Vestas wind turbine factory occupied!! Save jobs! Save the planet!

[mutley]

'Are they just huge great big whopping turbines?'

I don't know about what this particular operation makes, but wind turbines are a case of big is beautiful. If you double the diameter you get 4 times the power output. Little ones on peoples houses are a bit of a waste of time really. Huge fuckers out at sea is what you want.

Great news that they got food in, i was worried this thing was gonna get starved out quite soon.

 

[nadia]

the blades they make are huge. You really don't appreciate how big they are until you see them up close. They come into Southampton on one of two barges called bladerunner 1 and bladerunner2

 

[AnnO'Neemus]

Press release from occupiers

Send your complaints, personal abuse, 419 scams and hardcore pornography to [email protected]

And to repeat this on page two for any spambots that missed it the first time round:

[email protected] [email protected] [email protected] [email protected] [email protected] [email protected] [email protected] [email protected] [email protected] [email protected] [email protected] [email protected] [email protected] [email protected] [email protected]

 

[Fedayn]

A nearly sympathetic article on Channel 4 News tonight.

 

[Oxpecker]

In a speech this evening at Congress House Bob Crow, General Secretary of the RMT, promised to charter a helicopter to airlift food in to the occupying workers at Vestas. This follows attempts by the owners, security guards and police to blockade the factory to stop supporters getting in food.

Good old Bob

 

[durruti02]

^^^

 

[DownwardDog]

In a speech this evening at Congress House Bob Crow, General Secretary of the RMT, promised to charter a helicopter to airlift food in to the occupying workers at Vestas. This follows attempts by the owners, security guards and police to blockade the factory to stop supporters getting in food.

Good old Bob

You can't land on private property without permission from the owner. You also just can't throw shit out of a helicopter. Either one will get the operator in grave trouble and possibly AOC threatening trouble with the CAA.

The solution is obvious.

 

[Oxpecker]

It doesn't need to land - and as far as I know there isn't an air exclusion zone around the IoW. You just hover above and winch down the beer and sarnies.

Though how that fits in with the campaign's green credentials I don't know

 

[rikwakefield]

two barges called bladerunner 1 and bladerunner2

 

[Bakunin]

It doesn't need to land - and as far as I know there isn't an air exclusion zone around the IoW. You just hover above and winch down the beer and sarnies.

Though how that fits in with the campaign's green credentials I don't know

Doesn't the question of an air exclusion zone depend on how near they'd fly to either Parkhurst or Albany? I recall a couple of cases of prisoners being lifted from jails by chopper before now.

 

[Das Uberdog]

That's audacious!

 

[tar1984]

Ah they got food in, excellent.

 

[belboid]

What Union are these workers part of? Ill be sending a cheque and raising awareness in my work place. Good luck many are with you

they're in Unite. Dont send a cheque to them tho, they want the occupation to stop so they can hold negotiations with management! wankers.

 

[Fedayn]

VESTAS OCCUPATION – RALLY TONIGHT



Offshore energy union RMT will this evening fly a plane with messages of
support for the Vestas occupation over the factory as Bob Crow and other
supporters of the fight for jobs and green energy mass outside the gates for a
rally in solidarity with the Vestas workforce at 6pm.



RMT and other trade unionists today managed to get some supplies of food and
drink into the occupation. RMT have been working on contingency plans to drop
food in by helicopter if necessary to ensure that the Vestas workers are not
starved into submission and have called upon the wider trade union movement to
ensure that supplies are maintained.



Bob Crow, RMT general secretary, said:



“The Vestas workforce are in the front line of the fight for jobs and the
environment and RMT are calling for the maximum effort from all quarters to
make sure that these brave men and women are not starved into submission.



“The government cannot sit on the sidelines. They have a duty to intervene.
If they can take the banks into public ownership then there’s no reason at
all why they can’t nationalise Vestas.”



Further information:

Geoff Martin

07818 513 435

 

[Udo Erasmus]

Ed Milliband speaks (crap, but nevertheless significant that he felt pressure to make a statement)
http://www.guardian.co.uk/environment/cif-green/2009/jul/23/ed-miliband-vestas-wind-power

 

[teuchter]

So what would happen if they were nationalised?

Where would they get the orders from?

