The closure of the Ford's foundry at Leamington will mean that 387 more permanent jobs are to be lost in the Midlands by July this year.

The T&G's Dave Osborne blamed the workers - saying they were "being effectively bribed with enhanced payments to accept the closure of a plant". And even if he added that the T&G did not accept the closure as "inevitable or non-negotiable" workers know what his "negotiations" entail: the alternative of "changes in working practices", like longer shifts. Rightly, this "choice" was turned down 2 years ago at Leamington. And if the plant is closing today, it is only because Ford thinks it can get away with it, without losing anything.

Of course, the Leamington jobs are just the latest car industry jobs to disappear. On top of 900 jobs at Ellesmere Port, 260 jobs at TVR, 2,000 jobs at Peugeot Ryton, 6,000 at MG Rover, 1,150 at Jaguar, etc - it is a very long list. And it does not include the jobs lost at suppliers. Leamington's closure affects 175 workers at Visteon Swansea, which seems to be the only plant where workers have been organised, but at plant level, to say "no".

But not even once have the bosses been faced with a fight against any of this multitude of closures and cuts! When such a fight could have made it far too costly for them to go ahead with their plans!

In fact the union leaders talk as if their hands are tied, as if these job cuts are the result of some kind of iron economic law, against which nobody can do anything.

But since capitalism began, the only "law" which has ruled, is the greed for profits and yet more profits! This what all workers have always faced - and sometimes fought successfully, through strength of numbers and their determination.

Bosses will always seek to lower production costs, whether here, by increasing work intensity and using temporary labour, or by transferring jobs "eastwards". And in this, they are helped by the pro-business attitude of politicians, who do not wish to do anything against the bosses' profit drive.

On the other hand, however, workers are faced with the utter spinelessness of union leaders, who do not want to damage their good relations with the bosses, and do everything to avoid a confrontation.

Yet workers would have the means to stop the bosses in their tracks if they chose to do so. For the simple reason that, after all, they are the ones who produce the bosses' profits.