The former shadow chancellor John McDonnell, the former miner and chairman of Tower Colliery Tyrone O’Sullivan, two Cardiff university professors and The Guardian’s senior economics commentator Aditya Chakrabortty are among the signatories of a letter to Welsh Government urging it to re-purpose the threatened Airbus and Ford factories and use them and their workforce for the green economy.
It comes in response to the recent announcement by Airbus that the Broughton plant is to lose 1,435 jobs and news that Ford in Bridgend is set to close later this year, leading to 1,700 job losses.
The letter – published in full below – says that “mass layoffs do not need to happen” and tells Mark Drakeford’s administration to “immediately buy the site from Airbus and bring it into state ownership.”
It continues: “The aeronautical industry is unlikely to survive in its present form in a post-COVID world, and the automotive industry faces similar uncertainty. However, other industries will thrive- specifically, renewable, green energy production.”
The letter – which has been signed by economists, academics and trade unionists – says that according to a recent paper by Wales TUC titled ‘A Green Recovery and a Just Transition,’ investment in renewable energy products will secure thousands of high-quality jobs for Wales as well as helping to tackle climate change:
“Transitioning to a low carbon economy requires manufacturing. We need to build wind turbines, electric busses and trams, component materials for carbon neutral housing and much more.
Taking over the Airbus and Ford plants would therefore not just secure jobs and stave off an economic crisis for Flintshire and Bridgend, it would represent a significant step towards achieving Wales’ transition to a low carbon society.”
The call was initiated by Dan Evans, a radical Welsh independence campaigner who runs the Desolation Radio podcast.
“I’m from Porthcawl which is in Bridgend and local people aspire to do apprenticeships and jobs in ford because it’s always been such a huge employer, and I know people being laid off in ford (Tata is also down the road and I know other lads working there who are also constantly under threat of losing their jobs),” he told voice.wales
He said the workforce in these areas was “uniquely vulnerable” to global crises like Covid because local communities have no ownership over production, meaning global companies can just take off and leave.
“When the news from airbus was announced I just thought enough is enough,” he said. “It’s time to try and change the conversation about ownership in Wales and actually turn this bad news into an opportunity- it’s a chance to transition towards a green, low carbon economy, which will require huge amounts of green manufacturing.”
Evans said the Welsh Government “never seems to want to back up its radical rhetoric with concrete action…Diverting climate catastrophe and safeguarding employment can be done but it just requires action and political will…”
Since the start of Coronavirus, radical thinkers have been arguing that a new way of running society should be developed in the wake to the crisis. The novelist Arundhati Roy has said the pandemic should be a ‘portal’ into a different type of world, radically different to 21st century capitalism.
Covid-19 is wreaking havoc on a planet already blighted by war, poverty, racism and a rapidly degenerating climate. But instead of taking the necessary steps to re-organise the economy to tackle these multiple crises, government and big business the world over are desperately pushing for a return to pre-pandemic life. This not only risks human health, but will also accelerate environmental breakdown.
As the economy contracts and changes with shifting behavioural patterns, thousands of jobs are being axed and wages threatened as businesses offload the cost of Coronavirus to workers. Some are looking to cynically use the crisis to enact long planned cuts.
While workers in Wales are badly affected, with manufacturing and the service sector in the spotlight, the problem is also global. Just last week it was announced that Coca Cola is cutting 4,000 jobs, Pret A Manger is looking to get rid of 2,890 workers and American Airlines is axing 19,000 staff posts.
As the social effects of the crisis comes into view, big battles are on the horizon as workers decide they have to fight back or accept further poverty. Recent months have seen nurses and other health workers take to the streets in unprecedented numbers in a campaign to demand a 15% pay rise.
Unite – the union representing Airbus workers – have recently taken to picketing MPs offices in Wales to demand they support pay rises and protection for jobs.
But workers could also begin to make political demands such as re purposing their factories in an effort to reduce carbon emissions. These are things that the market has shown itself to be incapable of doing because it interferes with profit.
