Fighting unemployment in

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Although ' this provides a jebs leit in Coventry. paign the problem is that the pool their resources for a joint organisation of the committee fight. The various policy stateat present has been left with ments already adopted provide the officials who show no inten= the basis for a real struggle tion of letting it see the light of against the Tory attacks. day. The first step must be to What each of these ensure that Coventry has a big campaigns reflects is the grow- turnout on the Liverpool ing anger in the city over unem- demonstration.

\ new Social Security Acts figures by announcing over 900 redundancies at their Stoke Engine Plant.

While there has been no success in stemming the growing flood of sackings, the November 29 demonstration has been a useful focus for preparing a fight back.

A city-wide "Labour and Trade Union Campaign Against Unemployment" has been formed, initially to mobilise for the Liverpool, demonstration, but with the aim of continuing activity afterwards.

Affiliations

A special train with 600 places has been booked and 200 of the seats have been reserved for unemployed travelling free.

The campaign, which so far has affiliations from 3,5 trade union and Labour Party organisations, holds regular meetings.

It has adopted an initial policy statement which includes demands for free bus passes for the unemployed; free access to Council owned leisure facilities for the unemployed; the Council to provide a special day centre for the unemployed to meet and to organise, a massive expansion of the Youth Opportunities Programme with trade union rates of pay; an end to systematic overtime and for a shorter working week of 35 hours with no loss of pay; a national minimum wage of £80 per week-index-linked to inflation; early retirement on full pay; opposition to voluntary redundancy; trade unions to organise the unemployed; and the call for an early general election-to replace the Tories with a Labóur government pledged to the implementation of socialist policies:

Last Friday the Campaign held a public meeting which although poorly attended with only approximately 30 in the audience showed the determination of the organisers to build a serious movement against unemployment.

Gerry Jones from Talbot Stoke outlined the way in which management were picking off the Talbot plants one by one.

The present redundancies Stoke were simply a prelude to å l complete close-down. He stressed the role that voluntary redundancies had played and warned in particular against trying to fight for voluntary rather than compulsory ones. •We have to decide this week to fight all redundancies". , he said.

Campaign

Left MP Ernie Roberts, a speaker from Liverpool LPYS and a worker from the Gardners occupation were the other platform speakers initiative against unemployment being taken locally is a campaign by four staff unions-ACTSS, AUEW/ TASS, APEX and ASTMS. - This was started by the officials of these unions who then decided to call a meeting of senior representatives. Despite, in some cases, only 24 hours notice, about 40 attended representing the major industries in Coventry.

The officials put forward a proposal which amounted basically regional to an appeal for regional aid.

It called for the unions to make approaches to the council (at present carrying out massive cuts in the city and creating more unemployment) and to any MP, Labour or Tory, along with any other "sympathetic" characters, to lobby the government to consider the plight of Coventry.

This cross-class alliance was rejected by the meeting and the following motion proposed and passed unanimously:

"It is agreed that a committee will be formed to pursue a campaign based on working class organisations, eg manual unions, CSEU, trades council, unemployed organisations. The campaign will pursue a town meeting and demonstration to launch an ongoing programme of factory gate meetings calling for united trade union action, support for particular occupations, etc., combine organisations, industrial action in supnort of public employees. with a nerspective of makine contact nationally and interRedundancies at Chrysler Stoke, 1975 nationallv wherever we can."

strong basis for starting a camployment and an increasing awareness that if nothing is CHAYO-SA UNITED a ON done there will be hardly any Both the campaigns should A special category of officers will be created to deal with claimants who make several