Ansells refuse to accept sell-out
Socialist Press1981 1981-06-04Read it in the scan (PDF), scan page 10 →
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Southern Price 60p (including WSL. BM Box 5277, Lo Despite every conceivable effort by TGWU officials to kill off their struggle in defence of jobs, workers at Ansells brewery voted last weekend to continue their dispute and to demand full support from the union's Executive Their struggle against the closure of the brewery with the loss of 700 jobs and redeployment for 300 other workers has been going on for 20 weeks.
But after repeated attempts to curtail their picketing activities and retusals to mount full scale blacking action had failed to crush their militancy, TGWU Regional Secretary Brian Mathers went one step further and organised his own postal ballot.
Stern letter
• Along with a stern letter from TGWU. legal eagle Albert Blighton came a note from Mathers with a tearoff ballot slip.
The questions were outrageous. Workers were offered two "choices". The one-to continue the strike - was worded as follows:
"I fully understand that the brewery will not reopen but wish to continue to be in dispute with the company, and accept that as a result the compensation which had been offered be withdrawn Thus workers looking to continue the fight are asked to declare in advance that they recognise they have lost!
Company facilities The alternative-conceding defeat -is worded much more positively:
"I have reconsidered my pogotiation one come commence for the reopening of the Aldridge and Gravelly Park depots distribution coupled with the acceptance of the offer of compensatory payment to those who are not reemployed."
Not surprisingly these ballot papers were sent out using company facilities. But though this manoeuvre took more of the momentum out of the struggle it still did not kill the militancy.
Last weekend a mass meeting voted to carry on the dispute until a "satisfactory negotiated settlement" is reached. And the same meeting voted unanimously to demand a union inquiry into the conduct of Mathers and Regional Organiser Doug Fairburn (who was also the subject of bitter complaints following his betrayal of the Longbridge 8 last winter).
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