SHERIDAN CALLS FOR PUBLIC OWNERSHIP TO STOP SILICON GLEN BECOMING SILICON DESERT

Tommy Sheridan, Scottish Socialist Party MSP and Convenor, today called for direct involvement by the Scottish Executive to stop the de-industrialisation of Scotland. In the wake of Fullartons in Inverclyde sacking 500 and IBM transferring hundreds of workers onto inferior contracts, Sheridan warned of a “Lowland clearance” similar in cause and effect to the Highland clearances.

He said,
“A couple of hundred years ago people were sacrificed and scattered to make way for sheep in the Highlands in the name of profit. Today a similar process is underway. Ordinary people are again being sacrificed in the name of profit. This time it’s the global chief executives at Fullartons, IBM, Mitsubishi, Motorola, Via Systems and scores of others who put the profits of their dividend holders before the livelihoods of Scottish workers. It’s time to stand up for ordinary workers and stop kowtowing to the global fatcats.”

Tommy Sheridan further commented,
“IBM today announced that 700 jobs will be transferred to other employers. Scotland’s Silicon Glen is rapidly becoming a silicon desert. The jobs may be saved today but for how long, and will the workers’ wages and conditions be protected? It is time the Scottish Executive stopped wriggling out of its responsibility and developed a real economic development strategy including public ownership of companies who decide to dump their Scottish workers and transfer production abroad.”
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For more information, contact Tommy Sheridan on 07887 795075 or Hugh Kerr on 0131 348 5631/07713 063647