 

[belboid]

so, we can get statements from Miliband, Bob Crow, Caroline Lucas, but from Derek Simpson......

actually, considering what shite he normally comes out with, it's probably a good thing he's saying nowt.

 

[DownwardDog]

So what would happen if they were nationalised?

Where would they get the orders from?

They only make the blades for Vestas turbines so presumably nobody. They'd have to be retooled to make new systems that didn't infringe Vestas' intellectual property.

 

[AnnO'Neemus]

...Alongside this, we will invest £120m in offshore wind manufacturing and £60m in the marine industry. This is an active industrial strategy designed to create low carbon jobs throughout the country...

Is any of that actually new money to help resolve this situation and save jobs? Or is it just a restating of previously budgeted and promised monies? They have a good track record with the latter, not so good with the former.

 

[butchersapron]

The larger point of this is that green capitalism is subject to the same exact pressures as other capital. -and will act accordingly. There's no escape that route.

 

[In Bloom]

Response from the six fingered filth:

Thank you for your e-mail in relation to the recent events at the Vestas Factory on the Isle of Wight.

In order to deal with your concerns in the most appropriate way, could you please confirm if you have at any point been present at the factory during the protest and witnessed the police presence, or have you become aware of the events through media coverage and/or internet research? Providing this information will allow the Professional Standards Department to make an assessment on the information you have provided and ensure that the appropriate course of action is taken.

Please could you confirm the above via e-mail to the Professional Standards Department mailbox.


Yours sincerely


Professional Standards Department
Hampshire Constabulary
West Hill
Winchester
SO22 5DB

[email protected]

No chance

 

[In Bloom]

They only make the blades for Vestas turbines so presumably nobody. They'd have to be retooled to make new systems that didn't infringe Vestas' intellectual property.

Oh aye, complicated and unique intellectual property like fucking windmill blades

 

[moon23]

intellectual property is theft. If the workers know how to make a turbine and have at thier disposial the tools to make a turbine then they have the knowledge, knowledge is universal and free to everyone

 

[teuchter]

Well, they have at their disposal the tools to make blades for Vesta turbines.

 

[chainsaw cat]

Oh aye, complicated and unique intellectual property like fucking windmill blades

You'd be surprised. These things matter and are very technical.

Not windy miller. 20 tonnes +/- and crucial to the business in many ways.

For instance, each blade change costs around half a million quid in material, crane hire, insurance and down time. So to make the blades both long lasting and also future proof is vital.

Noise is a big issue for planners (largely a red herring but there you go). The interplay between noise reduction technology, efficiency, planning gain and reliability is very important.

Ice throw. Again, if you can demonstrate that ice will not end up killing people nearby, you gain and gain.

Safety. Can the blades be inspected safely? Can they be inspected less often, thus endangering fewer people? Can the hollow areas be made climbable without undue weight gain?

Pitch control. How to make the blades efficient over a wider range of sweep angles, whilst addressing all of the above. Aerodynamicists are now cutting edge in this industry, not aerospace.

That's without looking at materials technology, production techniques or end of life green issues.

 

[teuchter]

Chainsaw cat says it like it is.

 

[chainsaw cat]

Yes I do.

But now I'm going to bed.

I'll try not to wake you when I creep in later.

 

[rioted]

Chainsaw cat says it like it is.

Like what is? That intellectual property is something to be revered? Fuck off.

Or have I missed the point?

 

[teuchter]

Like what is? That intellectual property is something to be revered? Fuck off.

Or have I missed the point?

I think he has chosen not to comment on political/philosophical matters.

He has explained why the knowledge involved in designing and manufacturing wind turbine blades is indeed complicated and unique, contrary to what was implied a few posts earlier.

This has some relevance to the political questions of what should be done about the situation, and what the suggested long-term plan of action is of those who are striking / supporting the strikers.

 

[chainsaw cat]

Aye. Thanks Teuchter, I may let you live now.

I was not and am not going into the issues around the strike.

The big issue in this industry, for me, is that the UK and Ireland are uniquely well placed in Europe to benefit from wind power, the govt. proclaims this technology and yet NOT ONE SINGLE FIRM involved in any meaningful way is native.

There is a huge scandal there. We will be exporting utilities revenue for a generation, along with manufacturing jobs.

Crazy.