Happy May Day!
From the Australian Green Bans of the 1970s that gave the Green movement its name to the modern day, our history is deeply entwined with trade unionism and working class movements across the world.
We remember that history in our fight for a just transition!
01.05.2025 17:18 โ ๐ 7 ๐ 1 ๐ฌ 0 ๐ 0
Statement on the British Steel industry and the governmentโs Failure to protect workers and communities
As Scottish Greens gathered at our conference on Saturday, the House of Commons were discussing the โSteel Industry (Special Measures) Act 2025โ. A bill which while stopping short of nationalisation showed that it is possible for central government to step in and take control of industry in the face of multinational corporations who refuse to act in the best interests of the workers and their communities. These are bad faith actors who refuse working class communities any form of just transition instead preferring something akin to the ruin left by the deindustrialisation of the Thatcher era.
The Scottish Greens Trade Union Group commend Labour for choosing to forsake the neoliberal orthodoxy in this situation and take some level of control of British Steel, keeping the Scunthorpe site running. However, we cannot understand why they will not show the same urgency to secure the future of the Petroineos Oil Refinery at Grangemouth or the Tata Steelworks in Port Talbot which closed late last year. Both of these sites would have a clear and important role to play in a just transition for both industries, they are both hugely important to their respective communities like Grangemouth.
The fact that Scunthrope is deemed worthy of saving while Grangemouth and Port Talbot arenโt sends the message that Scottish and Welsh industry are not essential, that workers outside of England have no role to play in Labourโs economic vision. This represents a bizarre display of English nationalism from a party normally so insistent on Scotlandโs continued place in the United Kingdom.
We need to see Grangemouth nationalised as soon as possible, this will allow for a real just transition to take place at the refinery and save 3000 jobs with one stroke. The neoliberal orthodoxy and the multinational vultures who exploit it have failed workers, it is time for governments to take the initiative and show a different way forward.
Statement on the British Steel Industry and The UK Government's Failure to Protect Workers and Communities.
14.04.2025 19:33 โ ๐ 15 ๐ 12 ๐ฌ 2 ๐ 1
