There has been an organised smear campaign against the workers in the Ferguson shipyard.
Events have been blown out of proportion. Media reports ignore the role of management and insult workers when they say ‘the best have left’ and the company ‘can’t find skilled workers’.
Scottish workers need Ferguson. We need meaningful work in a productive sector. We are proud of our industrial heritage and we want to see an industrial economy in our country.
We have great opportunities to rebuild industry on our island nation. That industry must have ships and steel at its heart.
The nationalisation of Ferguson offered an opportunity for long-term thinking and investment – but of course, the opposite has happened.
So we ask the workers of Ferguson – what’s really going on? We want to put pressure on the government to invest in training and productivity, fix management problems, and save our shipyards!
Please help us answer these questions:
1. The FOI request and mass reporting seem like a setup. Are Ferguson workers being hung out to dry? Is there really a drugs and alcohol problem on the site?
2. What is the role of management in the problems at Ferguson? What is really causing the delays?
3. Is there purposeful mismanagement to pave the way to insider deals and privatisation? This has happened in other nationalised firms with assets ripe for stripping. (Ferguson sits on prime waterfront property)
4. Why is there such a lack of investment?
5. Is it true that many talented people have left? Why? Where did they go?
6. They’ve been talking about the shortage of skilled workers for 7 years. Why weren’t new workers trained and developed?
7. Why no long-term ferry contracts for Scottish builders when we need to rebuild our entire fleet?
8. What’s the point of nationalising Ferguson if they’re just going to run it into the ground?
Our party leader, George Galloway, has access to a huge following on his weekly talk show “Mother of all Talk Shows” (MOATS), as well as on Facebook and Twitter.
He is ready and willing to give airtime to rank-and-file workers’ reps who can accurately describe what the real situation is in Ferguson.
Anyone who knows the score – rank and file leaders, shop stewards, long-time experienced workers – should get in touch with us at the Workers Party.
We will publicise the Ferguson workers’ side of the story through our media channels.
Please email us at scotland@workerspartybritain.org or call Glasgow secretary Ian on 07921 727797 to speak to us.
All correspondence will be held in strictest confidence unless explicitly agreed otherwise.
Who we are:
The Workers Party of Britain is a political party built to fight for the interests of working people in Britain. We are committed to rebuilding industry in our country and providing a much higher quality of life for Scottish workers.
We ask the industrial workers at Ferguson to join us. Help us create a national workers’ industrial plan. Fight for a future of industrial growth and prosperity!