Miners must ioin BL CONVENORS CALL PAY STRIKE pay fig

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it's vote from to The last few months have seen the Tory press labouring to convince workers that they should abandon their pay demands in the face of the growing recession.

But although one or two sections of workers-particularly in engineering-have settled for pay increases below 10%, there is no sign of a stampede towards such a position.

Indeed last week brought a sharp reminder that it is in fact the bureaucratic leaders of the unions rather than the rank and file who are most eager to respond to the employers' pleas of bankruptcy.

A delegate meeting of GMWU engineering workers voted to throw out a pay offer from the Engineering Employers Federation which had been accepted by not only GMWU national negotiators but also by all 17 unions in the Confederation of Shipbuilding. and Engineering Unions.

The GMWU, of course, is very much a minority union in the Confed. And the right wing leaders of the AUEW-the biggest single union involvedseem likely to succeed in steering the sell out 8% offer through their National Committee meeting this week.

Pressure But clear from the GMWU that there iS pressure the shop floor for action defend living standards.

A hefty pay claim has also. been tabled by representatives of water workers who last year secured a settlement of nearly 20%.

But it's in the miners' union where the contradiction between the spinelessness of the right wing leaders and the demands of the rank and file has emerged most clearly.

The NCB's response to the NUM's 35% pay claim was to declare that there was no cash available to pay a wage increase in excess of 10%.

Right wing NUM President Joe Gormley, who'd gone into the talks making loud noises about not being able to sell "to the lads" any settlement less than the rise in the cost of living emerged like a pricked balloon declaring limply that the NUM "had to be realistic"

Not challenged This position was not challenged by the Communist Party. Scottish NUM leader Mick McGahey gave tacit support to Gormley's retreat when he stressed that there is " a long way to go yet" in the talks before anyone "fires the starting UNION DUES gun" for action.

But at the weekend Yorkshire NUM President Arthur Scargill in a rare public attack on Gormley echoed what must be the view of tens of thousands of miners:

"The Coal Board have told us nothing new and have merely reiterated the familiar sob story which they have been giving us for the last ten years.

I warn the Coal Board that we are not prepared to be fobbed off... Failure to concede the miners' claim will result in industrial action."

Gormley's job

Scargill himself has of course made militant noises in recent years-only to back down from a struggle at a crucial point. Nor is his attack on Gormley unrelated to his campaign to win Gormley's job when he retires shortly.

But Scargill is right to challenge Gormley's acceptance "The Prince of Wales gave BL's mini Metro the royal seal of approval yesterday when he drove one around the company's Longbridge factory in Birmingham . . . He said: "No one abroad is going to sit around waiting for us to sort ourselves out."

The Times Prince Charles has this embarrassing problem-one that even his best friends can't help him with.

As he goes about the world on his important business dressed as a rear admiral or a national hunt jockey, he is often called on for special favours.

Real demands

Taken aside after opening a trade fair for chemical warfare of shaking the hand of some geriatric despot, his hosts begin to press their real demands:

"Hey, Charlie, I've been waiting three months for my bullet proof XJ12 and my Range Rover ashtrays are full.

AT THE of the problems of the NCB as a starting point for pay talks. It is important that this fight is pressed home and that the miners as they did against the Heath government, once more offer a lead to the working class as a whole in the struggle against a vicious Tory offensive.

Starting point

The starting point in the pay struggle must be not the inevitable financial difficulties of a crisis-ridden capitalist system, but the necessity to defend and improve the living standards of the working class.

This can best be fought for through the demand for a sliding scale of wages which links pay increases regularly to the rising levels of inflation as assessed by committees of trade unionists and housewives. Can you put in a good word for me?"

The steady gaze of the heir to the throne begins to waver. A cold sweat breaks out on his back. His hands grow clammy and unshakeable.

How is this man who ranks ahove Cnd in the arder or reremonies; who has Dukes walk backwards before him; whose polo ponies have their own franchise in horse shit; ... how is he to explain the dreadful truth about BL?

Mother "It's those bastard unions" he mutters wishing he was home with mother.

"They won't let my sodding car out of the factories. Last week they built the first Range Rover for a year. They used it to drive home in at the end of their shift. We are still negotiating to get it back."

"Even my family have to be pulled around by corgies.

As royal tour after royal tour ends in disaster the prince is growing desperate. Will no-one rid him of these humiliating experiences?

(BLOODY SCARGILL-WHO DOES HE THINK A SHOUTS HIS MOUTH OFF AT THE DROP OF A AND THEN LEAVES ME, HONESi JOE GOI TO PACIFY THE BLASTED HEMBERS EVERY TIME!

YOU CERTAINLY STRIKE A HARD BARGAIN, O'FISHALL (JUST WRITE İT!

PAY OFFICE I SILENCE PLEASE meetings in every BL plant this Thursday with a recommendation for strike action against the company's 6.8% pay offer.

