The GWU said today that while it agreed that it would take a major, collective and genuine all round effort to save the dockyard, it could not agree to a restructuring which would fragment the enterprise, giving away the most profitable areas or reducing the workforce while bringing in other workers with inferior conditions.

The union was reacting to a report in The Sunday Times which said the dockyard’s future is looking bleak and its fate will be discussed by the Cabinet shortly.

The union said it had updated its own published plan on the future of the dockyard. It had also reviewed the Appledore Report (drawn up at the time of the Labour government) which the government was supposed to have built upon.

The union said it agreed that the taxpayer should be consulted on the shipyard, and it was therefore insisting that its financial details should be published. Among other matters, the union was insisting on publication of the contract details of a recently completed major ship conversion contract which had caused much of the shipyard’s recent losses.

The GWU said the most immediate step in the restructuring process should be the appointment of an executive management which enjoyed all round respect and which was ready to work with the workers by giving them all information they required and should rightfully know.

The union said that while the shipyard’s problems were real, it would do its best to protect the workers’ rights. It was ready to work with the government for the best solutions to be found for the sustainability of the shipyard.