Support the strike at Optare

 Support the strike at Optare

 Optare make Electric Buses at their factory in Leeds. The company is owned by Ashok Leyland which is owned by millionaire business brothers Srichand and Gopichand Hinduja who are reported to have a net worth of £19 billion between them according to Asian Media and Marketing group. 

The workers at the factory who have been working a normal 40 hour week throughout the pandemic asked for a pay rise in line with the Bank of England’s inflation rate of 2%. Optare offered 1% so they went on strike.

The strike is however not just about pay Many of the jobs in the factory have been outsourced away from the permanent workforce and given to part time contractors on worse pay and conditions. This outsourcing can cause chaos with production. A worker at the plant explained that 167 pieces of glass had to be removed from a vehicle because it didn’t have the correct laminate and the outsourced workers hadn’t been trained to lift the glass properly which resulted in a lot of smashed bus windows and waste of money. 

The workforce wants to be able to produce excellent electric buses and are fed up with the chaos. In the last few months Marcus Rashford’s campaign for kids to get school meals has highlighted the struggle that working families are facing at the moment, even families in work are having to use food banks as wages in the UK are low and many companies have used the pandemic to reduce hours or sack people and rehire them on lower wages or longer hours. 

The workers at Optare just want a decent living wage. Does this have anything to do with the struggle against climate disaster? Rebels have already stared debating the way forward for XR after the pandemic and reviewing tactics. In Australia in Sept 2019 380 dockworkers from the Maritime Union walked out of work for 4 hours as part of a climate strike. 

They attended rallies with their official union placards saying” Stop Blocking Offshore Wind Climate jobs now” The Maritime union also represents oil and gas workers and says it’s trying to get ahead of the curve on climate action and has official union policy to limit warming to 1.5degrees.

 The Optare workers and the strikers at Rolls Royce who make jet engines are fighting for jobs and decent pay but in both factories, there is the beginnings of a serious debate on repurposing and a just transition. Factories can be tooled up to produce wind turbines or other necessary parts of green energy solutions and it is a mistake to think that workers even in fossil fuel industries can’t be won to action on climate. Some British unions have already supported climate action. The rail, lecturers’ and teaching unions have supported the climate strikes. Workers at the Government Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy (BEIS ) who were on strike against being outsourced and for a London living wage when the last rebellion was on marched to one of the rallies with a banner that said “ Fighting for a green fair and just society” and chanting a “living wage on a living planet “.

 The strikers at Optare need support because they have a right to a decent wage to feed their families. No one in the movement for climate justice wants to see workers who are involved in new green technologies working hard with poor wages and conditions. 

We want decent permanent Green Jobs. We want Green Industry. We want a just and fair system for people to live in peace and safety. Supporting the Optare strikers is not separate to our struggle against climate disaster. XR rebels should send messages of solidarity to the Optare workers - we need them and they need us.

 Donations to the strike fund can be made. The account name is Unite NE/200/1 Optare branch account number 20327132 sort code 60-83-01 and the bank is Unity Trust Bank Messages of support can be sent to: Richard.bedford@unitetheunion.org 

Rebels can add their name to the list of signatories below. Signatories 

Mary Littlefield, Unite Community Norfolk Vice Chair and XR Rebel

 Wendy Smith, Unite member and XR rebel

 Tim Knight-Hughes, Unite member and XR rebel 

Tony Staunton, President, Plymouth Trades Union Council 

Hugh Stanners, NEU member and XR rebel 

Steve Wilkins Secretary Medway Trades Union Council 

Jamie Osborn, Unite member and XR rebel 

Raymond Morell, Unite Branch Chair, Aerospace, Edinburgh

 Ian Allinson, former Unite EC member, President of Manchester TUC

 Dave Sherry Vice Chair Glassgow Unite Retired Members Branch 

Jonathan Warner Unite member

 Nicola Redwood Chair Unite SE London Medical branch, Health RISC and NISC delegate and Co Chair Unite Rank and File 

James Eaden President Chesterfield and District Trades Council

 Arthur Nicoll Co-Chair, Dundee City UNISON

 Angela Brown, Unite Manchester Construction branch member