[The eleventh-hour decision by British Leyland to at…]

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The eleventh-hour decision by British Leyland to at Lambrate, near Milan, is a stay of execution, not a reprieve. Leyland management offered only a two-week delay in carrying out their plans to cut the labour force by one third or, failing this, to shut the plant entirely.

In this time government ministers will discuss with unions and officials of the state finance corporation for industry their plans to employ the 1,500 men Leyland have declared 'surplus to requirements in unused plants in the Milan area - possibly making spare parts for cars. But government proposals - so far not officially made public - undoubtedly accept Leyland's plans to sack one man in three.

The Stalinist-led metalworkers' and engineers' union for the Milan area has threatened - under mass pressure - to call an occupation of the Innocenti plant if management press ahead with their intention With the official rise in the Retail Price Index still over 25% and government borrowing steadily increasing, the Labour government is preparing for a major confrontation on wages next year.

The government's £6 state wage laws have held so far only because of the support of the TUC who claim the laws are "voluntary" and represent the only way to control inflation.

To cement their alliance with the TU has now dreamed up a policy of selective price controls. She is asking manufacturers to limit price rises on selected goods to give formal notice of redundancies or closure.

But they put forward no sort of fighting policy. The provincial secretary of the union, Rino Cavaglioli, complained last week he had not been invited to the last minute talks between management and 'left' Christian Democratic labour minister Donat Cattin. and repeated the demand that the possibility of turning the plant to quite different sorts of production - such as office furniture - should be more seriously studied.

At no point, though, have union leaders raised the question of nationalisation. What makes government and management hesitate is not the union leaders, but the considerable support in the north of Italy for the Innocenti workers.

The three hundred thousand engineers in the Milan area have already pledged 2-3 hours pay a month to support an occupation against the sackings. With Fiat also cutting 12-24 days work in the immediate future for tens of the struggle at Innocenti is seen as a test case. included in the price index to 5% between February and July 1976.

Firms who have to cut profit margins on some products are to be allowed compensatory rises on other goods. This proposal has only one purpose - to fiddle the Retail Price Index so as to give the union leaders an argument for their acceptance of state legislated wage cuts.

It shows the importance of fighting for a sliding scale of wages administered by committees of trade unionists and housewives which can guarantee that wages keep up with the cost of living It is vital that this index be worked out by independent working class bodies and not by government departments

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postpone the closure of their 4,500 man Innocenti car plant

thousands of workers in truck, coach and industrial vehicle plants,