THE crisis surrounding the threatened closure of the Rosyth dockyard
last night created a major split between two workforces and a rift in
Britain's biggest manufacturing union.
Large-scale resignations from the Amalgamated Engineering and
Electrical Union were threatened by shop stewards in Devonport over
disciplinary proceedings against a full-time official who is pushing the
case for Trident submarine nuclear refit work to be transferred from
Scotland to England.
The man at the centre of the row, Mr Bill Goffin, Plymouth secretary
of the AEEU, has been summoned to appear before his executive committee
at a meeting next Tuesday to explain his outspoken support of the West
Country dockyard.
Yesterday, Mr Goffin remained unrepentant. ''I will continue to fight
for my members in a situation where only one of two yards is likely to
survive in the long term.''
He would be seeking legal advice and speaking to his own union
representative over the summons. ''If I am not allowed to take a lawyer
with me, I will not attend,'' he said. ''I think it is that serious.
''I have no doubt my job is on the line here but I have fought too
many fights with managements to give in to dictates over freedom of
speech from top union officials.''
The union official who has called Mr Goffin to London is Mr Gavin
Laird, Scots-born general secretary of the AEEU.
Last night, a senior shop steward from the electrical section of the
union in Devonport said: ''If Gavin Laird wants to see 11,000
resignations, he is going the right way about it. We stand by Bill
Goffin who is only saying what everyone in the dockyard knows to be the
truth.''
The shop steward said workers at the Rosyth yard, if they were honest,
must also know that ''it is either us or them''.
Another shop steward in Devonport said: ''We are all good trade
unionists here. If they ask our support for the nurses, or the miners,
we will be the first to raise our hands. But what we are talking about
is the jobs of our own members and the survival of a region.
''There is no question about it. We stand by the case for Devonport to
be the sole yard to refit nuclear submarines and we stand by Bill
Goffin.''
According to Mr Laird, the Plymouth official has an over-inflated view
of his own importance. The future of both dockyards was a matter for
national officials, said Mr Laird.
But yesterday, Mr Goffin said that the national union policy to
maintain both Devonport and Rosyth as nuclear refit yards was
unrealistic. Indeed, it was nothing short of hypocrisy.
The great danger was that the internal dispute between a national and
local official could divert attention from a campaign to save jobs at
both yards.
The views of Mr Goffin -- supported by senior shop stewards at the
yard -- certainly raised grave doubts about the union's policy to secure
the survival of both yards as nuclear bases.
Union members in Devonport wanted Rosyth to continue -- but not as the
yard that would refit Trident submarines.
Mr Goffin said that, if the Trident work went to Rosyth, all nuclear
submarines would go to Scotland for refits. That would ultimately lead
to the closure of Devonport.
He would continue to fight to save jobs in his area and that meant he
would continue to push the case for all nuclear refit work to come to
Plymouth. In Plymouth, MPs, councillors, and union officials have united
in a major campaign to ensure the survival of Devonport. It has not
escaped their attention that the key players in this issue are mainly
Scots.
They include Chancellor Norman Lamont, Defence Secretary Malcolm
Rifkind, Fleet Commander in Chief Admiral Jock Slater, Opposition leader
John Smith, his Shadow Chancellor and also MP for Dunfermline East,
Gordon Brown, and union secretary Gavin Laird.
Mr Goffin said there was no antagonism towards colleagues in Rosyth.
But he pointed out that, when the Government first indicated it would be
looking for one yard to do nuclear refits, there was no outcry.
It was only after The Herald reported that Devonport was the favoured
yard that it became an issue. ''Why was this the case?'' asked Mr
Goffin.
Without the nuclear work, the writing would be on the wall for
Devonport. Already 7000 jobs had gone in the yard since privatisation
and this followed a previous 2000 job loss. There was no campaign in
Rosyth against these job losses.
''It is no good trying to believe that the same kind of situation
which prevailed when we were under the Ministry of Defence remains the
same today when we are two privatised dockyards,'' he said.
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