Masseys fight on three fronts

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AFTER previous two-day unofficial strike five weeks ago, Il women are now again striking at Kigass Engineering Ltd, Leamington, together with 30 or so women at a smaller subsidiary factory in Warwick, over the right to belong to a These small factories assemble and manufacture parts for gas cookers [Flavell, Parkinson, ete.] and also some minor component work for BL and Ford.

The women on the shop floor have all recently joined the AUEW.

Kigass has up to now refused to negotiate with them over union recognition.

No support is being given by the small number of male shop floor workers [themselves apparently unionised], and the clerical staff, who are crossing the picket lines. Management have already advertised jobs at the factory, where the very top rate paid to the women shop-floor workers is £52.10 for a 40 hour week.

Messages/money to: 10 Waverton Mews, Sydenham Estate, Leamington.

BRYAN EDMANDS A GRAPHIC demonstration of the links between the Labour Party and the trade unions can be seen in the current Massey-Ferguson occupation in Coventry.

For some three weeks the plant has been occupied in defiance of management imposition of compulsory redundancies.

Coventry South West CLP last week passed a motion of support for the occupiers and sent the same motion as an emergency resolution to the District Labour Party the following night.

Imagine the surprise of many delegates when District chairperson Bill Lapworth attempted to block any discussion of the resolution, and to stop South West CLP delegate Terry Rowlands (who is also a T&G shop steward and member of the Massey Ferguson strike committee) from addressing the meeting on the dispute.

The reason becomes obvious when you know that Lapworth is a T&G official and that the role of the local officials has been to urge the occupiers to drop their demand for no compulsory redundancies.

Fortunately, officials carrying this message to the plant have been given short shritt, and the occupiers are standing their ground. Jerry Rowlands told Socialist Organiser: "The latest trick management have pulled is to send out ballot forms to all the workforce.

"But as they seem to be based on the same computer print-out as they used for their letter calling on us ali to go back to work, it's likely that even the people who have been sacked will be asked to take part.

"I know a number of people who were sacked and then got a letter urging them to go back to work"

Inept

This rather inept approach to individual workers seems to be mirrored by the line put out by management over the transfer of orders. "They told us that the CKD contract for Brazil was being transferred to the French factory because of the dispute. In fact we got it from them in similar circumstances, and even before the dispute started the Brazilians had said they didn't want kits any more, so the whole process was being transferred to Brazil anyway.

"The French workers are Keith involved in a similar dispute to our own. They are on contract, and there is a lot of immigrant (Turkish, I think) labour there"

The company's tricks and lies extend to the issue of voluntary redundancy. Terry told us: "We've only let emergency services into the plant, but we let personnel and industrial relations in to deal with VRs. They only turned up for a couple of days, and after that they didn't bother.

"We think they've got enough VRs, but they're not the sort they want, so they won't give us any information"

Messages of support and money have come from all the major plants in the district, from NUPE,_and from the Labour Party. Even at the District Party meeting, Terry eventually got to speak, and £28 was collected. Many right-wingers were worried by Lapworth's behaviour.

As we go to press, management is hoping for a court order to remove the occupiers. The case is being heard on Wednesday afternaon following a one-week postponement.

Messages/money: Jimmy Dunn, secretary JSSC, 82 Stoke Green West, Coventry.