Eco-pioneers in the 1970s: how aerospace workers tried to save their jobs – and the planet
by Rob Walker from on (#40SJ7)
A new documentary recalls the extraordinary but largely forgotten Lucas Plan, which saw British workers attempt to make wind turbines instead of weapons
It was 1974. A new Labour government had come to power on the promise of defence cuts. Swingeing job losses were soon to follow. Desperate workers at one Birmingham factory - Lucas Aerospace - fought to save their livelihoods, not by downing tools but by transforming from weapons-makers into one of Britain's first eco-manufacturers, with early designs for wind turbines and hybrid cars.
The extraordinary story of what became known as the "Lucas Plan" is now being told in a documentary, The Plan that Came from the Bottom Up, that screens for the first time this week at the BFI London film festival.
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