Walk Out on Wages
Socialist Press1979 1979-01-17Read it in the scan (PDF), scan page 10 →
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A pay strike by 2,000 GMWU members at the Leeds plant of Yorkshire Imperial Metals has halted production since an overwhelming vote for action on Monday 8 January. Management had initially offered a miserable £2 per week on basic rates in response to the claim for 28%, a 35 hour week and improved holidays.
Talks with GMWU officials produced an increased offer of £3.35 on the basic rate and a further £2.50 in a productivity deal -but this was rejected by stewards.
Their objection was not a principled refusal to negotiate productivity deals, but a specific objection to the nature of the deal on offer.
Their stand was subsequently endorsed by last Monday's mass meeting vote. But in the firm's Kirkby plant on Merseyside a wafer-thin 46 majority out of a 1,000-strong workforce voted to accept a similar deal and are still working.
Leeds pickets have ensured however that no lorries have been passing in or out of the Kirkby gates, and efforts have been made to persuade the workforce to reconsider their decision.
Members of ASTMS, AUEW and UCATT in the Leeds factory are still at work-their pay reviews being negotiated separately -but are supporting the strike financially. determined move by striking social workers