VETERAN Labour politician Tony Benn is expected to attend a rally at the Vestas blades factory this evening (Thursday).
He will join Bob Crow, RMT general secretary, who will be addressing the massed crowds who have been gathering outside the Newport factory in support of the 25 workers staging a sit-in over job losses.
A mass demonstration is also due to be held in St Thomas’s Square, Newport, tomorrow (Friday) at 5.30pm.
Danish company Vestas plans to make 525 Island workers redundant next week, despite rising profits. Yesterday, the company delivered food to the sit-in protestors who are calling on the government to nationalise the plant, Britain’s only wind turbine blade factory.
The demonstration, which has seen five arrests so far, has drawn support from family members, trade unions and environmental groups across the country.
Labour councillor Geoff Lumley confirmed he had spoken to Ed Miliband on Wednesday and had a sympathetic hearing from the Energy and Climate Change Secretary.
"We are endeavouring to find a way forward for this plant through alternative production methods, dipping into the £100 million the government made available to combat climate change," said Cllr Lumley.
"We had a long conversation where I put our suggestions to him. He was receptive to them but needs to seek advice."
Among suggestions were that the factory could be adapted to produce off-shore blades but Cllr Lumley predicted that nationalisation calls were not an option.
In Parliament on Tuesday, MP Andrew Turner accused Vestas of cutting jobs without a thought for its highly skilled workers.
"As I understand it, there were no negotiations with workers on the redundancy packages. I find that totally unacceptable and it reflects very poorly on a company as profitable as Vestas."
Vestas said talks at the site were continuing and would not comment.
Reporter: martinn@iwcpmail.co.uk