Matthews offers £7 Health workers strike to press pay claim shop steward, PUBLIC EXPLOYEE Lawyers sabotage picketing case by Stan Plessey sit- called off by Dave FUND

Scan page 13

If longer-established groups could do likewise, we would be much better off! With £6 from Hackn ey, £5 from East London, £10 from Islington, £1.25 from a subscriber in Brentwood, and £4.50 from Middlesbrough, it was a total of £96.75 in this week's That's £479 so far this month. There are standing order contributions still to add to that total, but for sure we'll be way below the £1,000 we should have.

The £6,000 special fund will be so much wasted effort if it means a corresponding reduction in the monthly fund. Please keep the contributions coming.

Send to Socialist Organiser, 28 Middle Lane, Socialist teachers should bitter. The determination they showed has not been entirely in vain, but the blame for the destruction of yet more jobs rests squarely in the already • bloodied hands of the union bureaucrats.

It was evident for some time that there was no real desire on the part of the union officials to spread the action. Instead, they were content to take their place across the table from tho bosses, and pick up whatever crumbs were tossed over.

One of the major factors contributing lo the vote to end, the occupation was tho real fear of the workers that if they rejected the deal, agON TUESDAY 23rd workers at Massey Ferguson, Coventry, occupied their factory 'o defend jobs. TGWU shop steward Terry Rollings spoke 1o Socialist Organiser.

"The management want 425 redundancies, about one in seven of the workforce. They only got 150 voluntary redundancies, so we offered short-lime working a three or four day work in place of compulsory redundancies.

However, the manageven proposed that those who would have been solelcd for compulsory redundancies should be lid off on the guaranterd week, and payments would be funded by the rest of the workforce AS WE goto press, strikers at Bernard Matthews turkeys are due to ballot oi Wednesday morning, 24th, on a new offer from Matthews.

I.e. we would have a 40 hour week with an average reduction in pay of £12.50 a weck.

Some weeks ago, at i mass meeting, the convenors were given the right to call action if they saw fit. There was also a unanimous vote to keep the closed shop. Many feel that an attack on the closed shop is at the back of the present attack.

Yesterday the convenors called • sil-in. Today this escatated into a full-scale occupation, with 24 hour pickets, and nothing moving in or out.

lomorrow there SSEU meeting 10 rati this action"

The offer, made on fridav 18th, is a £7 pay increase - more than the £5.67 previous offer; but nowhere near the workers' 15 per cent claim. The A FEW months ago we had group in Durham. Now there there, and in this week's post ions towards our monthly fund.

post.

London N8. workers get £48 to take-home pay for a hour week.

The strikers' union, the NUAAW, merges with the TGWU at the beginning of no Socialist Organiser are twelve supporters we got £70 contributApril. The power of the TGWU should have been easily able to defeat Matthews. But the union is making no recommendation on the £7 offer. not prove that the stewards were victimised for trade union activity it certainly did prove that such tribunals in which the only things that count are legal niceties and knowing how to address the tribunal chairperson. cannot be relied on to defend trade union rights.

Donations are still required to help Abie Courtney pay off i fine of £100 recently imposed on him for picketing during the strike. Send donations to: Campaign in Defence of the Right to Picket, c/o Courtney, 72, Tallant Rd., Drumchapel, Glasgow. Cheques to be made payable to Campaign in Defence of the Right to Picket.