Socials Ist Bl: Edwardes Puts the B

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Following the announcement that the secret ballot of British Leyland workers had produced the planned result, the immediate response of BL chairman Michael Edwardes was to stick the boot in.

Only hours after gloating at his success, Edwardes was announcing the pay offer that is to be the next step in his war on jobs and working conditions.

The message to workers is plain. Give BL an inch, and they will take a yard.

Strengthened by the ballot result, Edwardes let out an immediate war cry.

Warning managers whą, might shrink from coming struggles, and witch-hunting militants who will be forced to sa fight in defence of hard-won rights, an exultant Edwardes declared:

"If any manager, any shop steward or any employee doesn't like the heat in the kitchen, now is a good time to get out"

•"This has shown that the shop stewards are a militant minority and that the loyalty of the labour force lies with the management."

Edwardes, who had himself had a vote in the ballot, waxed eloquent on the virtues of the secret balloi technique in which, he claimed, employees "vote privately in their own homes"

Propaganda machine Of course in reality it is at home that workers are most subjected to the Tory propaganda machine-the press, the mass media, and the economic pressures of the family.

re It is in "their own homes" that workers are forced to respond as individuals, and not as part of a class in struggle for its rights.

Even so, it is hard to understand the staggering 80% return on a postal ballot, and the sheer size of Edwardes' majority.

What is known however, is that for the first time the ballot forms carried no identifying number, and were printed and sent out exclusively by management.

Many ex-BL workers received forms: some employees received up to five. And every manager, supervisor and foreman could be counted on to return a Yes vote.

Now, to ram home his determination to witch-hunt militants, Edwardes has sent a Cont'd page 11, col. 4 THE PRIVACY OF