Pay victory at ICL

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THE FIGHT BLINDFOLD!

PRESS struggle against wage control, cuts and redundancies SPECIAL OFFER If you the coupc Please sen Name ..

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Send to NW5 1HJ After four weeks of 24-hour mass picketing, striking workers at Winsford's biggest factory • International Computers Ltd. have voted overwhelmingly to return to work with strike leaders claiming a major victory.

The strike by 900 members of the Engineering and Electrical unions has ¡ET SOCIALIST produced the biggest climbdown by an employer in the 15-year history of Winsford's giant industrial estate. 15% I.C.L. bosses conceded what amounts to the full 15% increase demanded.

The employers' offer, thinly disguised as being within the 'norm' of recent pay awards, was 9% backdated to January, plus an 10 ISSUES POST FREE! would like to take advantage of this 1 below. 1 me 10 copies of Socialist Press. I enc mouth

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For a clear lead in the immediate payment of £200 to each striker (being the total amount they would have received over 12 months had the employers paid the extra 6%).

After the deal had been accepted, a Joint Shop Stewards Committee statement said:

,"This is a victory for us, especially for those who stood outside the factory gates on the picket line and produced this new deal.

"This is the best pay increase we have ever achieved and amounts to near enough our original claim of 15%"

The strike-unofficial throughout-was led by strike leaders who clearly felt and reflected the determination and combativity of their members, who picketed under the most atrocious weather conditions possible.

This offensive spirit contrasted sharply with the snivelling "We personally support you but the union doesn't" attitude of the fulltime officials.

This strike was a victory not only over the employers but also over union bureaucracy.

There is considerable merriment amongst the workers who are still speculating as to which way the government representatives voted on the board of directors in view of the 20% government share in I.C.L. ment about the future of the 1,200 workers laid off)-and improved redundancy payments for those claiming voluntary redundancy under the Employment Protection Act.

The threat of an all-out strike if no statement was made was enough to force the company to promise such a statement on April 11th.

Further meeting At a mass meeting held last Friday. AUEW Convenor Duncan Simpson reported that while the shop stewards committee' had decided that the company promise of a statement on April 11th had led them to withdraw the strike threat, there would be another meeting in two weeks' time at which a resolution would be put to adopt an all-out strike policy should there be compulsory redundancies.

It was clear from Simpson's report that the Convenors fear further job loss regardless of the Simpson