British workers fight for ‘green jobs’

Since July, when 600 workers at a wind turbine plant on the Isle of Wight in Britain were laid off, their ongoing struggle has united labor and environmental activists in a movement to save so-called “green jobs.”

After learning that Vestas—a Danish firm that brags of being “number one in modern energy”—was closing their plant, a small group of workers occupied the factory on July 21. The occupation ended on Aug. 7 after a court-ordered eviction. A 24-hour encampment outside the plant, set up originally to support the workers inside, continued to attract supporters.

Later in August, a second encampment was erected at the dock where the turbine blades remaining inside the plant were to be shipped to the U.S. On Sept. 15 four courageous supporters climbed on top of cranes that were positioned to move the blades. Within hours they were arrested and charged with aggravated trespass.

The solidarity of the defiant Vestas workers and climate change activists was temporarily able to halt the loading of the gigantic blades onto barges. On Sept. 22 at 6 a.m. 120 Isle police woke up the campers, ordered them to disperse immediately, and confiscated some of their belongings as “evidence.” One supporter was arrested and charged with aggravated trespass and “going equipped to cause criminal damage.”

After three months of living in tents, the original encampment outside the plant continues to function. Recent enhancements include a solar-powered cell phone/laptop charging station and solar showers.

While the struggle has suffered setbacks, solidarity actions with the Vestas workers continue. Support committees around Britain hold regular meetings. At a conference on Oct. 11 of the Workers Climate Action, one workshop was held on “building a class-struggle, environmental movement after the experience of Vestas.”

The day before the police action against the encampment at the dock, one of the plant occupiers summed up the lessons of his experience. “We have been clear,” he wrote on the Save Vestas blog, “in our words and our actions, that this is our factory and our blades. There is no financial or rhetorical substitute for direct action on the Isle of Wight and elsewhere around the country. This is a live fight, with its front line in Newport. ... Our banner then said, ‘Our Blades, Our Power.’ It is still true.

“What has been most inspiring about this campaign, exemplified by the occupation of management’s offices by a group of dedicated workers—is that it is through our direct action that we will take back control of the world we live in, in order to save it.”