Steel Loss Means More Closures

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'EFIGHT BUNDFODE Please send me trial sub/six months/one year Send to: WSL, BM Box 5277, London WCIV More cuts, more closures, more redundancies. The universal message of British capitalism takes a particularly sharp form in in the year 1979-80.

Of course £200 million of that loss is the direct result of the governmont-provoked strike, which ensured that BSC actually produced no steel at all during the first quarter of 1980.

And this "loss" leaves out the huge profits made out of BSC by countless bankers, suppliers and contractors who Bill Sirs service the giant corporation.

But at the same time the sackings-thousands of scale of the losses has crashed through: the Tory cash limits and thus increased the demands on BSC management to step up still further the programme of ISTO 52,000 sackings and plant closures already undm way.

BSC's newly-imported tycoon-boss lan MacGregor has made it very i clear that yet another insulting pay offer is on workers by private exploiters. the way next winter, declaring Instead, that:

"employment costs will have to be controlled with the utmost rigour* MacGregor, has also shown signs of wanting to carry out the Boss could have been still further cutbacks in BSC's decimated South Wales operation.

Yet the response of union leaders has not in any way been or 450 workers at Quaker 450 workers at ( Oats, Southall, are on strike Oats, Southall, are on against the sacking of eight to prepare to fight closures and reduced from £545 million to £185 million. have been carried through in the But the Tory govnrnmant is industry without the slightest not interested in the wheedling, practical opposition from the grovelling and snivelling advice handed to it by union leaders They have no interest like Sirs. directing workers to the opening Thatcher and Joseph are BSC's books expose fully aware of the consequences precisely the levels of profit of their strategy in terms of lost extracted TrOM steel- jobs and wages.

The only way steelworkers can defend themselves against general secretary, claimed that if still further attacks is to join forces with worknes throuchout the strike had not taken place ind it BSC carried through a the public sector and private evaluation of its assets anc industry in all-out action to juggled with its various loans, bring down this reactionary Tory government.

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the steel industry, where last week's figures revealed a loss of £545 million by BSC

ET SOCIALIST For a clear lead in the struggle against wage control, cuts and redundancies