Vauxhall strikers
Socialist Press1978 1978-08-05Read it in the scan (PDF), scan page 10 →
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There is no end in sight for the month-long strike by transport drivers at Vauxhall's Ellesmere Port factory, who are demanding a tonnage allowance.
The strikers are continuing their determined and effective 24-hour picket.
No new offer A meeting between Vauxhall management and TGWU national official Eric Bone led to no new offer being made, and Bone emerged threatening that the dispute could be made official.
Both District and Regional Committees of the TGWU have now recommended official backing which now depends on the General Executive Council.
Meanwhile 7,000 AUEW members not involved in the strike have been told they will be laid off if the strike is still on when they return from the holiday shutdown in three week's time.
Note to continue
pathy with the drivers voted prior to the holidays.
This bitterness was not eased by the announcement by deputy convenor Tony Woodley that appeals for support from transport drivers at , Luton and Dunstable had been rejected.
At Luton the drivers are organised in the AUEW, and feel that they have no grievance with management, while at Dunstable the drivers are still working on the original agreement, restricted to 22-ton loads.
Vauxhall management have refused to revert to this agreement in Ellesmere Port pending negotiations, and are clearly hoping to inflict a defeat on the transport drivers.
Delegation
The principled support for the drivers by the whole TGWU membership in the plant has disrupted this move, but official support is now vital to ensure the next mass meeting after the holidays votes to press ahead with the strike.
Meanwhile a delegation has been dispatched to Harwich docks to attempt to persuade dockers to black consignments of strike breaking Cavalier engines arriving from Belgium for assembly in Luton.' The failure of other plants and the AUEW at Ellesmere Port to support this strike has highlighted not only the weakness of the combine committee and the lack of a Joint Shop Stewards Committee at Ellesmere Port but a lack of principled political leadership in these sections.
Under conditions of wage control and all-round drive for speed-up by employers only the most determined sections of stewards are prepared to lead militant action on pay and conditions, while others run from any struggle, that might encourage their members to press their own demands on pay and conditions.