Danger! Splitters wor
Socialist Press1981 1981-02-25Read it in the scan (PDF), scan page 4 →
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The leaders of Coventry Labour Group have been playing a vicious game with the workers of Coventry in their attempt to get massive cuts approved.
They have said that for every job they "save" in the local authority a job will be lost in the private sector and the choice is therefore £3 million cuts and 35% rate rises or 4050% rate rises and no cuts-but redundancies in industry.
Of course the employers have lost no time in taking up this argument and three of Coventry's biggest firms, Courtaulds, Massey. Ferguson and Torrington have said they will shut down if the rate rises are too high.
Jaguar and Covrad have that rate rises will have to be paid for by redundancies.
The pressure has been on for workers in private industry, to go hand in hand with theit bosses and plead for massive cuts to keep the rate rises down.
Companies have quoted how many jobs will go for every 1% rise in rates.
Of course all these figures are fictitious; the rates are only a small costs and not responsible for the fall in production; but essentially the campaign has a political purpose to set workers in private and public sectors against each other -rather than jointly fight the council and private employers for no loss of jobs or services.
In Jaguars, the negotiating committee discussed the threatened rate rises and sent a delegation to the council.
Some of the convenors talked of persuading the council to defer rate rises or other dispensation-although they knew in advance this wasn't on.
The uproar when workers got wind of these manoeuvres made the convenors hastily bury them.
The majority of Coventry's "rebel' councillors are now arguing that for the immediate period they can only defend jobs and services by rate rises.
But this lays fertile ground for the employers and the right wing to campaign against the rate rises and means that the need to mobilise and defeat this government on its local government policy is lost in the murky pool of "which do you prefer? Rate rises or public spending cuts?" By Keith