Strike Mon with Fords. Break Phase 4!

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The walkout by thousands of Fords workers that greeted the company's 5% Phase 4 pay offer last week has vividly demonstrated the explosive hostility within the working class to a further round of wage controls.

It also indicates the strength that all workers have felt after the defeat of moves by the AUEW bureaucracy to expel the 32 striking toolmakers at SU Carburettors.

The strike movement in Fords began with 100 toolmakers in Halewood. But it rapidly swept through production workers and into other plants-to the point of complete closure by Monday.

Disrupted

The power of it has completely disrupted the carefully laid plans of TGWU and other union bureaucrats to stall on action during weeks of futile talks.

TGWU National Organiser. Ron Todd, the new chairman of the union negotiators, emerged from the first meeting with management declaring that the 5% offer was "only the start of negotiations" and that there were "weeks to go failure at wary of course members officials quickly control.

They recognise declare official, yet".

But within hours of his statement 2,500 workers at Halewood and 500 at Southampton had registered a very different view of the matter by walking out.

Regain control

Fearing that they could be swept aside by this upsurge of shop floor resentment. and-after Duffy's sU Carburettorstaking the usual of instructing back to work, the had to move n a bid to regain decided to the inevitable, and for immediate, strike action to torce Foras to increase tneir 1 _ 1 a 11 AL offer above 5%-even though the existing agreement does not expire for another month!

Widespread And, seeing the imminent prospect of widespread action against the pay limits, and hoping to force a quick settlement at Fords, TGWU General Secretary Evans went one further, and offered full union backing to 'any group of members' standing out against Phase 4.

The Government response has been to threaten the employer with sanctions PROFIT <46 BACKE