189 valuable local jobs at National Grid’s Newcastle
office are under threat. As part of a company review, National Grid
are threatening to close their Newcastle operation and offshore the
work to low wage economies such as India.
GMB, Unison and Unite are fighting to oppose these cuts and have
launched a campaign to keep the Newcastle operation open. This year
National Grid posted profits of almost £3bn. This is a 12% increase
on last year.
National Grid is responsible for large parts of the electricity
distribution as well as gas distribution and transmission
infrastructure in the UK. As such National Grid is set to benefit
from the huge investment the country will need to modernise the
energy infrastructure.
The sacking of the Newcastle workers is completely unnecessary
and represents the worst type of corporate greed. The fact that
National Grid could be contemplating offshoring work to low wage
economies in the midst of such a deep recession, which will make it
impossible for Newcastle workers to find comparable employment, is
nothing short of shameful.
The Newcastle workforce has played a key role in helping the
company prosper into a successful multi billion pound business. It
is time for the Company to show its workforce in Newcastle the same
loyalty and commitment that the workers have given them.
Have a look at a
recent video on YouTube showing Newcastle workers protesting at
the British Consulate in Cambridge, Massachussets.
The workers at Newcastle demand jobs and justice.
You can help by
- Emailing National Grid’s Chief Executive Steve Holliday
steven.holliday@ngrid.com (please let us know when you've done
this)
Join in with events such as our recent Day of Action on 11th
September - for more details you can view our report on the
day.
