{"id":23363,"date":"2020-08-25T14:33:50","date_gmt":"2020-08-25T13:33:50","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/unitelive.org\/?p=23363"},"modified":"2020-08-26T11:22:48","modified_gmt":"2020-08-26T10:22:48","slug":"appledore-shipyard-finds-a-buyer","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/unitelive.test.igniteamt.com\/?p=23363","title":{"rendered":"Appledore shipyard finds a buyer"},"content":{"rendered":"<div id=\"fb-root\"><\/div>\n\n<p>The announcement today (August 25) that InfraStrata, the owners of the Harland and Wolff in Belfast, has bought the historic Appledore shipyard in North Devon has been hailed as great news by Unite.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Unite has been working with the local community since Spring last year to get the yard re-opened after the previous owners Babcock ceased production, ending over 100 years of shipbuilding. Since then the yard has been dormant.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Most of the highly skilled workforce were transferred to Babcock\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s facility in Plymouth and many of these workers could potentially be interested in returning to work at Appledore.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Unite regional officer Healthcliffe Pettifer, who was previously the union\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s convenor at the yard, said, \u00e2\u20ac\u015bThis is a great news for Appledore and the local community which never gave up in campaigning for the yard\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s re-opening.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>\u00e2\u20ac\u015bUnite has consistently argued that the Appledore shipyard was viable and its closure was due to a lack of political will and a failure of economic planning,&#8221; he added.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>\u00e2\u20ac\u015bIt is now essential that work resumes at the shipyard at the earliest possible opportunity. This will give a huge boost to Appledore and the local community.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>\u00e2\u20ac\u015bUnite will now be seeking urgent meetings with the yard\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s new owners to fully understand their plans for its future and to encourage the re-engagement of the dedicated workers who previously worked there.\u00e2\u20ac\u0165<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Unite assistant general secretary Steve Turner noted, \u00e2\u20ac\u015bThis is great news for Appledore and the UK\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s shipbuilding industry.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>\u00e2\u20ac\u015bIt demonstrates what can be achieved by unions working with the local community to overturn the huge injustice of the yard being mothballed in the first place,&#8221; he added.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>\u00e2\u20ac\u015bIt is now incumbent on the UK government to thoroughly review its procurement policies to ensure that British ships are built at UK yards. Such policies must include the Fleet Solid Support Ships were are due to be go out to tender shortly.\u00e2\u20ac\u0165<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>\u00e2\u20ac\u015bIf Boris Johnson\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s mantra of build, build, build has any real substance then the UK\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s shipbuilding industry must be one of the early beneficiaries.\u00e2\u20ac\u0165<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong><em>By Barckley Sumner<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>The announcement today (August 25) that InfraStrata, the owners of the Harland and Wolff in Belfast, has bought the historic Appledore shipyard in North Devon has been hailed as great news by Unite. Unite has been working with the local community since Spring last year to get the yard re-opened after the previous owners Babcock [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":16565,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[1],"tags":[1042,1204,514],"wps_subtitle":"Appledore shipyard purchase great news for Devon and for workers","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/unitelive.test.igniteamt.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/23363"}],"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=23363"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/unitelive.test.igniteamt.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/23363\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":23365,"href":"https:\/\/unitelive.test.igniteamt.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/23363\/revisions\/23365"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/unitelive.test.igniteamt.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/16565"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/unitelive.test.igniteamt.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=23363"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/unitelive.test.igniteamt.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=23363"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/unitelive.test.igniteamt.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=23363"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}