PLEASE FEEL FREE TO EMAIL YOUR SUPPORT LETTERS TO THE EMAIL LINK ON THE LEFT, THANKS

    
         
   


   
         
   

great campaign, please help answer why isle of wight grp blades skills are worth it, thanksit

    
   
the skills there being important etc rather than shutting it down & using nongrp, especially when grp is now recyceable etc.
Composite carbon blades I hear are now what is needed for the larger wind turbines & it seems Vestas think they can use this as an excuse to shut down the isle of wight factory & relocate to countries with cheaper labour like china.
Can anyone with the technical knowledge please answer this question, as I & people I know who erect & service turbineshave been initially put off this camaign with propaganda that the isle of wight factory is a total dinosaur
    
   
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    Hi Comrades,

Here’s my two best pictures from this evening’s ‘Victory to the Vestas Workers Occupation’ Solidarity Demonstration at the Department of Energy and Climate Change, No 3 Whitehall Place, London. They’ll feature in a Pix-&-Vidz Action Report I’ll file at Indymedias London, UK & Climate, but you can do what you will with them in advance of my publishing them in those places.

Also available online, inc. Pix-&-Vidz:
• It's “Money Where Mouth Is” time for UK Wind Turbine Manufacturing
• An Open Letter to the UK Secretary of State for Energy and Climate Change, Ed Miliband MP
» http://dalinian.pbworks.com/It%27s-%E2%80%9CMoney-Where-Mouth-Is%E2%80%9D-time-for-UK-Wind-Turbine-Manufacturing

Onwards to victory,

In Solidarity,

Tim Dalinian Jones   x  x
    
   
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Resistance, an Australia-wide socialist youth organisation, sends greetings and solidarity to the workers occupying the Vestas plant on the Isle of Wight and join the calls of protest against Vestas’ decision to close down the wind turbine factory.

This decision is clearly a case of corporate greed being placed ahead of the needs of workers, the community, and the environment on which we all depend. As companies and governments around the world state that action on climate change can only come at the expense of the economy, this decision highlights that what is meant by the economy is profits for the corporate elite. This green industry has provided hundreds of jobs for the people of the Isle of Wight and supported thousands more indirectly and we need to open more factories like it, not close them down, to make a safe climate future possible. 


Resistance supports calls for Gordon Brown’s Labour government to step in and nationalise the Vestas factory. The twin crises the world now faces – the economic crisis and the ecological crisis – both have their roots in the greedy exploitation and profiteering of the free market. What is clearly needed is massive government investment in renewable energy, supporting green jobs and beginning the transition to a low-carbon economy. 


Resistance support the demands of the workers and calls for immediate trade union recognition, nationalisation of the factory under the control of the workers, and making the plant a building block for a green energy revolution. We add our support to the trade unions, fellow workers and general public who have rallied to save the workers and save the planet.

   
   
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Radiation Free Lakeland backs wind turbine workers Tuesday, 21 July 2009 Get Noticed Online 21st July 2009 http://www.getnoticedonline.co.uk/news/general-news/radiation-free-lakeland-backs-wind-turbine-workers.html

Radiation Free Lakeland have sent a message of support to Vestas workers on the proposed closure of the only company in the UK to be producing wind turbines.

Marianne Birkby, spokeswoman for RFL said: “The closure would signal the real truth behind "The Energy Coast" which is that the nuclear industry has recently told the government that it must choose between new renewables or new nuclear.

“Nuclear advocates are worried that the growth of renewables will render nuclear redundant and have said that "there will be too much energy going into the grid" if renewables are not dramatically scaled back.

“Far from being the saviour of planet Earth it was nuclear power that first blew a hole in the ozone layer. The internal combustion engine has done much to trash the environment but is well and truly trumped by nuclear power at the top of the polluting industrial food chain.

“Apart from the huge energy and fresh water use long after electricity production has ceased, nuclear power releases greenhouse gases much more powerful than carbon dioxide - such as the ozone-depleting chloro- and hydro-fluorocarbons as well as sulphur hexafluoride.

“Radioactive Carbon is also released by the nuclear industry.”

Workers staged an occupation of one of Britain's only wind turbine factories last night to protest against the imminent closure of the plant and the loss of hundreds of jobs.

The Guardian reports today that about 25 workers entered the administration block of the Vestas Wind Systems factory in Newport, Isle of Wight, and vowed to remain there until the government discusses their proposal to save it from closure by nationalising the plant.

In April the Danish firm announced that the factory, which employs 525 people, as well as another in Southampton, employing 100 people, would close because of a lack of demand.

Vestas, which is the world's biggest wind energy group and recently reported a quarterly sales rise of 59%, up to €1.1bn (£0.95bn), cited a slowdown in demand when it announced the closure of the factory. It blamed a number of factors including the weakness of the pound and "a lack of political initiatives".

Vestas chief executive Ditlev Engel said that building wind turbines in Britain was "extremely time-consuming and extremely complicated". He
added: "In the UK nimbyism is a huge challenge."

A worker inside the factory, who gave his name only as Michael, hit out at what he claimed were double standards in the government's approach to low-carbon industries.

He said: "It's crazy for Ed Miliband [the environment secretary] to be making statement after statement about green energy and green jobs and at the same time this factory is being closed."

"It would be tiny step financially to keep this factory open, but it would be a huge statement about the government's commitment to the green economy. Just as they could not afford to let the banks fail, they can't afford to let this fail. It's about the history of humanity."

Several police officers gathered outside the factory last night but told the protesters they do not intend to force them out. "This is a peaceful protest," Michael said. "We got enough supplies to last a while ... as long as you like crisps."

A spokesman for the Campaign Against Climate Change pressure group said:
"We give the workers our full support. The government should take over the plant and restart production and if there currently is not enough demand for wind turbines, then it should build more wind farms itself."

Get Noticed Online 21st July 2009
http://www.getnoticedonline.co.uk/news/general-news/radiation-free-lakeland-backs-wind-turbine-workers.html