Nga Says 'no' to Elections

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The US Ford motor corporation last week embarked on a spree of borrowing from its UK and West German subsidiaries to tide over its expected $2.5 billion losses in the American market.

lord UK last ycar made a taxable profit of £386 million -£135 million of which was paid in dividends to the US parent company.

Deep slump

But with the world car market now in deep slump and even the highly profitable Ford operation hard hit by Japanese competition, workers throughout the world are being called upon to bail the employers out of their crisis.

Layoffs in the USA already total tens of thousands. In Britain short-time working and layoffs have been restricted only by a cut in Ford's import of foreign-built models into the British market.

Bút last weck management announced plans for 2,300 voluntary redundancies to slim down the British workforce: and they have • revcaled far reaching plans for speed-up and other "strings" to be attached to this year's pay review.

Ford's abrupt lurch from apparent boom-time sccurity to short time and sackings spells out the unmistakcable lesson that in this period of worldwide capitalist crisis, no firm, no job is safe from the impact of the bosses' hell-for-leather drive to maximisc profits.

In resisting the redundancies, the short-time working and the forthcoming package of strings, Ford workers must struggle to force the opening of the books of this giant firm, its bankers and suppliers, to clected trade union committes to reveal management's worldwide strategy to force workers to pay for the crisis.

The figures revealed would underline the necessity for the nationalisation of Ford, along with other British car manufacturers and supply firms, as part of a planned, socialist The demand must at the same time be raised for work sharing on full pay to defend all jobs at the employer's expense under conditions of a declining market.

Where necessary plants should occupied with Scared rigid by the experience of last year's series of one-day strikes which crac ked the vicious Engineering Employers Federation, Confed leaders last: week attempted to ensure it would never happen again.

AUEW and EETPU delegates blocked together to carry a right wing resolution calling on Confed unions to "consult their members" before calling industrial action-while the TGWU politely abstained.

The motion-passed by 1,105,999 to 774,000-does not The worki will continue influence on officials in supporting throughout force this employers.

One thing is certain: every concession now made by union leaders to Ford management will be seized upon as a sign of weakness and a green light for further attacks.

Ken Baker has gone still further in his efforts to prevent a struggle on wages-praising up the last social contract and hinting that leading burcaucrats are ready to sign another one. *".

The wage cutting social contract under the last Labour government was, in Baker's view, "a bid for sanity and cooperation in our affairs"

But for all the glee that this will provoke in the Callaghan camp, there is little sign that Baker is speaking for anybody other than himself and his fellow right wing union bureaucrats.

Indeed the Confed pay claim Ings of nature to have more the choice of the National strike action the combine-to endemand on the Graphical Association than the wishes of the union's membership.

That was the decision of the NGA conference, which threw out calls for the re election of officials every five years in order to retain the present set-up-in which they are appointed for life.

General Secretary Joe defended this, arguing officials could not serve Wade -that both the union's National and the membership!

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Democratise

At least Wade acknowledges that the National Council and the membership are at odds with eachother.

There could scarcely be a clearer case for democratisation of one of the most rigidly bureaucratised unions in the labour movement.