Rob Williams, Unite convenor at the Linamar car plant in Swansea, has been re-instated following his sacking by the company last month. Rob was sacked for his record of defending members’ interests and building solidarity with the Visteon struggle.
The company’s capitulation is a huge victory for Rob and for the workers at Linamar who voted overwhelmingly for industrial action to save Rob’s job.
The threat of strike action over the victimisation, due to begin on Thursday 11 June, forced the company to back down. The workers at Linamar have succeeded where direct talks between Brian Wade of Linamar and Tony Woodley, leader of the Unite union, have failed.
Rob’s reinstatement sends out a powerful message across the labour movement that militant trade unionism, when workers refuse to accept and bow down to management tyranny by taking decisive industrial action, can succeed. The universal and eternal values of industrial solidarity and an injury to one is an injury to all have been embodied by the stance of the Linamar workers in Swansea.
