As press headlines chart the demise of British capitalism's manufacturing base, one of the latest casualties is the Swan Hunter shipyard. How do the shipyard workers feel as they stare redundancy in the face? Dave Osler went to Wallsend to find out. TRAVELLING up to Newcastle, I shared a railway carriage with a group of to Edinburgh. Their guide was singing the praises of the towns they would pass through on the way.
*Newcastle is where we used to have our shipbuilding.' she proclaimed quite casually. Strictly speaking, this use of the perfect tense is not quite accurate. The last shipyard on Tyneside is hanging on to life by the slenderest of treads.
Warship builders Swan hunter, based in Wallsend, has been in receivership since the unlucky 13th of last month. The company has boen expecting to win a crucial Royal Navy order for a helicopter carrier.
When the work was instead TRE Only workers can rebuild Britain Kenny James and Dick Gonzalez awarded to a consortium of VSEL and Kvaerner Govan, which bid at least £50 million less for the contract, the bosses called in Price Waterhouse.
No notice Two woeks and a day later, around 400 of the 2,200-strong workforce found themselves suddenly out of a job, with no notice and not even statutory redundancy pay.
The remaining employces are currently engaged in fitting out three frigates for the Minis. try of Defence. Activity will continue until at least 25 June After that, it's anyone's guess, although it is hoped that Swan will be allowed to finish the job.
If Whitchall says yes, there will be enough work - at least for a lucky minority - for up to 14 months. This in turn is likely to mean that the Omani govemtwo patrol boats.
In the best case scenario, the resultant strong order book will Swan Hunter must be renationalised under the workers' control enable receivers to find a buyer. Five major engineering concers are reputedly interested. But if the mandarins say no, 130 years of shipbuilding on the site will be at an end.
Wallsend is like a big pis village. As with British coal, in the last few years the sackings at Swan Hunter have been relent. less. As recently as 1977, the yard employed 10,000 people. Some 1,400 job losses were announced only last August.
For many, working at Swan Hunter is a part of the local tradition. Take Kenny James, an operations controller, who has worked there for the last 18 ycars consecutively, and 23 years ali told, after starting as an apprenuce muer on acaving school.
Grandfather
By James family standards, that's nothing. Kenny's grandfather was with Swan for 45 years. His Dad retired from the company last March, after 40 ycars.
*1 was bor outside these shipyard gates...We've built excelent warships, we've outt liners; we've built tankers, 250,000 tonners. Excellent ships, excellent. I thought I might have been fortunate nough to finish my time here. It's going to be history shortly, isn't it?' The uncertainty of it all is clearly getting to him: you don't know who's going to get hit. You're sitting at your desk, and the manager's at the other end of the office. You don't who he's poing ve show who des coug to catc up to and tap on the shoulder. It's a very embarrassing situation. They could've handled it better.
'We've had no feedback since the receivers came in. I'm annoyed. No-one knows how much the yard is in debt. Did they price the job too high? No. one knows.
"Everyone's despondent. We're hearing daily reports; some are good and some are bad. All this is speculation; it would be nice for management to explain.' Kenny, a member of MSF, is on a salary of £14,000, above average by local standards. He was almost made redundant in the last tranche of lay-offs, but successruly appaica agains.
no moral qualms about making warships: *You need them, don't you? For your defence lines. It's as simple as that. If there's another Falklands war, the goverment will be in dire straits.
He is painfully aware that if this job goes, he won't walk straight into another one: "Not at 47", as he puts it. Kenny reckons his best chance of finding be in the offshore sector, but even here, his age would be against him.
*I'm one of the lucky ones,' he confesses. His mortgage is a relatively modest £150 a month. and his wite works port. time as a barmaid. nevertheless, he has two children, aged 15 and 11, to bring up:
'You've got to keep the kids happy. My lad wants designer gear. He's walking around in shoes at f40 to £50 a time, while mine cost £15. I'd love to see my laddie work here - he Dick Gonzalez starts off by telling me his first name is this hugely amusing: "Richard it is, from now on!' they chorus. 'OK, Dick then, ' he concedes.
I ask him what he does. What do I do? I'm a plumber,' he replies proudly, as if this is one very stupid question indood. If the sumame is Spanish, the accent is pure Geordie.
17 years Dick also toined Swan Hunter straight from school, and has worked at the yard for the last 17 years consecutively, and nearly 30 years altogether. Looking back on his career, he remembers his first wage packet in 1962, when he took home the princely sum of £3 and one shilling.
These days Dick makes about £220 for a 37 hour week.
While he adds that this is "far superior' to what he would probably get as a plumber in the constructor mousy, no sys. "I've got the commitments most married guys have. I've got a Dick's two children are grown up, but sadly, his 23 year old son, a painter by trade, is work shipbuilders. On the official count, unemployment runs at 28 per cent in some parts of the region. It is said to reach 80 per cent on the worst council estates.
Close people faloead be fathers into the industry, he remembers bitterly. It was a family affair. It was assumed that when you left school, you'd get an apprenticeship. The industry was booming in the sixties. You went trom one yard to another.
Abroad
What if be joins his son in paying what the last chancellor assica was a rice worth pay ing? 'Everyone in this game who gets made redundant sets himself up as a domestic plumber," Dick comments with obvious sarcasm. "I'd probably have to go abroad. OpportuniAs a trade unionist, and a cians" section of the AEEU, he argues: "We should've been left as a nationalised industry. Privatisation wasn't a request of we poopic wow workco in this industry. It was a decision of the people who thought they could make money!
He points to a warship yard's Obvious dependence on Rovall Navy orders: "The British govemment's still our emplover. for all the privatisation. Two thousand guys here need a fail crack of the whip. As far as we're concerned we've got to come through.'
SOCIALIST OUTLOOK No. 45 June 26 1993. Page 7