Save Newport’s Orb Steel Works

Yet another multinational shifts its capital to sustain profit at the expense of jobs and the local community, writes Len Arthur from Left Unity Wales.

The plant makes specialist steel that is needed in the electrical industry.

We really are in the situation where the Welsh Government has to consider a strategic approach to public ownership and alternative production – linking together with the skills at the Ford plant in Bridgend also facing closure.

This will not happen if the unions in both plants don’t make real their threat to take industrial action which should also include occupation and the development of a plan for alternative green production.

Clearly the situation is not helped by Brexit and any alternative plan will need cooperation from workers in other countries, especially in Europe.

Please see the comments for our statement on Fords a few weeks ago.

As Left Unity Wales we are sponsoring a programme called ‘let’s build a socialist programme’. This is intended to bring together socialists and others in Wales who have a specific concern or interest, to collectively develop what can be called transitional demands and actions. It is slow to get going but you can find the first fruits here.

And click here for a discussion piece we circulated widely in the hope of engaging the unions and workers at Ford’s Bridgend