[NINETY-NINE redundancies have been announced at the Ferranti…]

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NINETY-NINE redundancies have been announced at the Ferranti Measurements plant at Hollinwood, near Oldham.

The decision has really been made by Siemens AG, the West German electronics colossus that has a 51% holding in the Hollinwood complex. And this comes after 130 jobs were chopped last year.

Doubtless, Siemens reasons for job cuts will be 'contracting markets and falling profits' Interestingly, SiemensFerranti's decision comes soon after the publication of a United States Congress Report ('The International Electrical Association: A Continuing Cartel') that discloses how leading UK and West German electronics companies have been involved in defrauding Third World governments of up to £250 million a year through overpricing goods by 40 per cent. Needless to say, Siemens and Ferranti are leading forces in the cartel: indeed, up to 1977, as far as we know, Sebastian Ferranti and Hans Schmid (Siemens) sat on the IEA General Council.

The report reveals, "IEA members have signed agreements among themselves that stipulate, among other things, the terms of sale for electrical equipment, mechanisms for arranging meetings in advance of tenders, guidelines for coming to price nixing agreements, and procedures for allocating orders among members. Also provisions are made for successful tenderers to compensate losers with cash payments - exchanges that amount to millions of dollars annually"

And the cartel agreements stipulate that financial measures will be taken against non-cartel companies that charge 'fair prices' for the same tenders.

So what have they been doing with all this money?

One answer is, building new factories - like the one Siemens are erecting next to the Hollinwood plant, The convenor, Mick McAuley, believes this may foreshadow a complete takeover of the company by Siemens.

What's more, in the late 1960s Ferranti were receiving a 40 per cent per annum return on invest. ment, and if you combine this with the £700 million a year that Siemens spends on Research and Development alone it's clear these companies are simply using the recession as an excuse to impose job cuts.

However, neither Siemens nor Ferranti can be accused of being liberal with their cash as far as Hollinwood is concerned. A chargehand, recently retired, informed the convenor that his dad had served his time on the present machines in the plant!

In the present recession we see both the devastation of truly bankrupt companies, and profitable companies (like Ferranti and Siemens) using the recession as an opportunity to internally restructure' and 'cut costs' in preparation for exploiting future economic upswings.

Taking their cue from Laurence Scotts, the Ferranti stewards are prepared to fight the redundancies. The promise of financial support has been obtained from other Ferranti plants in the north west, and the Siemens management's sackings have been met with a clear response 'Nein to the Ninety-nine!'