Leonardo aerospace workers’ strike action

Text of a Socialist Party Scotland leaflet

Over 3,000 Leonardo aerospace workers are taking strike action in Edinburgh, Yeovil, Basildon, Newcastle and Luton. Socialist Party Scotland gives full solidarity to this walkout which follows the defence company refused to improve its pay offer.

3.2% is simply not enough to deal with the rising cost of living crisis. The bosses have the money, with profits rising in the defence industry as in the whole economy with energy companies who have just put bills up again making profits of £30 billion this year. In 2024, Leonardo had revenues of nearly 18 billion euros and profits of over 1.5 billion euros.

As Unite national officer for aerospace Rhys McCarthy said. “Leonardo make literally billions in profits but are trying to short-change our members whose skills and expertise they rely on. This simply isn’t acceptable, and they will be making their voices heard next month when taking strike action that will see Leonardo’s factories grind to a halt. They need to come back to the negotiating table with an improved offer.”

There is a rise of militarised conflict internationally. The Starmer governments talks of increased emphasis and spending on defence, therefore battles between the employers and defence workers and their trade unions are coming.

These multinational companies want to make the maximum profit out of new military hardware and technology while exploiting a skilled workforce.

Workers and Unite in BAE systems in Lancashire are being taken to court this week by the bosses to try and prevent a democratic mandate for strike action again over a poor pay offer.

Unite and the trade unions in the sector should seek to coordinate convenors and shop stewards to plan action for pay rises that meet the cost of living and fight for better terms and conditions. This strike and other actions by defence workers will also get the support and attention of anti-war activists.

Leonardo is based in Italy, where September and October saw inspiring general strike action by the trade unions in ports, docks and railways to prevent support for the Israeli war machine. Again, the trade unions could coordinate rep’s meetings, the STUC and TUC should show a lead, or those union leaderships that are willing to defend workers who take action against war and arms shipments.

Socialist Party Scotland stands for a worker, trade union-led transition in the defence and fossil fuels industries. This would be based on socialist nationalisation that would utilise the highly skilled workforce for socially useful production and technology development.

Workers must be guaranteed jobs, and better terms and conditions, as well as safety. Ultimately this must be linked to a wider socialist transformation of society. By bringing the top 150 banks, big industry and major infrastructure into democratic working-class control and public ownership.

A political alternative for workers

The enthusiasm for the Your Party announcement by Jeremy Corbyn and Zarah Sultana in July was echoed by tens of thousands in Scotland. The battle is on now to build “Your Party” into a the mass working class party that is urgently needed.

One vital task in this is mobilising a wide socialist and working class election challenge in the upcoming Holyrood elections.

The Scottish Trade Unionist and Socialist Coalition and Socialist Party Scotland are working with others to build as wide a socialist challenge as possible. Our preference is to do so as part of Your Party.

Socialist Party Scotland is calling on Your Party to register a name and prepare to mount a major election challenge.

By basing itself on socialist policies and a fighting appeal to the working class as a whole, it would be possible – given the acute political vacuum that exists – to win the election of a number of MSPs committed to leading a struggle against all cuts and who’ll fight for the interests of the working class in Scotland.

Our trade union activists have also initiated calls from Glasgow City Unison for sitting councillors who have now joined your party to discuss with the trade unions about proposing no cuts budgets.

If the enthusiasm for a political alternative can be married to building a mass socialist force, with the 600,000 trade union members in Scotland at its heart, then the tide can be turned in favour of the working class, and against all those who wield austerity as a weapon and attack public services while big business and the super-rich cash in.

That, in turn, would open the door to the overcoming of racism and division by a united working class and socialist movement.

Reports from the first days of strike action

Over 3,000 Leonardo aerospace workers in Unite the Union are striking at sites around the UK, in Edinburgh, Yeovil, Basildon, Newcastle and Luton.

The workers are demanding a fair pay increase from a company that made 18 billion euros last year, with profits over 1.5 billion euros. Leonardo is one of the biggest defence companies in the world, yet it offered its workers just 3.2%. Workers have rejected the latest offer of 3.6%. Socialist Party members visited picket lines in solidarity.

Eleanor Donne reports from Basildon. “Pickets told us that this is the first strike at the company for 40 years. No one on the picket line had ever been on strike before! One picket told us: ‘We just want a decent pay rise. What we are being offered is a pay cut. The company can afford it. Their profits are up and the top directors got a 31% rise.’ We brought solidarity from Essex Socialist Party, and Basildon and Thurrock Trades Council.”

Tom Baldwin adds from Yeovil: “The pickets were all in good spirits and thought very few members were going in”. From visiting the picket line at Luton, Helen Kerr reports “an upbeat and positive picket, with most people entering the site taking a leaflet from the strikers”.

Jimmy Haddow reports that the first day of the strike in Edinburgh involved as many as 200 workers in rolling numbers from 5am to 12pm. “The picket covered all the entrances into two sites. The pickets made a point of stopping vehicles and goods going in and talking to the drivers, and vehicles were turning around, to great cheers from the pickets. Non-union workers who arrived for work were signed up to Unite and did not go in. All the pickets I spoke to said it was their first strike.”