Don't let Chix be another Grunwick

Scan page 10

Acrow victory The 300 boilermakers and • other craftsmen employed in the construction of an oil rig at Hunterston, Ayrshire, went on strike as from Wednesday last (16 January) against the terms of the agreement under which they have been working.

The contract (the terms of which were reported in a recent issue of Socialist Press) is in the words of one of the workforce, "one of the worst agreements ever made by the Boilermakers Union."

The . striking workers have demanded that the Executive member of the Boilermakers, Murray, who concluded the deal must come up to Scotland .. and renegotiate the terms immediately.

Murray now says he will be unable to come north until 21 February. The men are no longer prepared to accept a situation where the trade union leadership treat their members with such utter contempt.

The management of the companies involved, Chicago Bridge and Ayrshire Marine, have now threatened the striking men with the loss of their jobs.

Six issues...

Three months (12 issues).

Six months (25 issues).

One year (50 issues) ..

EUROPE Six months (25 issues).

One year (50 issues) ..

REST OF THE WORLD •Six months (25 issues)..

One year (50 issues) ... They have received backing in this from Robb, the regional official of the Boilermakers' Union, who has warned that he will hold a ballot of the workforce and, if he does not get cooperation, will bring in scab Abby Courtney, the boilermakers shop steward, in an exclusive interview with Socialist Press said:

«This strike is important in that it shows that workers will not be intimidated "The employers on the site thought they could take advantage of " high unemployment in this area to foist terrible working conditions upon us, and in this they had the complete co-operation of the trade union leadership. .

"This is a fight against the union officials and their contempt for the membership.

"It is a fight for union democracy and the right of workers to decide their working conditions. The workers in dispute haye appealed to the GMWU men on the site to join them in "To ensure success in this battle the shop stewards realise that they will have to go beyond this and look for support in the broader trade union movement."

SUBSCRIPTIO A 22-week strike for the reinstatement of a plant convenor at Adamson's Containers, Stockport, has resulted in a major victory.

John Taylor, a boilermakers' steward sacked last August along. with three other stewards in a "redundancy" move by management, has been unconditionally reinstated , and the industrial relations officer who sacked him has himself been sacked.

Strikers will have their national insurance stamps and holiday entitlements paid up.

€1.80 . £3.60 . £7.00 £13.00 . £8.00 £15.00 .£9.00 £17.00 Send Park Over 100 pickets-drawn locally from Fords Langley, the Direct Works Department at Hammersmith and from Reading Trades ASSISTANTS SOBSIOISED CATESA HEE OMERALLS Chix picket line Adamsons is part of the Acrow group, and the move against Taylor was clearly linked to a concerted offensive against trade union organisation at the plant.

But a tenacious battle by the workforce-who rejected an almost complete climbdown offer by management' only a week before Christmas-has forced back the employers who at one point threaténed to close the factory.

This successful resistance to victimisation must now •set the pace for the defence of trade union organisation in BL and throughout industry.

DON'T GOLNIO For a PRESS struggle against lead in the wage control, cuts and redundancies your cheque/P.O. to list Press, 31 Dartmouth Hill, London NW5 1HR Council-joined the Chix picket line in Slough last Wednesday.

They had mobilised in res ponse to what, had been described as a "national picket" of the factory, 13 weeks into the strike there for union recognition.

94 workers, mainly Asian women, have been sacked for joining the GMWU.

Token effort

But GMWU regional official Gerry McMullen obviously sees the whole affair as a token effort.

Speaking after both scab vans had entered the plant, he declared his belief that "bringing the two sides together" to negotiate was the only way of resolving the dispute.

He did not explain how he proposes to "negotiate" around the basic issues of reinstatement and union recognition.

Rounding off the speakers was Jack Dromey, of "dead and buried" Grunwick fame. He promptly launched into yet another rendition of his "our brown brothers and sisters" speech.

But on this occasion he was challenged and asked just what he-as Secretary of the SE Region TUC and a TGWU of to support he ali strike o uo to suooort une cn suke Hecklers Hecklers attacked his role in the Garners and Grunwick sellDromey outs.

But while Dromey mobilised only himself on the "national" picket, there was also a significant absence of engineering workers from the heavily Communist Party-led Slough and West London area.

The Chix strike is an important test of the willingness of the union bureaucracy to lead a serious struggle against the employers. It must be fully supported.

Mass pickets are to be held in Slough every Wednesday at 6.30am.

More information from, and messages and donations to: M. Anwar, 271, Goodman Park, Slough:

----- pull-quotes -----

CHIS MANUFACTURIN

REFUN NO MIGHT SHIFT Site PHOTO PHOTO: Charlie Augusto, IFL

FIFIGHT BUINDFOEDA GET SOCIALIST clear