Some 50,000 workers in the area face redundancy (layoff) if the sale of Rover by BMW is finalized. The march was overwhelmingly made up of working people, as thousands of workers from the Longbridge car plant and its sister Land Rover plant were joined by others from the West Midlands and elsewhere.

A contingent of 30 workers joined the march from Ford's Dagenham plant in east London, which the auto giant has threatened to close. Fifty workers from Vauxhall cars in Ellesmere Port on Merseyside, and 25 from the Rover plant in Cowley, Oxford, were also present.

"We've got to stick together" said a Longbridge worker with 10 years at the plant. "That's why the miners and the dockers are here. They've been through it all themselves and they know."

Referring to the Rover workers, John, from Ford Dagenham, said, "If we can't support these people, who can we support? We need strong unions."

"This demonstration will help a lot," said Peter Nguien, who has been working at Longbridge for 10 years. "The more that we demonstrate, the more BMW and the government will know what we feel. We want to keep Rover open in the Midlands, and not just for ourselves. A lot of people will be affected, not only at Rover."

BMW recently concluded a deal to sell Rover to Alchemy Partners, which has made clear that redundancies would be inevitable. Land Rover is to be sold to Ford in a £2 billion deal. BMW said losses of £2 million a day and Britain's reluctance to join the common European currency were the main factors in its decision to pull out.

Natalie, a young line worker with six years at Land Rover in Solihull, said, "We're here for ourselves as well as for Longbridge. Even though Ford has bought Land Rover we're not sure of our future."

Workers' anger on the march was directed at BMW and the Labour government of Anthony Blair. Among the many homemade placards were: "BMW Betrayed Midland Workers," "BMW Bastards Mustn't Win," and "Blair don't care." A worker from Cowley Rover plant described how just three months ago Rover workers from all over the country were bused to Longbridge to see the new investment at the plant and told how this showed the company's "commitment" to the United Kingdom. "This is why everyone feels so betrayed" he said.

In 1998 Rover workers agreed to massive productivity increases demanded by BMW in return for keeping Longbridge open. These included a "Collective Working Time Flexibility" agreement that provided for employees to work up to 200 hours in excess of their standard workweek without pay, the excess hours to be banked and taken off during slack periods for the company.

"They were holding a gun to our heads," said John Clune. Nigel Robbins added, "We've been working 12-hour shifts for the past six months, and have been bused down to Cowley every day, and this is the thanks we get."

Official placards issued by the unions representing Rover workers read, "BMW No Go," "Support British Manufacturing," and "Defend British Jobs," this last one written in both English and German.

This chauvinistic stance, promoted by the union officials, was reflected in the demonstration, where a few workers carried the Union Jack and English flags. Media reports often focused on such nationalist responses, for example the Sunday Independent's front page photograph was of a homemade placard reading, "50,000 jobs to go and still Blair won't put on his British overalls."

A message of support from BMW workers in Berlin was initially booed by some demonstrators. Anthony Woodley, union negotiator for the TGWU, pointed out from the platform that "we sometimes confuse German workers with their bosses and the German government," and the message then received applause. Hans Koebrick, a worker from BMW's plant in Berlin, traveled to Birmingham. "This is a bad decision by BMW management," he said. "They don't care about destroying thousands of jobs. Although I am not directly affected, I want to show my support for Longbridge and also I could be involved in the next crisis." Another German auto worker carried a sign reading, "BMW and Rover workers unite." He said he was well received by Rover workers.

"We blame the government as much as BMW," said Nigel Robbins and Carl Lanchester, both workers at Longbridge. Robbins and Lanchester were part of a vocal group carrying a life-size effigy dressed in BMW overalls with cardboard axes and knifes stuck in its back. On the front of the head was a picture of Prime Minister Blair and on the back a picture of BMW chief Joachim Milberg. "We've got to get Blair to care," Robbins said, "and get him to stop selling Longbridge off to old granny-bashers like Moulton." This last comment refers to the attempted closure of an old peoples' home by Alchemy director Jon Moulton, in contravention of its conditions of sale.

"The government should do what happened with Renault in France," said a Longbridge worker. "They bought half of it and ran it as a going concern." He and a friend were carrying a banner saying "Rover in, Blair in, Rover out, Blair out."

"This country's a soft touch," said Stuart, a carworker from Merseyside. "There's no workers protection. It's easier to sack workers here than in Europe." TGWU general secretary William Morris warned the government that problems in the car industry were a "wake-up call," saying that rising hostility from workers will translate into electoral problems.

"The government would be shortsighted if it operates on the notion that its core voters have got nowhere to go," he said. Loud booing greeted the mention of Anthony Blair's name by a local Member of Parliament (MP) at the rally. News reports claimed 30 Labour MPs joined the march, some fearing a loss in electoral support. Nonetheless, Blair the next day ruled out government intervention to save jobs. The government insisted that it wasn't leaving workers in the lurch but saw its role as "managing transition" rather than intervening to save businesses.

The Birmingham demonstration came on the same day that Honda announced plans to cut car production at its plant near Swindon by more than 50 percent. The company said that none of the 3,100 workers would lose their jobs. They blamed slowing European demand, the strength of the pound, and weak sales in Britain for this decision.

Last month, Ford announced that it would be going down to one shift in August at its Dagenham plant, with the loss of 1,500 jobs. It threatened to close the factory altogether to reduce "unacceptable losses" and unless industrial relations and productivity were improved.

In fact, workers there walked out in a one-day strike over company racism and bullying last October for only the first time in 10 years. A survey by the Economist last year found the plant to be the most productive Ford center in Europe.

A Ford official was quoted in the Guardian newspaper as saying that Dagenham workers are "aggressive, insular and backward." Commenting on the possible closure, Nick Scheele, the head of Ford in Europe, said "In business, sometimes you just have to do what you have to do."

This new wave of redundancies in the car industry has been prepared by the car making bosses over the last few years. In 1998, Ford chief executive Alex Trotman told the Confederation of British Industry conference, "The world auto industry has over-capacity of about 40 percent. Excess capacity is the equivalent of 80 modern, high volume assembly plants sitting idle." In a clear signal of its and other car bosses plans in Europe, he added, "We are running a business in a tough sector. We have to do what is necessary."

The Birmingham march came as workers in a number of industries are facing job cuts. Closures and mass redundancies have been announced in the last months at Harland and Wolff shipyard in Belfast, Glaxo Welcome in London, and Barmac oil rigs in Nigg, Scotland. The General, Municipal, Boilermakers, and Allied Trades Union ureports that 6,000 manufacturing jobs are being lost every month in Britain.

Caroline Bellamy is a member of the TGWU at Ford Dagenham. Phil Waterhouse contributed to this article.  
 
 
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