UK facility where cutting-edge missiles are manufactured goes on STRIKE, leaving Ukraine without promised weaponry
By ethanh // 2023-07-19
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A key military facility in the United Kingdom where cutting-edge missiles were being manufactured with haste to be sent off to Ukraine has shut down after underpaid workers there decided to strike. According to reports, the workers, who earn around minimum wage – less than what the average supermarket clerk in the UK makes – have walked off the job at the Defence Equipment and Support depot in Beith, Scotland. The facility supplies Storm Shadow and Brimstone missiles that Moscow says have been used to strike civilian targets. The sudden worker walk-off has prompted British defence officials to take emergency "contingency measures" in order to keep the weapons flowing. The crux of the strike has to do with the pay gap that exists between those who assemble the weapons and those who move them. The former makes £16.82 ($22) an hour, along with bonuses and allowances, while the latter makes £38,000 ($50,000) a year. The latter's non-craft workers, however, earn just £10.42 ($13.62) an hour and receive no bonuses, which makes their annual salary just £20,500. This is below the UK's living wage of £10.90 (14.25) an hour. "Basically, the non-craft workers could earn more at Lidl at around £11 an hour," one source told the British media, Lidl being a popular European food market chain. If the strike continues for a considerable amount of time, it "could eventually have implications for missiles going to Ukraine or Faslane," the same source added. (Related: France has also promised to send long-range cruise missiles to Ukraine.)

Will Ukraine run out of weapons due to strike?

According to reports, the strike is the depot's first since its creation in 1943. Nearly all GMB union members, around 93 percent, support the strike and plan to stick with it until pay and benefits increases are offered. Strike organizer Chris Kennedy has asked Defence Secretary Ben Wallace to intervene on the strike to try to stop it, otherwise "supplies of the crucial missiles manufactured at Beith will soon run low." In other words, if workers stop working because they are not being paid enough to do their jobs, then Volodymyr Zelensky will run out of weapons to keep his deep state regime in power. Back in January, UK officials announced plans to send 600 Brimstone missiles to Ukraine. Russia insists these missiles are being used to bomb civilian targets rather than military targets. The Storm Shadow missiles the UK has been building for Ukraine are also being used by Ukraine to hit military targets. With a range of 250 km (about 155 miles), Storm Shadow missiles were fired at two civilian locations in the Russian city of Lugansk in May, injuring numerous people, including six children. "What an embarrassment for the Brits," one commenter wrote about the fiasco. "Everyone wants their cut," wrote another. "These workers are the only ones who deserve it." "What a great way for the UK to stop suppling Ukraine with weapons while saving money," wrote another, suggesting that the UK and other Western nations need to stop sending cash and weapons to Zelensky. Others noted that the timing of the strike is interesting as it coincides with the Hollywood writers and actors strikes. "Maybe they went on strike in sympathy with those other degenerates in Hollywood," one wrote. No matter how many weapons and how much cash the West dumps into Zelensky's pockets, noted another, "you won't beat Russia." "Go ahead and help dopey Zelensky and drain your funds just like the U.S., which has dirty streets and a crime rate that has gone nuts with more 'refugees' on the way from Africa and Asia." The latest news about the escalating situation in Ukraine can be found at WWIII.news. Sources for this article include: RT.com Newstarget.com
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