1gg pickel beats back bosses
Socialist Organiser1983 1983-09-08Read it in the scan (PDF), scan page 15 →
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THE AGGRESSIVE mass pick- tiable' 24 conditions they had eting by 2,100 striking oil plat- insisted upon as a basis for a reform workers has forced retreats turn to work: the sacrificed by management at Highland clauses were those specifying Fabricators in Nigg Bay, the right to sack at will, clocking Scotland. in, and shop steward repreopen the yard using the scab points were the imposition of labour of 1,600 selectively 're- economic' bus fares, and suffiEven management's own conditions to secure an unaniat Carousel!
On August 31, management sentation. ahandoned their attempt to reemployed' workers.
claums indicatea that only 400 ot _ 1_ •- 1 - 711 the 1600 they wanted had signed up to return to work, while a 300-strong mass picket walked up and down outside the yard, outnumbering a squad of 116 police.
Management cancelled the buses that bring workers into the yard, and waited for London talks with national union officials on the Friday.There, they climbed down on their sacking of all 2,100 men, and on three of the 'non-negoNEW initiatives are necessary if the Carousel dispute in Glasgow -a fight for better working conditions, union recognition, and reinstatement - is not to end up as a drawn-out war of attrition.
Last Saturday (September 3) 30 tins of flour were delivered by Car's to the factory at six o'clock in the morning, thereby avoiding the pickets. This is enough for several months' work.
Saccomando, the factory's owner, has also had Dynorod and his own employees busy cleaning up the factory, both inside and outside, in order to counter the threat of it being closed down for breaking health regulations.
The scabs have clearly decided whose side they're on. Even when the weekly mass pickets of up to 100 people is being held, the fools choose to ignore the picket line and carry on working.
with the summer now over, the demand for the ice-cream confectionary produced by the factory has obviously dropped. And with this, also, has dropped Saccomando's vulnerability to picketing.
But among the remaining 21 cient further attacks on working mous vote for rejection at a mass meeting on Monday.
A confident meeting shouted 'rubbish' as frightened union officials tried to argue that the company might seriously intend to carry out its threatened closure of the yard.
The action - which has boldly defied Tory anti-union laws - is an example to the workers' movement across the country: the strength of the shop floor has limited officials ability to deliver a sell-out settlement.
Saccomando himselt is now visibly more confident. For a fortnight after he knocked down 2 pickets in a car, he kept his head down.. But with a full supply of flour again, and the pickets facing worsening weather conditions, Saccomando is again in a more buoyant mood.
Seven weeks on into the dispute, the pickets remain solid in their determination to win. While prolonged picketing of the factory, possibly over a period of months, could bring the strikers victory, a better chance of victory is offered by a more aggressive short-term strategy.
The strikers' own union, the T&G, in particular needs to step up its support. Although the