{"id":18076,"date":"2019-05-20T15:14:52","date_gmt":"2019-05-20T14:14:52","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/unitelive.org\/?p=18076"},"modified":"2020-11-12T12:56:29","modified_gmt":"2020-11-12T12:56:29","slug":"keep-britain-afloat","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/unitelive.test.igniteamt.com\/?p=18076","title":{"rendered":"Keep Britain afloat"},"content":{"rendered":"
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Unite is again calling on the government to support British jobs and build the next generation of Naval support ships in the UK as it ramps up its Keep Britain Afloat<\/a> campaign and celebrates a victory in Rugby.<\/p>\n

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The union has asked members and the wider public to send a \u00e2\u20ac\u015bmassive message of protest\u00e2\u20ac\u0165<\/a> by sending an email to new defence secretary Penny Mordaunt ahead of her giving evidence at a select committee hearing tomorrow (May 21).<\/p>\n

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So far nearly 2m members of trade unions Unite, GMB, Prospect and Community have sent emails telling the government to grant the contract to build Naval support ships to a British consortium.<\/p>\n

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The Carrier Alliance consortium, formed of UK firms Babcock, Rolls-Royce, Cammell Laird and BAE Systems, is now bidding for the contract to build two or possibly three 40,000 ton Royal Fleet Auxiliary vessels. But they must compete against companies from Spain and Japan, who are also vying for the contract, which will be awarded next year.<\/p>\n

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The consortium was also competing against firms from South Korea and Italy but it was reported today (May 20) that those companies had dropped out of the running.<\/a><\/p>\n

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Now that work on the Queen Elizabeth-class aircraft carriers is coming to an end and the support ship contract has not yet been secured, Unite fears that without a continuous flow of work in British shipyards, large-scale redundancies will be inevitable.<\/p>\n

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The Keep Britain Afloat campaign, whose affiliates include Unite, GMB, Confederation of Shipbuilding and Engineering Unions (CSEU), Community and Prospect, has estimated that 20,000 skilled jobs in shipyards and 20,000 jobs in supply chains are now at risk, as the video below explains:<\/p>\n

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