This is the letter and signatories in full:
Dear Sir/Madam,
The recent announcement by Airbus that the Broughton plant is to lose 1435 jobs is a potentially devastating one for Wales and Flintshire. It follows the announcement by Ford that its Bridgend plant will close later this year with the loss of 1700 jobs. But mass layoffs do not need to happen.
To save these jobs, the Welsh Government must immediately buy the site from Airbus and bring it into state ownership. It must also take over the Ford site in Bridgend in September when Ford leaves. The aeronautical industry is unlikely to survive in its present form in a post-COVID world, and the automotive industry faces similar uncertainty. However, other industries will thrive- specifically, renewable, green energy production.
A recent paper by Wales TUC ‘A Green Recovery and a Just Transition’ argues that investment in renewable energy products will secure thousands of high-quality jobs for Wales as well as helping to tackle climate change. This premise is also the cornerstone of the Welsh Government’s strategy document ‘Prosperity for All’, which states “our aim is to realise the economic opportunities of Wales’ natural resources, whilst building their resilience to support future generations. Low carbon energy generation and greater use of renewable energy sources, including community energy schemes have the potential to cut carbon emissions while benefiting local areas”.
Transitioning to a low carbon economy requires manufacturing. We need to build wind turbines, electric buses and trams, component materials for carbon neutral housing and much more.
Taking over the Airbus and Ford plants would therefore not just secure jobs and stave off an economic crisis for Flintshire and Bridgend, it would represent a significant step towards achieving Wales’ transition to a low carbon society.
As the COVID crisis has proven, it is very easy to quickly repurpose skilled workers and sites to make new products. The workers at Airbus and Ford are highly skilled, with access to a state-of-the-art facility and equipment. During the COVID crisis, the workers at Airbus and Ford did their part for the nation by building ventilators as part of the UK Government’s ventilator challenge. They are capable of easily turning their hand to making the products we need for the green industrial revolution. Parts for wind turbines are even made from the same material that is used to make planes at Airbus — carbon fibre.
There is a precedent in Wales for this. In 1995, miners at Tower Colliery in Hirwaun came together to buy out their workplace. Although the mine had been branded as economically unviable, the miners’ expertise turned it into a successful, profitable business employing 400 people for another 13 years. More recently of course the Welsh Government purchased Cardiff Airport in 2013 for £52 million.
Renewable energy like wind is not based on a finite resource like coal, so once these factories are repurposed, these jobs would be secure forever, not just another generation before running into difficulties, which may happen if we simply throw money at the aeronautical and automotive industry.
Moreover, the work of Professor Calvin Jones and colleagues at the Welsh Economy Research Unit has, for over a decade, illustrated that a lack of local ownership limits supply chain development, regional returns on investment, the development of Welsh R&D, and other benefits from the energy sector. Wales is uniquely vulnerable to global economic crises because we are so over-dependent on multinational firms like Ford and Airbus who will always eventually up sticks and leave, just like so many before them. This is a huge chance to tackle this problem head on: by creating local ownership we will create real resilience and shock-proof our economy in the long-term.
Purchasing the plant represents the most realistic and sustainable chance of securing the long-term future of the workers and the area by enabling them to become world leaders in the technology of the future.
Yours sincerely,
John McDonnell MP
Tyrone O’Sullivan, former chairman of Tower Colliery, Hirwaun
Professor Richard Wyn Jones, Director, Wales Governance Centre, Cardiff University
Professor Laura McAllister, Wales Governance Centre, Cardiff University
James Meadway, economist and former advisor to the shadow chancellor
Aditya Chakrabortty, senior economics commentator, The Guardian
Dr Jason Hickel, economic anthropologist and author
Mark Hooper, founder and director of Indycube and Banc Cambria
Tegid Roberts, Senior Scientific Advisor, Swansea University IMPACT engineering institute
Cardiff UCU Branch
Adam Johannes, Cardiff People’s Assembly
Len Arthur, People’s Assembly Wales
