Plymouth Trades Union Council

Rob Williams Reinstated

Rob Williams, the sacked Unite union convenor at the Linamar (ex-Visteon) plant in Swansea, South Wales, has been reinstated.

Workers at the plant were set to begin all-out strike action when management caved in. Clearly the threat of such militant action forced them to back down.

“I’m absolutely delighted,” Rob said. “The company obviously understood that it was in a very difficult position. They knew how determined workers were to take action and how much support we had in the union movement.

“I’m very grateful for everyone’s support. We’ve won a great victory but the struggle over the future of the plant will go on.”

Rob, a well-known militant and socialist, was sacked at the end of March, because, according to the company there had been “irretrievable breakdown of trust“. Clearly this was part of an attempt by management to weaken the union in the run-up to attacks on workers. Linamar couldn’t trust Rob not to resist their attacks on the workforce.

Management had already indicated that they wanted to renege on an agreement to establish a final salary pension scheme for workers.

Rob was involved in building solidarity for the Visteon workers, whose occupations and protests won redundancy payments last month.

Once again, workers have shown that calling militant action wins results. This will be a crucial lesson to bear in mind in the months ahead at Linamar and elsewhere.

Plymouth TUC supported Rob's fight & congratulates him and the Linamar workers on this great victory.

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