Royal Ordnance workers lobby Parliament

Royal
Ordnance workers are to lobby Parliament today to call for an end to factory
closures.

Royal
Ordnance factories were privatised in 1987 and are now owned by BAE Systems.

Since
then, the Transport and General Workers’ union claim that 10,000 jobs have been
lost, six factories closed, and two more factories are at risk – Bridgwater in
Somerset, the remaining manufacturer of high explosives in Britain for the
armed forces, and Chorley in Lancashire.

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T&G
national organiser, Jack Dromey, said: "Soon only a rump of Royal Ordnance
will be left. Three hundred years of history could disappear and the capacity
to manufacture vital defence products in future will be lost unless BAE
managers and defence ministers act. The Government in particular cannot wash
its hands saying that the closure of Bridgwater is a commercial decision for
the company."

By Quentin Reade