Cowley Warns Leyland on Pay

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With one day to go the October fund stands increase of £80.19 on last week's total.

This is still well short of our target of £600.

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Prilish oy A vi Printers (TU, LoNdon. Sisterest as a newspaper at the ost o til, London N5 1HR Lack of preparation is what marks the events in Leyland around the wage review-which is meant to be paid in every Leyland car plant on November 1!

Only in the Cowley Assembly Plant have negotiations been pressed forward and the company been forced to reply-offering nothing, not even the 5% permitted by Phase And only in the Assembly . ongbridge convenor robinson Plant have mass meetings been held on the claim. The second of these, last Thursday, saw 6,000 workers vote-with only 3 against-to give the company seven days' notice 'or else' , to come up with a serious reply to their £27 claim.

Further meeting

At the end of this seven days a further mass meeting will be held.

But throughout the rest of Leyland convenors have hoped that the company's newly offered grading scheme could be brought forward and that this would provide an escape hatch to dodge a fight on the review.

As a result many convenors have been spending two days a week negotiating at national level on next year's grading structure, while this year's review is supposed to be settled on the day we go to press.

As late as last weekend the Leyland Cars Joint Negotiating Committee and convenors were meeting in a bid to get the company to bring its "parity" payments forward to May.

Questionable

But the chances of the scheme. ever coming in must be seen as questionable.

The new structure is to be "self-financing"; the company is demanding a 12% cut in staff to pay for it; and it would only be introduced if all the gradings were accepted by everyone.

What is the situation so far on plant claims? The position reported at last Wednesday's meeting of the ad-hoc Leyland Stewards Committee for the Annual Review was as follows:

Cowley Body Plant: reply given on Thursday, of no offer. Stewards' meeting to be held, maybe on November 1.

Longbridge: stewards and members had "no information" whatever, and were being told to wait for a mass meeting on 3 November.

Rovers: no stewards' meeting, even held to formulate the claim. No mass meeting.

Jaguars: sectional meetings still being held to decide the claim-due for settlement next week!

No claim !

It is clear that some Leyland plants will not even have submitted a claim by this year's review date.

Only in the Cowley Assembly Plant has the leadership argued a principled position in relation to parity, and fought for a straight pay rise with a cost-of-living clause.* And only in Cowley has the membership been involved in preparation for a struggle to defend living standards.

John Lister 'ollowed by a showin;

of Eisenstein's "STRIKE"

Admission £1.00 Sunday 19 November 3 p.m. at New Ambassadors Hote Upper Woburn Place (1 minute from Euston Tube)

are to do better next month. Fu I*LL I would like to recei issues. I encore the Name.

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