Four hundred shop stewards representing every Rover plant in Britain met today in the West Midlands to decide their strategy for resisting the decision by German transnational BMW to dispose of the company.

Amidst a chorus of calls for Rover to be nationalised, the meeting at the Gaydon training centre unanimously agreed the following resolution:

“The Trade Unions oppose the break up of the company, which will result in plant closures and the loss of tens of thousands of jobs.

“This Rover Group shop stewards meeting endorses the JNC position of mounting a campaign of opposition to bring about an alternative solution. ”

According to official union figures, BMW’s planned sale would cause 9,500 redundancies within Rover itself, with a knock-on effect reaching 50,000 in total. The axe would fall on 2,500 at Longbridge, 1,500 at Swindon, 2,000 in the Power and Train (also at Longbridge), 2,000 at the Gaydon Training Centre, 1,000 in Warwick, and 500 at Cowley.

Other union sources reckon Longbridge losses, excluding the Power & Train, would exceed 2,500 as vehicle sales dry up.

The stewards’ overriding perspective was to preserve the entire company as an entity, against the prospect of plant vs. plant mayhem if parts are sold off separately. Today’s unanimous vote shows that Land Rover (Solihull), Cowley and Swindon are in the fight along with Longbridge.

Land Rover stewards recognise that the prospect of a Ford takeover would not in fact safeguard their jobs. Ford already say it would become the world’s biggest 4 x 4 producer. This inevitably means economies of scale and therefore redundancies.

Nor can Cowley be certain of the new Mini if Rover is split, with the Sunday Times reporting it would be built in Germany. In any case, BMW’s secrecy inspires little trust in any promises.

T&G national negotiator Tony Woodley told the stewards a national campaign to save Rover is still feasible as neither of BMW’s sell-offs – to Alchemy and Ford – have yet been signed. “None of them are done deals,” Woodley told the meeting. There would appear to be a window of around 6 weeks before the deals go through.

The Joint Negotiating Committee met on Monday and their position, endorsed by the stewards today, includes the possibility of nationalisation as a last resort. Tony Woodley told the stewards that if attempts to reverse the BMW decision fail and another buyer cannot be found to keep the company together, the Government would have the responsibility to nationalise Rover.

Steward after steward developed this theme from the floor.

The form of the campaign is not yet clear but is likely to include mass demonstrations in the West Midlands, as well as delegations to Germany to meet BMW management. Whether or not the stewards intend to take their campaign to the BMW workforce in Germany is unknown.

One steward called for an occupation of Longbridge to prevent the break-up of the plant, but the idea was not pursued.

Readers in the auto sector internationally are urged to contact the Longbridge stewards and lend their support.