Enterprise zone prompts sackings

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ANOTHER company in the North West announced redundancies earlier this week, but this time their plans will be met with industrial action.

Ken Cotterill, the convenor at Ward and Goldstones in Pendleton, Salford, said that shop stewards will be putting forward a plan of action at a mass meeting on Friday 19th March to fight any enforced redundancies.

So far the company has given news that 286 jobs 1 11 plants in Salford will be lost but it is feared that more redundancies are on the way.

'Sales Slump'

Management has blamed a slump in sales and an increase in operating costs, but considering that all their plants are making profits and that dividends paid out to shareholders last year were the highest for a long time, their reason doesn't seem to carry any validity.

The demanning of the St, London. 6.30pm metting for MPs at House of Commons (room 10) - chaired by Ernie Roberts MP.

Thursday March 25 - meetings in the London area. Friday March 26. 7.30. Meeting at McLellan Galleries, Sauchiehall St, Glasgow. Chair: a representative of the STUC. Also meetings in Glasgow, Edinburgh and London.

Saturday March 27, 2pm. Public meeting at The Pleasance, 60 The Pleasance, Edinburgh. Chair: Secretary of Edinburgh Trades Councit. Speakers include Gavin Strang MP.

Monday March 29. Meetings in the Manchester area. Tuesday March 30. 7.30. Public meeting, Bridge Hotel Newcastle upon Tyne. 7.30. Public meeting, Trades Club, Leeds. Also other meetings in Leeds and Newcastle areas.

Wednesday March 31. 7.30. Public meeting, Oxford Town Hall. 7.30. Public meeting. AUEM House Fumiral Gate plants in Salford seems to have more to do with Ward and Goldstone's proposed move into the nearby Trafford Park Enterprise Zone where firms are guaranteed rate-free sites.

So it seems that the Enterprise Zones are not so much for creating new jobs or helping ailing industry as for boosting company profits and enabling job cuts elsewhere. All three plants facing redundancies and other plants nearby have full order books.

MARY JOHNSTON Public meeting, Transport House, Islington, Liverpool, 7pm. Sponsored by Kirk. dale CLP, TGWU 6/612, and Tuebrook ward LP. Thursday April 1. 7pm. Public meeting. TUC, Congress House, Gt Russell St, London WC1. 7.30. Public meeting, Wesley Hall, Cambridge.

MEETINGS AND FORUMS Socialist Organiser delegate meeting. Sunday March 21, 11am to 5pm, in Birminghan - ring John Bloxam, 01-609 3071, for details.

NORTH-WEST LONDON. Manday Anril 12: Fundraising social to com ate the Easter Rising. Details from SO sellers.

SHEFFIELD: Every other Wednesday, at the Brown Cow, The Wicker. Business Mar.31: Women and the labour movement.

ISLINGTON. 7.30 Fridays. Upstairs room in canine.

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