{"id":24211,"date":"2020-10-13T15:47:21","date_gmt":"2020-10-13T14:47:21","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/unitelive.org\/?p=24211"},"modified":"2020-10-13T15:47:23","modified_gmt":"2020-10-13T14:47:23","slug":"battle-for-barnoldswick","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/unitelive.test.igniteamt.com\/?p=24211","title":{"rendered":"Battle for Barnoldswick"},"content":{"rendered":"
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Workers at the historic Rolls-Royce factory in Barnoldswick, Lancashire are not only fighting to save their jobs \u00e2\u20ac\u201c they\u00e2\u20ac\u2122re fighting to defend their community and a proud legacy stretching back decades.  <\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Rolls-Royce plant is the birth of the jet engine and has for the last 80 years been a site of engineering excellence. At its peak, the site employed 3,000 workers. Over the years, the number of workers dwindled, with 500 currently employed at the plant.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

But Rolls-Royce announced plans in August to cut a further 350 jobs and halt all production of wide-cord fan blades, a major function of the site. Instead, this work will be shipped to Singapore.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The plant\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s engineers are especially angry at this knee-jerk decision, considering they helped train workers in Singapore in 2009 and were promised that the site there would only be used to \u00e2\u20ac\u015bhandle extra demand\u00e2\u20ac\u0165.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u00e2\u20ac\u015bThey gave us the assurance that it was not a competitor, it was a sister site, and that any downturn in work would be shared equally. But that was absolute nonsense,\u00e2\u20ac\u0165 one former union rep told the Mirror.<\/em><\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u00e2\u20ac\u015bThey have systematically decimated our side. They have failed to invest for donkey\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s years.\u00e2\u20ac\u0165<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Unite regional officer for aerospace Ross Quinn explained why this was not only morally wrong but also strategically misguided for the business. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u00c2\u00a0“Locating fan blade production solely in Asia also makes no sense when the engines are assembled at Rolls-Royce\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s main plant 80 miles (130 kilometers) away in Derby, central England,” he told Bloomberg<\/a><\/em>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Now, the Rolls-Royce workers are worried that cutting so many jobs and leaving the plant with only 150 workers risks the future of the site. If it were to close, this would spell doom for their beloved town of Barnoldswick.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

These proud Rolls-Royce engineers are not about to give up without a fight, and now their union Unite is balloting them for strike action to put a stop to the proposed job cuts and outsourcing plans to Singapore \u00e2\u20ac\u201c the ballot closes on Friday (October 16).<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Unite has also released a powerful film about the history of the Barnoldswick factory and why the site means so much to so many people.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

You can watch the film below:<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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