Steel lifeline hope for shipyard jobs

Workers have been expressing their anger

Angry shipyard workers have been persuaded to delay plans for industrial action in protest at plans to cut 1,000 jobs.

Union leaders, who addressed workers at Glasgow's Scotstoun yard, told them that more could be achieved through dialogue with management at BAE Systems.

Feelings ran high at the meeting, which was attended by an estimated 1,000 workers.

With shipyard staff aware that about one in every two people at the Govan and Scotstoun yards faces redundancy, shop stewards heard calls for a ballot on industrial action.

However, Scotstoun union convener John Dolan said workers were eventually persuaded that they should continue to negotiate to lessen the impact of the jobs blow.

John Dolan: Still negotiating

He told BBC Scotland: "Our plan is to meet the company every day, every night, it doesn't matter where or when.

"We will meet them to try to save these people's jobs.

"It was mentioned at the mass meeting that we should walk out immediately but we managed to persuade the workforce that that wouldn't be the best plan at this stage."

Meanwhile, officials at the Swan Hunter shipyard on Tyneside have told BBC Scotland that efforts are being made to get work to the Clyde shipyards.

Workers at the Govan yard have been waiting on vital steel work - part of a Ministry of Defence order for two landing craft placed last autumn.

Swan Hunter has been designing the landing craft and on Thursday a spokesman said the company was trying to rush through structural plans which would allow Clyde workers to start cutting steel earlier - possibly by September.

The move could help reduce the number of job losses on the Clyde.

BAE has had discussions with Swan Hunter and the MoD about speeding up the project, but cautioned against raising false hopes.

Retraining

Union conveners have been bringing workers up-to-date on the first round of talks with BAE Systems' management on the plan to shed a third of the workforce.

Despite winning a lucrative destroyer contract with the Ministry of Defence, BAE said it does not have enough orders to sustain its current workforce until that work begins.

It announced on Tuesday that it would be cutting 1,000 staff, with 750 manual and 250 white collar workers facing the axe.

Most of the redundancies are expected to take place at the Scotstoun yard.

Union officials have been pressing management to start a programme of retraining and redeployment to reduce the level of redundancies.