The 12,000 Unite members at Rolls Royce have voted to set up their industrial action fund by paying £1 per month to their Unite union (in addition to their union subs). The ‘war chest’ is expected to grow quickly to around £150,000. Members voted by 84 % in favour (71% turnout). Strike funds of this nature are rarely set up before any strike action has been undertaken. This tactic can be seen as a pre-emptive move to exert bargaining power in the face of looming redundancies.
Behind the fund is workforce fear that at Rolls Royce’s sites at Derby, Bristol,Hucknall, Barnoldswick, Ansty, Inchinnan, East Kilbride, Sunderland and Birmingham a serious dispute is expected over looming redundancies and restructuring. Anger is brewing because although the company has secured securing a record $9.2 billion order from the Emirates Airlines, it is continuing with plans to cut 2,600 jobs from its aerospace division and these job cuts could see compulsory redundancies at a number of the sites in the UK as early as next month.
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