BRITISH LEYLAND nanagement is on an all-out offensive to ram through speedup and undermine militant stewards organisation. That's the lesson behind the victimisation of four shop stewards at Cowley (see page 4). Now at Longbridge things have taken an even more sinister turn.
In face of the refusal of seven toolsetters' stewards to order their 200 striking men back to work. sevand management has said that the whole of the 18,000 strong workforce will remain locked out. But the ground for this blatant piece of intimidation has been laid by the works we communist farty convenor Derek Robinson!
With the plant paralysed by four separate disputes involving technicians, toolsetters, rectifiers and maintenance engineers-the latter denied their traditional right of work-sharing during lay-offs-the works committee called a meeting for the plant's 6-700 stewards on Monday morning. A series of recommendations were put.
anen essence was contamed mamne first clause, pledging shop stewards not to take unofficial strike action or to impose any unofficial sanctions or impede continuous production in any way till the procedure has been exhausted'. This is backed up by a section in paragraph two that reads: "Any action by any group acceptable to our organisation."
By posing the issue as one of confidence, and claiming that Jones and Scanlon had personally intervened to warn oj THE FIFTEENTH WEEK of the Trico equal pay strike began with heavy rainbut the pickets were cheerful. They had just learned that the Goods Inwards Department had been flooded. and plumbers refused to come out on the bank holiday weekend, leaving materials there to rust. This Department previously refused to handle the goods brought in by the convoys, and lell containers to rot in we yard. And by the end of the week, still no sign of the plumbers....
Tuesday 31 August was an eventful day for the strike. A mass picket had been called. though hampered by being so close to the bank holiday, and a mass meeting of strikers was held. Despite the Tribunal decision against their claim, which could have demoralised the women, the turn-out was good and morale high. The District Secretary reported that an article had been submitted to the Amalgamated Union of Engineering Workers journal or the strike, and a member of the Strike Committee described a visit to Glasgow a threatened withdrawal of Government funds, the works committee were able to steamroller their proposal through the 560-strong meeting with only three ag ainst.
Leyland management promptly levelled their guns at the heads of the toolsetters stewards.
Longbridge is the biggest car plant still fully "participating. But even management are cynical about its use. They recently bypassed the participation committee in Unit 2 with instructions on big changes that are to occur there, including a switch-over from the Allegro to the Mini in one of the plants. The workers' representatives responded by walking out of the committee, despite the pleas of the works committee that they return.
The latter's message to Unit 2 workers is simple: if the management won't help us, we must barucipate on our own.
There is little doubt that the present offensive in Leyland is being co-ordinated al me mignest lever. Unrortunately te workers response is not.
At Cowley, right-wing senior steward Reg Parsons leads the witch-hunt against fellow stewards. At Longbridge, the Communist Party itself, wedded to participation, helps to load the company's gun.
ane potenna cost or mis abject couadoration-the jobs of tens of thousands of will be asked to attend, and delegates to both the South-East Region TUC and the TUC Congress will be raising the question of support for the strike. The suggestion put forward by the Working Women's Charter delegates for a recall meeting to continue co-oramadon or support for me strike was accepted in principle, but a date set for three weeks time.
The onus of organising the demonstration has been left on the shoulders of the overburdened Strike Committee and District Committee, who have not as yet decued or a date. Thus a meeting which