On Monday well over 300 workers from the Rolls Royce engineering plant in Bristol gathered outside the gates in Solidarity with shop steward Jerry Hicks. Jerry had been suspended since the previous Wednesday over claims by the management that he had encouraged unofficial strike action at the plant. His work place (the test section) has been out on unofficial strike action since his suspension.

The mood on Monday was angry and defiant. Jerry’s disciplinary hearing was supposed to start at 8.30 with a verdict being given shortly after. Clearly spooked by the size of the demo outside management drew the proceedings out, a process that dragged even longer as Jerry and his legal team systematically destroyed every argument and accusation that they produced. Jerry’s co-workers defiantly stood in the rain waiting for a verdict while management procrastinated inside. At the end of the day no decision was reached and the story was the same for Tuesday. Finally today at the end of the day it was announced that Jerry had been sacked. The official reasons will be given shortly. The unofficial one is that Jerry was a consistent thorn in the side of bosses at Rolls Royce and they are desperate to get shot of him.

Ironically on today’s Channel 4 News there was a piece about a recently published government report about why some companies fail while others succeed. The example of a glowing success story was none other than Rolls Royce engineering with its listening proactive management and it’s highly motivated workforce. This will look ridiculous tomorrow when those ‘highly motivated’ workers walk out on unofficial strike action in support of their steward. Unlike other work places the jobs done at this plant are highly skilled and pretty much unique to the plant. Scab labour is just not an option for the bosses. Other depots in cities around the UK are set to be balloted for solidarity action……watch this space.