Smelter fight
Socialist Organiser1982 1982-02-11Read it in the scan (PDF), scan page 14 →
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THE six week old occupation at the Invergordon Aluminium Smelter has ended.
Workers voted on Saturday 6 February to accept the BACO redundancy payments. These will average out at about £4,500.
The workers accepted the money after union leaders left them without support and the locai Social Security refused to give them any money-telling them to ask BACO for some of the redundancy money they would be receiving!
The workers could not have continued without massive backing from the British labour movement.
They did not get this. Union 1 bureaucrats never intended to wage a real fight for jobs. The local union leaders spent their time negotiating increased redundancy payments, and organised no national tours for the Invergordon workers to rally support for the occupation. And the STUC did little or nothing to back the workers.
But even after the occupation is ended BACO needs a buyer for the Invergordon smelter otherwise its smaller smelters at Fort William and Kinlochleven will closesince the aluminium for these smelters comes through Invergordon.
Consequently BACO is allowing the Action Committee access to the plant which is remaining open on a maintenance basis.