{"id":12122,"date":"2017-04-18T12:16:08","date_gmt":"2017-04-18T11:16:08","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/unitelive.org\/?p=12122"},"modified":"2017-04-18T12:44:37","modified_gmt":"2017-04-18T11:44:37","slug":"first-ever-strike","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/unitelive.test.igniteamt.com\/?p=12122","title":{"rendered":"‘First ever’ strike"},"content":{"rendered":"
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BMW production lines making the Mini and car engines face disruption tomorrow (April 19) with car workers starting a series of 24 hour strikes as part of a programme of industrial action stretching over five weeks over the closure of their pension scheme.<\/p>\n

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Tomorrow\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s 24 hour stoppage by members of Unite, is the first ever by BMW\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s UK workforce and involves members of the BMW (UK) operations pension scheme working at BMW plants in Cowley, Hams Hall in the West Midlands and Swindon.<\/p>\n

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Car workers will be on picket lines outside the plants from early morning with placards accusing BMW of \u00e2\u20ac\u0098pension robbery\u00e2\u20ac\u2122 and demanding the car maker stops \u00e2\u20ac\u0098driving off\u00e2\u20ac\u2122 with their pensions by forcing through changes which could see some lose up to \u00c2\u0141160,000 in their retirement income.<\/p>\n

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Picket lines will be in place from 6am at the following locations:<\/p>\n

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Cowley \u00c2\u00a0\u00e2\u20ac\u201c main entrance on Eastern Bypass Road, Cowley OX4 6NL.<\/p>\n

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Hams Hall \u00c2\u00a0\u00e2\u20ac\u201c main entrance on Canton Lane, Coleshill B46 1GB.<\/p>\n

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Swindon \u00c2\u00a0\u00e2\u20ac\u201c gate 1 and gate 2 on Bridge End Road in Stratton St. Margaret.<\/p>\n

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Rolls-Royce car workers at BMW\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s Goodwood plant are set to stage the third 24 hour walkout in a series of eight across BMW\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s four sites as part of the programme of industrial action on Friday May 5, after their Easter shutdown.<\/p>\n

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\u00e2\u20ac\u015bBMW\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s refusal to discuss affordable options to keep the pension scheme open means that for the first time its UK workforce will be taking strike action,” said Unite general secretary Len McCluskey.<\/p>\n

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\u00e2\u20ac\u015bIt is very much the last resort for a world class workforce that takes great pride in making the iconic Mini and world renowned Rolls-Royce motor cars and one which could have been avoided if BMW\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s bosses had been willing to negotiate meaningfully with Unite.<\/p>\n

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\u00e2\u20ac\u015bInstead BMW has paid lip service to the concerns of a workforce whose hard work and efficiency has helped the German carmaker achieve record sales amid surging profits and sought to pinch their pensions,” he added.<\/p>\n

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\u00e2\u20ac\u015bBMW\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s bosses should be under no illusion of the determination of Unite members to defend their pensions. They are in this for the long haul.<\/p>\n

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\u00e2\u20ac\u015bWe would urge BMW to drop its 31 May deadline to close the pension scheme and avoid the disruption of continued industrial action by negotiating a settlement which is good for the business and good for the workforce.\u00e2\u20ac\u0165<\/p>\n

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BMW\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s plan to close the pension scheme by May 31, 2017 comes as latest figures showed a surge in BMW Group\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s net profit of eight per cent to \u00e2\u201a\u00ac6.9bn, as well as a record year for Mini sales and a six per cent rise in Roll-Royce sales.<\/p>\n

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Stay tuned on UNITElive tomorrow as we report from the picket line.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

BMW production lines making the Mini and car engines face disruption tomorrow (April 19) with car workers starting a series of 24 hour strikes as part of a programme of industrial action stretching over five weeks over the closure of their pension scheme.   Tomorrow\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s 24 hour stoppage by members of Unite, is the first […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[1],"tags":[602,270],"wps_subtitle":"BMW workers stand up against \u00e2\u20ac\u0098pension robbery\u00e2\u20ac\u2122","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/unitelive.test.igniteamt.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/12122"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/unitelive.test.igniteamt.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/unitelive.test.igniteamt.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/unitelive.test.igniteamt.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/unitelive.test.igniteamt.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=12122"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/unitelive.test.igniteamt.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/12122\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":12126,"href":"https:\/\/unitelive.test.igniteamt.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/12122\/revisions\/12126"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/unitelive.test.igniteamt.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=12122"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/unitelive.test.igniteamt.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=12122"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/unitelive.test.igniteamt.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=12122"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}