Battle in Ballymena

WRIGHTBUS WORKERS SAVE JOBS AND LAND

No sooner had Unite succeeded in securing a new buyer for Belfast’s Harland & Wolff yard than an even greater threat to our members’ livelihoods arose in Ballymena, with over a 1000 jobs at risk as Wrightbus collapsed.

Like Harland and Wolff, Wrightbus could point to a committed workforce and skills honed over many years, but the companies’ financial trajectories were somewhat different. While Harland and Wolff paid the price for their owners’ failure to invest, Wrightbus was brought down by a cashflow crisis. The origins of this crisis are disputed, with management pointing to bus orders being put on hold following new safety legislation, while others highlighted the vast amounts of money, up to £16 million, being ‘donated’ by the owner to his own church!

Regardless of the immediate cause of the collapse, workers received little notice of the impending crisis. Video clips of workers being effectively locked out of their workplace by security guards while a union official was denied entry spread like wildfire across social media. Local politicians were conspicuous by their absence. As was the case with Harland and Wolff, it was clear that the workers were on their own – except that organised workers are never on their own!

Coming just a few years after Unite members saw their jobs go in JTIGallaher and Michelin, news of yet another major redundancy stoked fears for the future of the local economy.

This time Ballymena workers were able to draw strength and inspiration from Harland and Wolff workers in Belfast, maintaining daily protests at the Wrightbus gates until they received assurances from the Administrators. In addition to demonstrations organised by Unite, workers held vigils outside the church to highlight the owners’ behaviour.

On the basis of the vital role our members play in the production of ‘green’ energy buses and the need for a mass expansion of public transport in the era of decarbonisation Unite quite rightly called for the factory to be taken into public ownership, to continue production and save jobs.

This demand won significant support from workers at mass meetings.

Union officials were pulling together meetings with Government officials, administrators, and also any prospective buyers while updating and consulting members at every stage. Although a number of buyers were confirmed, hopes of an early deal were dashed due to problems regarding ownership of agricultural land on the site.

The anger spread throughout Ballymena, where the community felt it was again under attack – and once politicians realised the strength of public feeling, they abandoned their silence and supported Unites call for the land to be handed back to the Council.

“Hand back the land!” was the workers’ demand, as it became clear that owner Jeff Wright’s decision to cling onto the valuable site would prove a dealbreaker. Determined to save their jobs, workers continued their protests daily with huge support from the community and other workers.

“Open the gates!” was another refrain, as the community rallied to sup-port workers demonstrating outside the plant. The threat to Wrightbus jobs sparked the largest trade union mobilisation seen in Ballymena in decades, spurred on by the victory won by union members in Harland & Wolff. A recurrent theme in Unite’s campaign was the potential for the workforce to meet public transport needs in the new era of decarbonisation.

Ultimately the union demands of ‘Hand back the land’ and ‘Open the Gates’

were delivered upon, and the factory was bought by Jo Bamford with plans to move to a factory of 900 workers in the months ahead.

As in Harland and Wolff, Wrightbus workers defended their jobs and won out against all the odds. When the land ownership issue threatened to become an insurmountable stumbling block, Unite’s campaign mobilised public support to the point where Jeff Wright had no option but to ‘do the right thing’ and hand back the site.

Throughout our union, workers are campaigning for a ‘Just Transition’: a new economic dispensation which will ensure that workers and communities do not pay the price for decarbonisation. By safeguarding the Wrightbus site and the workers’ advanced renewables expertise, Unite members won a victory not just for Ballymena and Northern Ireland, but for the concept of a worker-led Just Transition.