{"id":16628,"date":"2018-11-01T16:50:01","date_gmt":"2018-11-01T16:50:01","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/unitelive.org\/?p=16628"},"modified":"2020-11-12T12:57:54","modified_gmt":"2020-11-12T12:57:54","slug":"appledore-to-shut-199-jobs-slashed","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/unitelive.test.igniteamt.com\/?p=16628","title":{"rendered":"\u00e2\u20ac\u0098Anger\u00e2\u20ac\u2122 at shipyard closure news"},"content":{"rendered":"
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The decision to close the Appledore shipyard with the loss of 199 jobs has been met with \u00e2\u20ac\u015banger and dismay\u00e2\u20ac\u0165 by Unite, who vowed to fight the move and protect members\u00e2\u20ac\u2122 jobs.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

The devastating news that the 160-year-old Devon shipyard will shut in March 2019 came just days after hundreds marched<\/a> through the town of Bideford against plans by owner Babcock International to close it.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

A petition signed by nearly 10,000 people<\/a>, which had called on the government to secure future shipbuilding work at Appledore, was handed in at the House of Commons on Tuesday.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Unite regional officer Heathcliffe Pettifer was scathing of the government\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s mishandling of the issue.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

He said, \u00e2\u20ac\u015bThe first reaction is one of dismay and anger that such a dedicated workforce at this historic shipyard should face such an uncertain future.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\u00e2\u20ac\u015bWe feel that the government could have done much more to secure future work for Appledore and that defence secretary Gavin Williamson wrung his hands in true Pontius Pilate fashion when he said it was a commercial decision for the company.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\u00e2\u20ac\u015bWe are asking for this to be raised as a matter of urgency in the House of Commons.\u00e2\u20ac\u0165<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Babcock International said a \u00c2\u014160m package of work for the shipyard offered by the government was not enough to keep it open and pledged to offer staff new jobs at its Devonport Dockyard, which is 45 miles away.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Betrayal <\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n

Unite assistant general secretary Steve Turner said the decision was \u00e2\u20ac\u015bbetrayal\u00e2\u20ac\u0165 of both the workforce and the local community and vowed the union would fight against the closure.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

He said, \u00e2\u20ac\u015bUnite will be engaging immediately with the company to secure and protect jobs – and our members\u00e2\u20ac\u2122 interests.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\u00e2\u20ac\u015bWe will continue to fight for the yard\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s future and with it opportunities of decent, unionised work for coming generations and skilled apprenticeships.\u00e2\u20ac\u0165<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Turner added that the government could secure Appledore\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s future \u00e2\u20ac\u015bat a stroke\u00e2\u20ac\u0165 by lifting the delay to contract the Type 31e frigate programme and guaranteeing that the Royal Navy\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s new fleet solid support vessels are designed and block built in yards across the UK.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\u00e2\u20ac\u015bA continued failure by ministers to intervene could lead to the loss of vital shipbuilding skills for a generation and leave a yawning capability gap in the UK\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s shipbuilding industry,\u00e2\u20ac\u0165 Turner said.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\u00e2\u20ac\u015bWe urge Babcock to think again and for the Ministry of Defence to drop its ideological obsession with international competition and build support vessels for our Royal Navy ships in UK ship yards.\u00e2\u20ac\u0165<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Meanwhile, Labour\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s shadow defence secretary Nia Griffith called on the government to come forward with a plan to support those affected by the closure and to engage with Unite.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The decision to close the Appledore shipyard with the loss of 199 jobs has been met with \u00e2\u20ac\u015banger and dismay\u00e2\u20ac\u0165 by Unite, who vowed to fight the move and protect members\u00e2\u20ac\u2122 jobs.   The devastating news that the 160-year-old Devon shipyard will shut in March 2019 came just days after hundreds marched through the town […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":16603,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[17],"tags":[1042,55,1054],"wps_subtitle":"Appledore to shut \u00e2\u20ac\u201c 199 jobs slashed","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/unitelive.test.igniteamt.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/16628"}],"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\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/unitelive.test.igniteamt.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=16628"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/unitelive.test.igniteamt.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/16628\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":25744,"href":"https:\/\/unitelive.test.igniteamt.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/16628\/revisions\/25744"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/unitelive.test.igniteamt.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/16603"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/unitelive.test.igniteamt.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=16628"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/unitelive.test.igniteamt.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=16628"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/unitelive.test.igniteamt.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=16628"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}