GMB Connect Magazine December 2017 December 2017 | Page 16

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The GMB and Unite memberships have
presently taken two days of Strike Action
against Arriva Buses who are insisting that
they cannot improve the present pay offer
put to their employees after several months
of negotiations.
Donald Trump’s US Administration in aggressive stance against Northern Ireland workers is the tip of
iceberg for Europe, says GMB union. GMB, the union for Bombardier workers, has sent an urgent
delegation to Brussels to demand action from the EU on Bombardier.
The Joint Memberships’ response has been
to inform the Company that they will now be extending the Strike action to take in this Monday 30th
October 2017 and Monday 6th, 13th, 20th and 27th November 2017.
Bombardier was hit with punitive tariffs of around 300% by US President Donald Trump’s administration
after a complaint from multi-billion rival firm Boeing that it has engaged in anti-competitive practices over its
new C series planes was upheld.
There are more than 4,500 workers at the Bombardier site in Belfast - with around 1,000 workers who work
directly on the C Series planes. The threat of further job losses as a result of the uncertainty risks having a
‘domino effect’ on the Northern Ireland economy.
During a series of meetings with MEPs and European Commission trade officials, GMB discussed how to
tackle the aggressive US trade policy head on. The GMB warned that attacks on Bombardier today will be
attacks on other industries across Europe, if this action by the US is allowed to go unchallenged by EU.
The GMB Delegation met with very high ranking officials within the European Commission for Trade and
Leopold Rubinacci, Director for Trade Defence promised to work with the GMB going forward and promised
that Bombardier was high on his and the EU’s agenda.
The GMB delegation expressed their disappointment and bewilderment at the silence and perceived lack of
activity from the UK’s Conservative Government and Mr Rubinacci promised to raise this matter with the UK
Government.
Whilst the Company is continually trying to s plit the depots with offers which give different increases
in pay rates and threats of closure at other depots, the resolve of the joint membership is growing
stronger with each day of Strike Action.
The Company, who prior to the dispute questioned the resolve of the Joint membership if they had to
take two day Strike Action, must now be regretting the stupidity of those comments.
The Company has apologised to the public for the removal of the service whilst the Strike Action
is in place, and so they should, as it is their negligence in the negotiations which has caused their
employees to take Strike Action.
Many of the public appreciate and understand the reasons for the dispute, and hopefully at further
meetings taking place between the Company, the GMB and Unite on Thursday, Arriva will show
they understand also by proposing an acceptable increase in the hourly rate of pay for all our joint
membership.
Eddie Parker, GMB Organiser, Contact Regional Office, 0151 727 0077 if you are a member involved
During the visit, the GMB Delegation met with MEPs from Labour, UUP and DUP parties and Labour’s Jude
Kirton-Darling and David Martin raised the Bombardier issue on the floor of the European Parliament in a
debate on Trade, at which the GMB were in attendance.
The delegation made a great number of contacts over the trip who have offered their support in our
#backbombardier campaign and special thanks has to go to Georg von Harrach who arranged for media
coverage of our visit which culminated in ITV news covering our trip and the story going out across Northern
Ireland on primetime TV news at 6pm and 10pm on Thursday 9th November.
Alan Malcolm, GMB Senior Steward at Bombardier stated the visit had been a huge success. He felt
the support given to the Bombardier workers by the European Commission would be welcomed by
his members and the workforce in general and he is looking forward to continuing the good working
relationships that the GMB have made this week, in the coming months ahead.
The access to all parts of the European Parliament and Commission was made possible by the GMB’s
European Officer Kathleen Walker-Shaw who opened a lot of doors to very influential people. The
delegation would like to thank Kathleen for all her hard work.
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