Shipyards jobs fight
Socialist Organiser1981 1981-09-17Read it in the scan (PDF), scan page 15 →
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Port over the winter period with the aim of reaching half-production by March, with resulting loss of 1,500 jobs at a conservative estimate.
If the night-shift is reintroducea, the Jobs coula possibly be saved by producing more Chevettes and Astras but as there is a crisis in the car market this is very doubtful.
Lay-offs are bound to become more frequent and the company is giving no guarantee for the workers' future.
So a united fight back by all Vauxhall workers The body shop at Ellesmere Lairds delegate to Confed Conference.
At a national shipbuilding lay delegates conference called by the Confed on 9 September in Blackpool, it was unanimously agreed that all yards would oppose enforced redundancies and that any attempts to close Robb Caledon, Dundee or Clark-Hawthorn, Hartlepool, against the workers' wishes would lead to national industrial action.
Unfortunately it was not spelt out what type of action would be taken, and instead it was left in the hands of the Shipbuilding Negotiating Committee of the Confed.
Their response to the last set of enforced redundancies was a national overtime ban.
Despite a lot of wriggling the Shipbuilding Negotiating Committee has not been able to make a deal with British Shipbuilders and Robb Caledon is due to close on Friday 18 September. The SNC has even lined up talks between British Shipbuilders and Kestrel Marine, a private off-shore production company, in an attempt to sell off the yard.
There should be another lay delegates conference called when the final plans are announced by British Shipbuilders, to decide on what action we take.
Fords FORD shop stewards meet in Coventry on Sunday 20 September to discuss the £20 wage claim recently formulated by the national union officials.
No campaign for this claim has yet started, and even many stewards are unfamiliar with the details of it. But the conference will be a chance to launch a campaign to build support for mass action.
Not only pay is at stake, but also jobs. The claim includes the 35 hour week, but Ford have put proposals to the TGWU for a combination of early retirement and voluntary redundancy, to cut jobs.
STEPHEN CORBISHLEY