Shipyard fights closure

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WORKERS at Henry Robbs shipyard, Leith, occupied their yard last Friday, 27th, to stop it being closed down by British Shipbuilders.

The bosses had announced the closure of the Scottisn yard, together with Clelands eject this THE Shipbuilding Negotiating Committee (SNC) and the Confederation of Shipbuilding and Engineering Unions (Confed) have signed the first part of a 'national enabling agreement to revise working practices' with British Shipbuilders.

Ihis enabling agreement is another way for the SNC to get acceptance of British Shipbuildsurvival plan.

Some points in the agreement show the SNC's complete acceptance of British Shipbuilders' claim that shipyard workers are to blame for the state of British Shipbuilders. It includes "1.1 BS and the SNC recognise the following changes in working practices and methods will enable the industry to significantly improve its performance and competitiveness to assist BS to obtain new orders."

The agreement calls for the *'*ing up of "composite groan working" in which "there will be complete interchangeability and flexibility"

The old procedure for negotiating the introduction of new methods, equipment and systems, which meant that they could not be introduced till negotiations were complete would be thrown out of the window if this document is accepted in the yards.

BS and the SNC say that the new system will first be installed and only then argued about.

Shift systems will be introduced. "Local agreements shall be concluded which will detail (enabling agreement) operation" This is to be done by 10 February.

In the January edition of the Boilermakers' Monthly Report, Jim Murtay, secretary of the Boilermakers and chair of the SNC, writes: "I make this clear on Tyneside and the Goole yard, at the same time as they secured agreement from national union leaders on "flexible' working in + the John Waugh, finishing trades cc invenor at Leith, cea to you. If failure to agree is again recorded, either nationally or domestically, it will almost certainly end national negotiations and return the authority to individual yards to negotiate their wages and conditions separately."

The SNC have agreed nationally, but there is very little chance of local agreements being concluded.

BS are calling for 1,800 more redundancies in their campaign to get 9,000 redundancies in this financial year.

lhey propose to close Henry Robb in Leith, Clellands on the Tyne and Goole on Humberside in the next few weeks.

The Confed stewards' committee at Cammell Laird have called for the SNC to reconvene a national lay deleages' conference within a week. If this is not done then a proposal that a national shop stewards meeting be called through the stewards combine committee will be put to the combine meeting which is due to take place on 4 February.

Jimmy Murray has made it clear that if he can't sell British Shipbuilders' plan to us he doesn't want anything further to do with the negotiations. His conclusion that yard-based negotiations should take place can only play into the hands of BS and the Tory government. Calls for occupation of the yards as part of a national strike to achieve the full claim and stop the redundancies have to be taken up in all the yards, coordinated by the combine committee. The SNC have shown their support for British Shipbuilders plans. They can't be trusted with the leadership of the fight against redundancies, closures, privatisation and lousy wages has to be taken up by the stewards and brought back into the yards, away from the boardrooms of British Shipbuilders. spoke to Socialist Organiser.

"We've occupied the yard, and we're looking for all the support we can get from the labour movement.

But time is not on our side. British Shipbuilders are dangling a nice golden cares wages in redundancy offering men 30 payments, free of tax.

They've got to decide by Friday, and anyone who doesn't accept by Friday only gets his statutory minimum. That means a bloke could lose £700 or £800.

It can be very hard for a man who has been laid off for several weeks, taking home between £45 and £50, not to accept the carrot.

But the stewards are ing: hold on and fight."

You're working on a submarine which is in the yard for repair?

We've stopped working on it at the moment.

Someone phoned this morning and said he was a Mr Williamson from the Ministry of Defence. He said we were breaking the Secrets Act by allowing photographers and reporters into the yard. There could be a court case, and he was giving us a final warning.

So we stopped working on the submarine and said: Sorry, no more photographs' But the Ministry of Defence deny knowledge of any Mr Williamson in the department!

We're taking advice from our union officials.

If you re-start work on the submarine, and finish it, what do you plan to do then?

If we can finish that submarine, we'll be negotiating with the Ministry of Defence for payment for it - because we will be paying our own men their wages while they're working on it.

British Shipbuilders have ceased trading here as from last Friday, and that's why we have now occupied. That submarine is lying here about two-thirds finished, and our idea is that we will try to finish it as quickly as possible.

We want the right to finish that submarine.

What about using the submarine to put pressure on British Shipbuilders not to close the yard? What happens to the yard when the submarine is finished?

We hope that by that something will turn up.

But what if it doesn't?

By that time we'll either have a fight here or not. It's hard to judge at the present moment. Come back and ask me in three weeks' time.