Printers drive back expulsions, sackings

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Immediately following the expulsion from NATSOPA of a number of strikers, management at the Usher Walker printing inks factory in East London sacked eight members of the chapel.

Management actually claimed that they had a closed shop arrangement with the union-though laboratory and office staff are non-union, and have consistently scabbed on the strike.

The speed with which the sackings followed the expulsions clearly indicates that the NATSOPA bureaucracy has collaborated with Usher Walker in trying to break the strike and wipe out a militant chapel But the strikers refused to be driven back to work under these conditions and demanded the dropping of all sackings, expulsions and threats of victimisation as well as the payment of money owed to them as the condition for a return to work.

Their NATSOPA branch committee eventually agreed to this formula and said that the expelled men would be re-admitted to the union.

The company was adamant, however, and said that it refused to rescind the sackings.

This put NATSOPA in a very difficult position. The strikers had agreed to return to work but were clearly being prevented from doing so by Usher Walker.

Either the employer had to give in or the strike be made official.

The idea of having an official strike on his hands frightened full-time official Dave Hutchinson, and by last Friday he had used some of his power to force Usher Walker to agree to every man's reinstatement.

As we go to press a chapel meeting has been arranged for Monday at which Hutchinson will speak.

If his formula for a return to work is the same one as the one proposed by the chapel earlier, then the strike will almost certainly end.

But the chapel will not accept the sort of deal which Hutchinson recently made for workers at the Coates printing inks firm.

They were owed hundreds of pounds each by their employer under a bonus scheme agreement.

When they took strike action to recover the money, Hutchinson sabotaged the fight by agreeing that Coates could pay their debts off at the rate of 50p a week for 25 years!

Whatever happens at the Usher Walker chapel meeting, management will not have withdrawn their threats of redundancies on an already undermanned site.

It is also clear that the NATSOPA bureaucrats will not hesitate in helping Usher Walker in their plans to sack workers, if they can get away with it.

Therefore the chapel should seek a written pledge from the Executive Committee of NATSOPA that no redundancies will be permitted. WONT BE John Sti PHOTO:

Manchester workers march against hospital closure. DEFEND THE DONT SPOIL CHILDR ROSEMAL

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