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GMB Scotland Post on Trident

This motion that is going to STUC Congress in March.
 
TRIDENT SUCCESSOR PROGRAMME
 
Congress believes that for too long the working people of Scotland and the UK have been left to pay the price for the politically motivated mistakes of others, as evidenced by the closing of the coal mines, the eradication of large scale commercial shipbuilding and the destruction of huge parts of our manufacturing base.  Each time the result has been the same – good jobs lost, prospects for young people destroyed and entire communities laid to waste.  Time and again it has been left to trade unions to have the courage and determination to stand up and fight against such wilful destruction.
 
This Congress recognises that in reality, a failure to progress the Trident Successor Programme will have devastating consequences for trade union members and communities in Scotland, and throughout the rest of the UK.  High skilled, quality, sustainable jobs will be lost forever.  Essential capabilities in supply chains and thriving local economies will be decimated.  Prosperity and hope of a better future will fade away, replaced by low wages, zero hour contracts and a spiral into poverty.  This is not a future any self-respecting trade union should contemplate supporting for decent, hard-working people.
 
Congress rejects talk of ‘defence diversification’ as too vague.  Not a single credible, costed alternative has been tabled that would guarantee the jobs, pay and conditions of workers who will be involved in the Trident Successor Programme.
 
Congress stands shoulder to shoulder with trade union members, their families and communities in Scotland and the rest of the UK, and will campaign to protect their future by supporting the “only show in town” for tens of thousands workers in the defence manufacturing industries; the Trident successor programme.
 
GMB SCOTLAND
 

Posted: 8th February 2016

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