THE crisis at Alstom train building in Derby, the essential centre of the whole industry in Britain, is now nearing its climax — which looks likely to result in its closure, the loss of 17,000 jobs in the works and the supply chain, and the end of Britain’s 170-year-old industry.

Now, at well beyond the 11^th hour — at one minute to midnight — Unite the Union, which has been making representations to the deaf ear of government for 11 months alongside GMB and RMT, is calling for a united front of all unions in a last-ditch campaign to save the industry.

Unite’s emergency resolution to Midlands TUC AGM conference in Derby today says: “This conference calls on the TUC and the Midlands TUC to campaign to secure the last fully integrated train manufacturing site in the UK. The facility is on the brink of closure due to government inaction.

“Following the cancelling of the HS2 project there was no restructuring of drum beat of orders in the sector and despite a lengthy campaign, the Tories seem happy to see the destruction of 17,000 highly skilled jobs in the East and West Midlands. The site is one of the oldest organised workplaces in the UK, going back 170 years, and provides skilled employment to thousands of workers. 

“We ask conference to work with Unite and campaign nationally and regionally to raise the profile of this campaign, holding this government to account and work to secure the Alstom site in Derby and in turn thousands of skilled, well-paid jobs.”

There is considerable support for such a united campaign in the Derby and Midlands communities.

Jay Veyess of Derby People’s Assembly, which launched a petition on the issue last November, and which now has 4,000 signatures, told the Star:“It is truly a story of government incompetence… and, worse, a demonstration of their total lack of care or consideration for the workers at the plant, in the supply chain, throughout the Midlands and, in fact, throughout Britain.

“But it is also a story of a transnational monopoly corporation which is in deep debt amounting to €2.13 billion and rising, and its response which is to sell off ‘non-core’ parts of its worldwide business in an ‘asset disposal’ programme to raise €1bn in 2024 to offset this debt.

“It has not yet identified which of its sites are ‘non-core’ — and this in itself has created enormous uncertainty, instability and anxiety, to compound the government’s arrogant and dismissive incompetence.

“There are many who believe, for very apparent good reason, that only nationalisation, with control from within the workforce, can save the site and the industry in the long term.”

You can sign and share the petition at https://tinyurl.com/AlstomPetition.