A recall meeting of convenors next Monday will assess the results and if (as expected) there is strong support, will name the day for the start of all-out strike action.

Attempts by right wing convenors from Rover and Jaguar plants to argue for a ballot on the issue were defeated after a prolonged debate.

This unaccustomed show of militancy from the convenors is a further sign of the mounting pressure from the shop floor as workers demand their union leaders act to defend their living standards.

This pressure has penetrated even to the bureaucratised layers of the JNC whose initial recommendation that the convenors reject the offer set the But one brave knight rallies to the throne.

Sir Michael Edwardes who has spent two years on a crusade throwing intide workers out of the royal factories begins, in the attic of his castle, to design a new car.

Dinky toys

Working secretly at night after a hard day in the barracks, Sir Michael painstakingly assembles the new wonder-armed only with dinky toy models of French and Japanese hatchbacks.

After two weeks work his new model is unveiled. BL designers gaze at it appreciatingly. "And when the bonnet is opened" , says Sir Michael "It plays Land of Hope and Glory".

The designers make a few minor suggestions. Wheels, an engine; gears. Soon the i new cars are flooding off the robotised production lines ...

... Meanwhile in the offices of the Daily Mail things are about to change.

The editor is in conference with his star reporter. 'What news today! he asks, staring (WHAT'S ALL THIS DAMNED NOISE IN THE CORRIDOR, GORMLEY- ARE YOU TRYING TO TELL ME SOMETHING? side the Engineering Employers Federation, and the BL unions now therefore no longer nominally under the umbrella of the Confed., the JNC is the highest negotiating body in BL.

Its rejection of the "final offer" and the endorsement of this stand by the convents means that strike action is imminent.

The reservations in the statement from IGWU Cars official Grenville Hawley, reflect trepidation among the bureaucracy that now-all of a sudden-BL unions stand on the verge of major action.

But there are no signs that the membership wants to retreat.

A mass meeting of workers at the Cowley Assembly Plant two weeks ago voted unanimously to throw out the company's original 6.1% offer.

And shop stewards from the TGWU and AUEW in the Assembly Plant have since taken up the fight for the course of action that has now been anxiously into the gin flecked iris of his chief hack, who is filling in his third expense form of the evening.

"Great news" replies the LLM 1• hack, throwing his latest effort into the waste bin and searching for inspiration.

"Do you know what those day shift workers do at nights? They go to sleep in the same beds as their wives. I can see it now on page 1. 'Sex on the BL night shift"

But even as the editor is about to throw his arms around his faithful newshound the tele4 A LU LAIN LVIN phone rings. Minutes later still standing to attention the editor issues his orders. "Out of my office, ratface. Your story stinks. Send in the motoring correspondent."

Pint of Fleet Street is unanimous. Britain has been saved. 'Round the world on one pint of petrol' screams one headline. 'Best since the Spitfire' says another. 'Huns rocked by Metro perfection' ', a third. 'Nips commit hari-kari at motor show' The motoring correspondent • WELL I CAN SHOUT AS WELL!..

I'LL SHOW HIM!

IT'S JUST THAT IN THE LIGHT OF TODAY'S ECONOMIC CLIMATE, EVERYTHIN E CONSIDERED,!

THINK YoUR 9% SILENCE OFFER IS MORE THAN GENEROUS SIR! 5% in 1979. The present offer of 6.8% means that their total increase in three years is less than 17%-the present rate of inflation.

Active support

Meanwhile, since last Autumn alone, the average weekly cost of living for workers on £75-£100 per week is estimated to have risen by £26.

These are the forces that have driven forward the fight for action in BL and make it difficult for the bureaucrats to sell the Edwardes offer.

Should Thursday's mass meetings in fact vote for action BL workers will at once find themselves in the front ranks of the struggle against the Thatcher In their fight they will need and must demand the fullest active support from the whole labour and trade union movement. of the Daily Telegraph was hanged for treason after saying that the car showed a tendency to rattle at speed.

One Metro was rumoured to have run out of petrol but a D notice stopped the gossip.

Ordered to vote Industrial relations changed overnight. At last the Tories realised the benefits of participation. All over Britain workers were dragged into management meetings and ordered to vote on the names of the next model of washing machine or machine tool. Several workers were jailed for obscenity.

•. Meanwhile in the dictatorship of South Tyranny Prince Charles beamed affably as Sandhurst trained General Torture slipped him a fiver and asked for early delivery on a Daimler. "I've something much better than that" , he said, unveiling the Metro with a flourish.

The General looked at its sleek aerodynamic lines, its Union Jack glistened in the tropical sun. His lips quivered. His eyes flashed. At last he spoke: "You swine," he said. ""This means war!"

I SAID 35%, AND I MEAN 35% - GOT IT?!

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