March Caroneste strikers

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SOME 350 people demonstrated through the East End of Glasgow on Saturday 5 November in support of the sacked Carousel strikers, now in the sixteenth week of their fight for union recognition, reinstatement and better working conditions.

The demonstration - the first labour movement demonstration to be held in the East End of Glasgow for nearly 40 years -had been called by the strikers in conjunction with the TGWU (the union which they joined) and had been built for with the distribution of 40,000 leaflets and the flyposting of nearly 2,000 posters.

Banners

Led by the Monktonhal miners' pipe band and then the Carousel strikers themselves, the march had contingents behind seven union banners, two joint shop stewards committee banners, the Glasgow Trades Council banner, and also five Labour Party banners, mostly from local branches and CLPs.

At the closing rally the union speakers and local Labour MP called for support for the strike, both financially and on the weekly mass pickets: Carousel, it was said, exemplified Thatcherite Britain: rock bottom wages, lousy working conditions, attacks on trade union rights, and instant dismissal for fighting back.

David Marshall, the local MP, pledged to get an early day motion in the Commons this Tuesday relating the situation at Carousel to the latest round of Tory anti-union legislation, being discussed that day.

The demonstration was a lot smaller than might have been legitimately expected, given the publicity it had received throughout the union and Labour Party branches, and also the support merited by the Carousel workers after 16 weeks on strike.

Deadlock

And, in itself, the demonstration could not of course answer the basic problems confronting the strike: how to break out of the present deadlock and find a lever whereby the necessary pressure can be exerted on the factory owner to force him to back down.

Even so, the staging of the demonstration was an important and welcome step forward in maintaining support for the strikers, and must be followed up by implementing the call made at the closing rally for people to join the mass pickets and renewed efforts to build financial support.

3022273 407-2 RICK MATTHEWS, IFL lift digest A 1,200-strong mass meeting of production workers at Michelin's Stoke-on-Trent plant voted at the weekend to reject an ultimatum to accept seven-day shift working. The scheme, supported by local and national TGWU officials including the works convenor, is similar to the one that management tried: to impose in the summer provoking a month long strike.

A profit-sharing bonus scheme, unprecedented in any nationalised industry, is being introduced by British Airways for all its UK staff. Its purpose is to hold down wage settlements, and to boost 'motivation' and productivity.

A decision made after negotiations between Sir Rex Hunt