wareing believe in limited government intervention – like that started by the Labour governments of 1945, but this is no longer an alternative since the international market would never allow it to succeed.

The Bakers, Food and Allied Workers Union (BFAWU) are the main union on the site, and they organised Saturday's march in a bid to show the strength of feeling among employees and to try to get the company to change its mind about the job cuts.

Marching is a start and it gets the union in the papers, but it amounts to little more than a symbolic gesture since profit-hungry businesses cannot listen to the pleas of ordinary people. The only solution is for workers to organise on an international basis to take over the factories and other workplaces. Until they do that, the bosses will keep picking us off one by one, setting workers from different regions against each other.

Frank Owen

Kollektives

Birmingham
Cambridge
Liverpool
London
Oxford
Sheffield
South Coast
Wales
World

Other UK IMCs
Bristol/South West
London
Northern Indymedia
Scotland

Topics

Afghanistan
Analysis
Animal Liberation
Anti-Nuclear
Anti-militarism
Anti-racism
Bio-technology
Climate Chaos
Culture
Ecology
Education
Energy Crisis
Fracking
Free Spaces
Gender
Globalisation
Health
History
Indymedia
Iraq
Migration
Ocean Defence
Other Press
Palestine
Policing
Public sector cuts
Repression
Social Struggles
Technology
Terror War
Workers' Movements
Zapatista

[navigation.actions2016]

[navigation.actions2015]

[navigation.actions2014]

NATO 2014

Actions 2013

G8 2013

Actions 2012

Workfare

Actions 2011

2011 Census Resistance
August Riots
Dale Farm
J30 Strike
Occupy Everywhere

Actions 2010

Flotilla to Gaza
Mayday 2010
Tar Sands

Actions 2009

COP15 Climate Summit 2009
G20 London Summit
Guantánamo
Indymedia Server Seizure
University Occupations for Gaza

Actions 2008

2008 Days Of Action For Autonomous Spaces
Campaign against Carmel-Agrexco
Climate Camp 2008
G8 Japan 2008
SHAC
Smash EDO
Stop Sequani Animal Testing
Stop the BNP's Red White and Blue festival

Actions 2007

Climate Camp 2007
DSEi 2007
G8 Germany 2007
Mayday 2007
No Border Camp 2007

Actions 2006

April 2006 No Borders Days of Action
Art and Activism Caravan 2006
Climate Camp 2006
Faslane
French CPE uprising 2006
G8 Russia 2006
Lebanon War 2006
March 18 Anti War Protest
Mayday 2006
Oaxaca Uprising
Refugee Week 2006
Rossport Solidarity
SOCPA
Transnational Day of Action Against Migration Controls
WSF 2006

Actions 2005

DSEi 2005
G8 2005
WTO Hong Kong 2005

Actions 2004

European Social Forum
FBI Server Seizure
May Day 2004
Venezuela

Actions 2003

Bush 2003
DSEi 2003
Evian G8
May Day 2003
No War F15
Saloniki Prisoner Support
Thessaloniki EU
WSIS 2003

IMCs


www.indymedia.org

Projects
print
radio
satellite tv
video

Africa

Europe
antwerpen
armenia
athens
austria
barcelona
belarus
belgium
belgrade
brussels
bulgaria
calabria
croatia
cyprus
emilia-romagna
estrecho / madiaq
galiza
germany
grenoble
hungary
ireland
istanbul
italy
la plana
liege
liguria
lille
linksunten
lombardia
madrid
malta
marseille
nantes
napoli
netherlands
northern england
nottingham imc
paris/île-de-france
patras
piemonte
poland
portugal
roma
romania
russia
sardegna
scotland
sverige
switzerland
torun
toscana
ukraine
united kingdom
valencia

Latin America
argentina
bolivia
chiapas
chile
chile sur
cmi brasil
cmi sucre
colombia
ecuador
mexico
peru
puerto rico
qollasuyu
rosario
santiago
tijuana
uruguay
valparaiso
venezuela

Oceania
aotearoa
brisbane
burma
darwin
jakarta
manila
melbourne
perth
qc
sydney

South Asia
india


United States
arizona
arkansas
asheville
atlanta
Austin
binghamton
boston
buffalo
chicago
cleveland
colorado
columbus
dc
hawaii
houston
hudson mohawk
kansas city
la
madison
maine
miami
michigan
milwaukee
minneapolis/st. paul
new hampshire
new jersey
new mexico
new orleans
north carolina
north texas
nyc
oklahoma
philadelphia
pittsburgh
portland
richmond
rochester
rogue valley
saint louis
san diego
san francisco
san francisco bay area
santa barbara
santa cruz, ca
sarasota
seattle
tampa bay
united states
urbana-champaign
vermont
western mass
worcester

West Asia
Armenia
Beirut
Israel
Palestine

Topics
biotech

Process
fbi/legal updates
mailing lists
process & imc docs
tech

Publish Your News


Temporary Scroogle search

-->