The information below is from the campaign to save 600 jobs at the Vestas factory on the Isle of Wight – the UK’s only wind turbine factory, closed by the Danish owners at the end of July.
We’ve updated the information for how people can help support the Vestas workers.
• Organise a visible demonstration of solidarity, especially on the next national day of action, Thursday 17 September. Take a photo with a placard that reads “Save Vestas Jobs” and email the photo to savevestas@gmail.com.
• Send a donation from your trade union or other organisation, or make a personal donation, with a message of support…
• Send a motion to your union leadership demanding they actively back the Vestas workers and their demands. Something like the following:
This branch:
(1) Supports the Vestas workers fighting for green jobs and for reinstatement of the workers sacked for occupying;
(2) [where applicable] Calls on the general secretary to add his signature to the letter supporting the Vestas workers signed by 16 union leaders and published in the Guardian on 3 August;
(3) Resolves to support and publicise to its members local activities in support of the Vestas workers on the next national day of solidarity, Thursday 17 September;
(4) Resolves to make a donation of £… to the Vestas workers’ fund” [see details above];
(5) Resolves to pay the expenses of a branch member to visit the Vestas picket line, join it for a day, and give our support in person.
• Keep in touch with the Vestas workers’ campaign. You can phone the Vestas workers at the picket line on 07756 659234 or email them at savevestascampaign@yahoo.co.uk.
• Contact local Labour Parties, and ask them to follow the Isle of Wight Labour Party in backing the workers. Ask them to demand Ed Miliband come to the Isle of Wight to meet the workers.
• Lobby your MP and get her or him to sign “Early Day Motion” 1925, put down by John McDonnell MP in support of the Vestas workers. If the MP is Labour, contact local Labour Party activists and Labour-affiliated unions, and urge them to put pressure on their MP.
• Contact energy minister Ed Miliband. His phone number in his Doncaster constituency is 01302 875 462, and at Westminster, 020 7219 4778. Flood him with calls for the Government to take over the Vestas factory and keep it producing, under new management.
• Come to the protest outside the main Vestas factory — Monks Brook, St Cross Industrial Estate, Newport, Isle of Wight.
How to get to the Vestas factory
The main Vestas factory is on the St Cross Industrial Estate, on the edge of Newport, Isle of Wight. You can walk from the town centre to the factory.
From the mainland there are ferries from Southampton to East Cowes and from Portsmouth to Ryde (quicker, but more expensive). There are good bus services from Cowes and from Ryde to Newport.
Cheap train (and coach) tickets from London to Southampton or Portsmouth can sometimes be bought from http://megatrain.com.
Britain: Save the Vestas turbine factory
Vestas Campaign: how you can help
The information below is from the campaign to save 600 jobs at the Vestas factory on the Isle of Wight – the UK’s only wind turbine factory, closed by the Danish owners at the end of July.
We’ve updated the information for how people can help support the Vestas workers.
• Organise a visible demonstration of solidarity, especially on the next national day of action, Thursday 17 September. Take a photo with a placard that reads “Save Vestas Jobs” and email the photo to savevestas@gmail.com.
• Send a donation from your trade union or other organisation, or make a personal donation, with a message of support…
• Send a motion to your union leadership demanding they actively back the Vestas workers and their demands. Something like the following:
This branch:
(1) Supports the Vestas workers fighting for green jobs and for reinstatement of the workers sacked for occupying;
(2) [where applicable] Calls on the general secretary to add his signature to the letter supporting the Vestas workers signed by 16 union leaders and published in the Guardian on 3 August;
(3) Resolves to support and publicise to its members local activities in support of the Vestas workers on the next national day of solidarity, Thursday 17 September;
(4) Resolves to make a donation of £… to the Vestas workers’ fund” [see details above];
(5) Resolves to pay the expenses of a branch member to visit the Vestas picket line, join it for a day, and give our support in person.
• Keep in touch with the Vestas workers’ campaign. You can phone the Vestas workers at the picket line on 07756 659234 or email them at savevestascampaign@yahoo.co.uk.
• Contact local Labour Parties, and ask them to follow the Isle of Wight Labour Party in backing the workers. Ask them to demand Ed Miliband come to the Isle of Wight to meet the workers.
• Lobby your MP and get her or him to sign “Early Day Motion” 1925, put down by John McDonnell MP in support of the Vestas workers. If the MP is Labour, contact local Labour Party activists and Labour-affiliated unions, and urge them to put pressure on their MP.
• Contact energy minister Ed Miliband. His phone number in his Doncaster constituency is 01302 875 462, and at Westminster, 020 7219 4778. Flood him with calls for the Government to take over the Vestas factory and keep it producing, under new management.
• Come to the protest outside the main Vestas factory — Monks Brook, St Cross Industrial Estate, Newport, Isle of Wight.
How to get to the Vestas factory
The main Vestas factory is on the St Cross Industrial Estate, on the edge of Newport, Isle of Wight. You can walk from the town centre to the factory.
From the mainland there are ferries from Southampton to East Cowes and from Portsmouth to Ryde (quicker, but more expensive). There are good bus services from Cowes and from Ryde to Newport.
Cheap train (and coach) tickets from London to Southampton or Portsmouth can sometimes be bought from http://megatrain.com.