At 6 am this morning there was a small picket in response to the lay off of 850 agency workers, outside two gates of BMW's mini car plant in Cowley, Oxford. We were expecting a mass picket of laid off temp workers. These workers have been self-organising against their bosses and the corrupt union leaders who've essentially sold them out.
When we arrived at the main gate at around 6:15 am, there were only a couple of recently sacked temp workers on the picket. Apart from the workers there were the usual suspects selling newspapers, local trade unionists promoting a meeting and some students from Ruskin College eager to show some solidarity. There was also a suited representative from BMW talking to press.
We did however manage to interview a recently retired forklift truck worker. He gave us the low-down on the lay offs and the very brief worker's picket. The picket/meeting happened at 6 am precisely, where sacked workers from last weekend's shift forewarned their fellow workers that 150 workers were being brought in from Swindon to replace their jobs. He then went on to explain how BMW have stopped overtime and cut weekend shifts but have increased production line speed and upped production. He also explained how BMW, through the Working Time Account (WTA), have screwed the workers even further.
We did however manage to interview a recently retired forklift truck worker. He gave us the low-down on the lay offs and the very brief worker's picket. The picket/meeting happened at 6 am precisely, where sacked workers from last weekend's shift forewarned their fellow workers that 150 workers were being brought in from Swindon to replace their jobs. He then went on to explain how BMW have stopped overtime and cut weekend shifts but have increased production line speed and upped production. He also explained how BMW, through the Working Time Account (WTA), have screwed the workers even further.
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