TWENTY THOUSAND jobs have been axed by British Leyland in the last iwo years, and now it looks as though will Cut 15,000 more, including several piant closures. A crucial test of the unions' ability to resist them is the strike by 4,000 workers at the SD1 plant at Solibull, which Wednesday 5 September.
Pat Hickey, Deputy Senior Steward for the T&GWU, to explain the issues bisno redundancies Management recently declared cutback in the production The HE HE least shared without loss of pay. tunately the meeting split fifty-fifty over this. began on Harder We asked Slump sum deepening due to fighting proresponse of the stewards was to unanimously support For the senior stewards to oppose all redundancies Unformass membership by 50 I think one reason was that many wanted to leave the company with a redundancy payment.
That's been a general pattern. The economic crisis means gets harder, and redundancy payments correspondingban, which had been imposed after ly more attractive:
The mass meeting did however decide to oppose compulsory dundancy, and only accept voluntary staff cuts in line with the programme cuts. Management are trying to go a lot further, in some areas cutting staff per cent, and the assembly systems which are maintaining the same rate of production they want 150 jobs chopped.
Under existing agreements, such cuts have to be mutually agreed but management are just going ahead They say that 'excess labour' shoukt be cut and afterwards discussions held with the unions about whether any is - Scotland, an which already replaced.
The membership know that if the mutuality agreement is thrown manggement wil iust co ahead with any cuts it wants to make, so the mass meeting voted to oppose this. only two against. two This was despite the really difficult situation where they have had less than two beginning of August due to strikes and lay-offs. The management have been engaging lay-off money and imposing tighter discipline.
Behind all this is probably their plan to restructure the company. It is likely that the SD1, which is Leyland's most modern but least efficient plant, will be earmarked to produce another model taken from another part of British Leyland. Hence management determination to impose plant director calls "Japanese levels of efficiency'.
It's vital we spread the action. Last week's mass meeting took no decision on picketing the other 2 plants. Rover Selihull. agreement also applies to them, and despite inelt producuon programme being expanded management will be looking for support in a common struggle, of SDis from the dealers or the docks.
are not prepared to be kicked around.
If we win confident that it's possible to go on redundancies and win.
pamphlet WIDGETS out Strike funds. weeks work since the number Picketing.
The mutuality speed-up and statting We have to win their and The union. compounds to The membership have shown they Negotiations.
this they will feel more against Defending picketing rights THE TUC may have rejected any Tory 'trade union reform', but it's the Tory council and the High Court to stop effective picketing They have been told that they cannot picket two council building sites at which private contractors are doing the work normally done by them. So they responded in just the same way as the dockers did when the Industrial Relations Act was used against them — they are making their picketing even more effective.
A massive show of support is requested for a 'day of action' on Wednesday 19 September. A mass picket of the two sites starts at 7am, and this is followed by a lobby of the council meeting at 6.30pm at Wandsworth Town Hall. Meanwhile the pickets are daily at: Bellamy House, Garrett Lane, SW17. Croudace, Upper Tooting Park, SWI7. HOW to win a strike is not something you are taught at school. The Oper University doesn't run any courses or the subject. Even the unions tend to concentrate on negotiations and your rights under the law.
So Rank and File has produced a called 'Going on strike' which draws on widespread experi ence of strike action. It has sections PLUTONIUM -COMPLAINT ABOUT A HEALTH HAZARD...
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joint stewards committee of Wandsworth Direct Works department which is taking the lead in action. They are fighting the attempts by the
Learning to strike