[TWO OF THE biggest fights to save jobs…]

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TWO OF THE biggest fights to save jobs are taking place in Bathgate. BL workers have been chucked out of their occupation by the courts, but they're still fighting. And 200 women workers at Plesseys have occupied their factory to save their jobs. GERARD FIZTPATRICK; from Stoneyburn, close to Bathgate, told us what Bathgate and the whole of West Lothian would be like if these two workplaces were to close.

AT THE moment there is one in four unemployed in Bathgate, that's not counting the + number there'll be when Plessey and BLare shut. There'll be more redundancies at Queen Anne Distillery, in Newbridge, nearby.

When most of the mines closed down about 20 years ago, the workers moved to BL and Plessey and Cameron Iron Works in Livingston. If BL and Plessey close, there's nowhere else to go for work.

It used to be that you' could go to Livingston (Make it in Livingston...), but that's no use now as all the jobs there have been taken by the overflow unemployed from Glasgow.

Already shops are closing down because of the recession and there'll be more. They redeveloped the centre of Bathgate in the '70s to create a big shopping centre for the whole of West Lothian.

Tremember the last big strike at BL vaguely, 1 was quite young at school. And the town centre was almost like a ghost town, many shops had closed. But people came back that time.

There' s been a lot oif solidarity with the strikes. Generally people tend to be rather narrow about supporting strikes, but this time the support from the local area has been good, with other factories in West Lothian visiting the Plessey sit-in. A nice little touch, I thought, was when one shop in Bathgate gave the women a colour telly for the occupation.

Added to the lack of jobs, there's cutbacks in community centres as well. That'll mean there will be even fewer facilities for the huge numbers of unemployed.

Thère are six secondary schools in West Lothian and one FE college, so come the summer unemployment in West Lothian will be astronomical.

Fighting for jobs can't be won by one particular group of workers. We all need to. get together to fight the Tories. SO support for the Plessey women is really important.

Donations and messages of support should be sent to the treasurer. Mary Murphy, 30 Main Street, Fauldhouse. West Lothian. Money is vers important as no-one has had any moner coming in since January 15th