By Harry Hutchinson, Labour Party Northern Ireland
The world-renowned Harland and Wolff (H and W) shipyard in Belfast is facing closure if a new buyer cannot be found. Founded in 1861, the yard once employed 35,000 workers. Today it employs just 130. Famous for building the ocean liner Titanic, the yard last built a ship in 2003. It has since been used for marine engineering, cruise-liner refurbishment and renewal energy projects.
The shipyard is currently owned by the Norwegian company, Fred Olsen and has faced financial difficultly since 2017, so it is now up for sale. An announcement is due on Wednesday and this could see administrators called in to close the yard.
H and W workers have decided to take action before Wednesday’s announcement and lock the yard gates, controlling who goes in or out of the complex. Backed by Unite the Union and GMB, the workers have called for H and W to be renationalised.
Pointing to the Scottish Government, which is drawing up plans to nationalise a ship yard in the Clyde, the unions are calling on the Johnson Government to do likewise and restructure the Belfast yard to build the planned navy vessels for the MoD.
Support for the H and W workers is coming from unions in other sectors. A mass rally is planned at the factory gates in support of the workers and for the yard to be renationalised.
The Labour Party and all members must give full and unqualified support to the workers at Harland and Wolff and should support their calls for nationalisation. Public ownership of shipyards and ship-building must be incorporated into Labour’s election manifesto and Labour should stand candidates in the North of Ireland to campaign for such policies, as an alternative to the sectarian parties currently on offer to working class people here.
When Labour is returned to office, with a socialist programme, it can guarantee the jobs of H and W workers and offer genuine apprenticeships and jobs to many other workers in Belfast.
July 30, 2019
