Longbridge Closure: Labour's Mess. posted by Richard Seymour

The announcement that Longbridge is to be closed and 6,000 jobs are to be lost is electric. Labour, in refusing to offer money unless a deal was reached, has effectively put those jobs at the mercy of a Chinese company that really had little to gain from a deal. They have also, effectively, punched themselves right in the heartland. These workers don't just live in Labour strongholds, but also in key marginals. Further, there will be a knock-on effect on supply industries, which could cost tens of thousands of jobs - adding to the million manufacturing jobs that have been lost since Labour came to power.

Unfortunately, the strategy of Tony Woodley of the TGWU is largely responsible for this state of affairs. In April 2000, I attended a mass rally in Birmingham over the threat that then existed to the plant when BMW wanted to close it. The mood was furious. Posters, banners and placards were all over the city, the local press were full of outrage about it, small businesses had closed for the day to support the march, and a flower trader was - for some reason - giving away free daffodils. The placards saying Organise, Occupy, Renationalise were taken up by marchers in abundance. Marchers chanted "Rover, Rover, take it over!" There was also some silly sod dressed up as John Bull, which the media seemed to love.

A clear mood could be discerned for fighting to renationalise the plant and defend its thousands of jobs. Yet, as the march tailed into a vast park to join a rally, it became clear that the union leaders had organised the whole event to help let off steam. The professional DJ present was a patronising, arrogant dimwit who knew nothing about the situation and spoke in greasy generalities. When a Dagenham worker asked to speak, the DJ said "Eh? What? Oh, you're from Dagenham are you? What? Can't hear ya. Oh, you don't want the same to happen to you? Don't worry about it, mate, I've sorted it. Yeah, taken care of".

The dancing women danced, and a few local singers sang. Then the union leaders spoke. Tony Woodley was heavily booed when he approached the mic because, against the wishes of the members, he was coaching caution. No industrial action, let's just negotiate and 'salvage' what we can. Maybe we can find another buyer. Maybe there can be a deal.

Well, all the deals have been done, and all new buyers tried, and here we are at this terminal state. The only thing that would ever have saved this plant would have been for it to be renationalised and invested in properly. The plant could then be converted for other uses, seeing as there is insufficient demand for Rover cars. When you consider that we already spend a fortune on sustaining the arms industry which could be deployed more usefully elsewhere, it is obvious that only ideology prevents it. Jobs are too precious to be subject to the lunatic logic of profit. Yet, Patricia Hewitt has been almost as delinquent as Stephen Byers, her predecessor in the job, and this resonates well beyond Rover. Dagenham workers are that bit more vulnerable now, as are Vauxhall workers who stormed management offices in 2001 to protect their jobs. Tony Woodley's strategy in these plants has been exactly the same: make a deal, get concessions, find a 'second model'. And this morning, he is talking about the same thing on the news. We've got to 'salvage' what we can.

Well, I am not the sort of person to encourage illegal activity, but in the face of such wilful neglect and destructiveness, flying pickets would not seem out of place.

I'm just saying.