Ford bosses fight for Japanese methods r KUDUCTIVITY Fraud DEALS A

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As in 1978 Ford workers are giving a lead on a class-wide issue "WE ARE asking women everywhere to take a day out for positive action for disarmament"

What is effectively a women's general strike against the missiles is being organised by women from Greenham through the May 24 planning committee.

By working through a network of local contacts the women are encouraging action on the following lines:

• Blockading and picketing military bases, banks, factories which support the nuclear arms industry, government offices, army recruitment centres, etc.

• Calling on trade unions to support the day, especTheir uncompromising stand makes nonsense of their own case. It is inconceivable that they would be prepared to lose over £50 million of production to date if there were not far more behind it, and of course there is.

Ford have obviously taken a policy decision in relation to the sweeping changes in working methods which Ford Europe have been trying to introduce since Bill Hayden, the vice-president of Ford Europe, visited Toyota plants in Japan, back in 1980.

He came back fired with enthusiasm by his glimpse of the methods by which the most successful ruling class in the world exploit the Japanese workers.

• He had compared the performance of Toyota in • Occupy civil emergency planning offices and demand details of/expose civil defence • Picket prisons, hospitals and schools, to make the connection between lack of public spending and the arms race • Conducted tour of towns, pointing out neglected, falling-down schools - and the nuclear bunkers • Educational displays in shopping centres.

This event is not limited to Britain. Already the conJapan with Ford in Europe and came back quoting figures to the effect that Ford Europe in 1979 produce 1.6 million cars with 124,000 workers whilst Toyota with 65,000 workers produced over 3 million.

A strategy pian was drawn up involving changes in work practices, rationalisation of production methods, and cuts in the workforce. The strategy was called the AJ programme, which means "After Japan"

Progress on the plan has been slow. Although the AJ scheme was built into a 1980-82 wage deal, they failed to implement it significantly in any of the 24 plants of Ford UK.

But Ford have now clearly taken the decision to Judi world wide.

As yet no union has declared in favour of the strike call: there is a vast amount of organising to be done in the workplaces, branches and committees to build for a stoppage.

The Labour Party nationally has not supported it, so it is vital that we pass resolutions and organise locally, calling on the Labour NEC to organise for and support the day. To leave the fight to individual trade unionists is not the first in line.

I In Ford UK this management offensive is clear enough. On January 7 Ford announced 1,360 voluntary redundancies at Halewood, with 1600 more to come. The Halewood production manager says that this is linked to new work practices which are necessary to bring the plant up to the productivity levels • they claim exist in the plant at Saarlouis in Germany where the Escort is also produced.

plan This is a useful argument since when the unions claim that all this is part of the AJ plan which has never been agreed, they argue that they are not implementing the AJ plan but simply implementMY European criteria.

It is, of course, all part of the usual tactics of playing off one plant against another, as with the often repeated threat to close Halewood down altogether.

in fact the present strike was provoked by management on the very eve of the introduction of these plans into Halewood.

Overall offensive

Seven days before the strike began, management at Halewood body plant put into the Ford disputes procedure, which provides for a 15 day status quo period before major changes can be introduced, series of radical changes in work practice. They therefore will consider that they have the right to introduce the changes eight days after the current strike comes to an end.

The present dispute is therefore very much a part of the overall company offensive. They hope that the strike will soften up the Continued p.15