Follow example of steel strike

Scan page 10

Last Wednesday, 21st, Vauxhall's Luton and Dunstable factories struck, and about 1,000 car workers rallied in London to call for import controls. At the rally, addressed by Michael Foot, Terry Duffy, Ken Gill, and Clive Jenkins, Socialist Organ. iser supporters distributed a leaflet - 'Support BL workers, not import controls'. Gerry Byrne explains the issues. MOST B.L. workers are men - though hundreds of women work in the sewing rooms and as drivers, and increasingly women are coming onto the track, especially at Rover Solihull.

The involvement of women who are wives, mothers, or sisters of male BL workers will also be important if the strike is to win. During the steel strike, women steelworkers and steelworkers' wives were an important part of the teel firms in Stocksbridge.

They demanded to be ed two of themselves to go to the strike HQ and coordinate the women pickets' activities.

They produced a newsletter for women strikers and wives, sisters and mothers of steelworkers, to keep them informed of what was going on.

Important

important in preventing the isolation and alienation which could have affected women left out of the activities of the strikers.

• Equals Similar organisation will be important in the BL strike.

We need to organise local committees to bring the wives and sisters and mothers together with ponse to several British moves: the change in Stock Exchange regulations which Malaysia feels is tantamount to Britain changing the rules of the game once developing countries have learnt to play: the increase in overseas student fees; and pressure to renegotiate the MultiFibre Arrangement to limit Malaysian textile imports women BL workers. " Women's Fightback IS producing a leaflet to explain why women must be involved in the strike, actively, as equals.

As a steelworker's wife said during the steel strike, "I'm in thie tn win tha TTT T strike, not just and giving 'support' into the UK.

The boycott will hit defence contracts, hydroelectric and power plants and telecommunications. The estimated cost is {230 million in lost exports.

Indonesia responded to unilateral controls on their textile imports to Britain with a moratorium on now orders to British firms. This puts £500 million worth of British exports in peril Hong Kong, angry at the Nationality Bill, which will affect 3 million of its Chinese citizens, is also considering similar action. That's another £500 million in the balance.

if economically the import controls argument is disastrous. the political effect is even worse. A Labour government committed to implementing even a half-way radical programme of industrial reconstruction would be asking workers in declining industries to identity their interests with those of their British bosses at a time when it would have to be moving against those same bosses to obtain the resources to implement its programme. And not only in Britain.

Internationally, it would mean lining up with other imperialist powers to maintain their grip on the market, while at the same time calling for a break with its military wing, NATO, set up precisely to sateguard those imperialist interests.

With such a contradictory policy, something will have to give and the unfortunate conclusion one can draw from their public utterance is that most of the 'Left' supporters of import controls will opt for workers' interests to go out the window.

TTY AA ATTA making tea womanly Jo Thwaites WAGES DEPT Wh our Parties, and unemployed workers' groups. Unemploy. ed workers can be organised to help with picketing and collecting money.

* If there's no BL plant in the area, pickets of BL showrooms can help show support for the strike.

TGWU and AUEW

----- pull-quotes -----

PLAY LEADING ROLE answer in import

38% Saul at you