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Please send me more information about Post to WSL, 31, Dartmouth Part Hill London More 1970 Post to W Following the outburst at the Ford Dagenham factory three weeks ago management have moved in and sacked four of the workers who they accuse of being "ringleaders""

Sixteen more are subject to "investigation'.

In going for victimisation, Ford want to discipline the whole workforce in preparation for sharpening trade war between motor manufacturers both nationally and internationally.

They have to fight for markets under conditions of severe economic crisis with interest rates of 15%, car hire purchase at 17% and the standard of living falling, making a slump in the car industry a virtual inevitability.

"RIOT'

Standing behind the so-called 'riot' , Which took the form of the sackıng of the management canteen, was the pressures of Ford's drive for speed-up on the new model Cortina and the frustration of the working class as a whole.

Real wages plunge downwards, unemployment reaches 1½ million and the social services are cut to ribbons.

Under these conditions, the sacking of four workers singled out is a heavy blow at Ford workers and strengthens the hand of management.

STRENGTH

There is no doubt that the strength shown in the struggle against lay-offs could have defended these workers. But such a defence would have required a clear and determined leadership.

The present leadership have just allowed a 40% wage claim to be reduced to 44% by their negotiator T&GWU National Official, Moss Evans.

And they settled the lay off claim by accepting a proposal that workers Can be laid off after 11 pm on two hours pay.

The response of body plant workers to the sacking of the four was a strike by 70 body assembly workers in their defence.

A manoeuvre now used by both the Stalinists and the right wing throughout the motor industry was then brought into play and a mass meeting was called of the whole body plant and the strikers were sent back to work.

DEVELOPMENT

This struggle has raised the question of leadership sharply in front of Ford workers. There is a development beginning with the shop stewards movement.

À statement signed by six of them demands complete rejection of the government pay policy. It then calls for discussions:

"throughout the Ford workforce to draw up a list of demands that can really defend Ford workers' wages and conditions. We ourselves believe that any claim should include:

1. A 20% wage increase.

2. A cost of living compensation starting immediately onl the expiring of the last agreement, so that for every percentage rise in prices, wages automatically keep pace.

3. The thirty five hour week."

Such an approach begins to provide a way out of the blind alley of disorganised protests.

It shows the way forward in the development of a programme which can unite Ford workers against the attacks of both employers and the government and enable the building of a leadership which will fight for that nrnoramma through a sliding scale of spending, rising in pace with increased costs.

His efforts were restricted to campaigning for the November 17th Day of Action and lobby of Parliament.

A Workers Socialist League member, speaking from the floor, demanded that Fisher, to indicate his sincerity in fighting the cuts, should call a national one-day strike by all NUPE members to back the Day of Action.

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Joining up with the employers for trade war, TUC chiefs Jones, Bassnett After 22 weeks on strike for equal pay, hundreds of Trico workers assembled outside the factory gate last Monday morning and marched, victorious, back to work.

The settlement of the marathon strike, which was accepted unanimously by a mass meeting WAGE CUTTING MUST a sharp fall in demand.

The Western European steel industry was last week reported to be once more verging on financial FOUGHT.. ...Cont'd from Page 1.

not at all over whether the working class should bear the burden of the capitalist crisis = but simply about how that burden and Scanlon