[women, a of strik Kilbride. members Union of…]

Scan page 10

women, a of strik Kilbride. members Union of Workers, workers, mostly re in their fifth week : action in East The workers, of the National Tailors and Garment are claiming equal pay trom neir empiuyer, manlarine Laird-Portch Knitwear.

Men and women still do completely different jobs in the factory so no direct comparison can be made under the Equal Pay Act.

GAP There is an enormous gap between the rate earned by women on skilled jobs and the lowest male unskilled job and the management refuse to implement a job evaluation scheme which would close this gap.

They falsely argue that government wage controls prevent them The jailing of North East London Polytechnic Students Union President, Andy Strouthous, has raised serious questions for the labour movement.

Imprisonment for contempt of court (Strouthous refused to obey an injuction preventing him from going to the Polytechnic and carrying out his duties as President) could be used in this way against militant trade unionists as well as students.

Students resisted this attack with occupations, not only at North East London Poly but at the London School of Economics and elsewhere.

But this was met with sabotage from the National Union of Students Executive, (dominated by Labour Party and Communist Party members) who refused to take any action at all.

The NUS leaders argued that Strouthous should accept an offer to simply have access to his officebut nowhere else on the Poly premises.

And they called on him to apologise to the High Court Judge who jailed him!

Strouthous has now been released. But the whole affair sharply underlines the role of the as a weapon against students and workers who move into tiggle-and the treacherous role o. ie reormist and Stalinist union from paying the women more.

The strike is unofficial since the officials of the NUTGW require a two-thirds majority to give official backing.

ALLOWED This policy is of course completely in line with their traditional role of allowing appalling sweat shop conditions in the textile industry, and standing back while mills and factories are closed, merely calling for the nationalist policy of "import controls"

The Laird-Portch factory is a subsidiary of Couts-Paton in whose other subsidiaries-Jaeger and Ladybird-workers are now taking supporting action.

This support and blacking action must be spread throughout the textile industry and motions of support must be put down in all branches of the National Union of Tailors and Garment Workers.

Messages of support and donations ete to:

Strike Committee, c/o E. Nicklin, 153, Leeward Cricle, East Kilbride. the table at the National Executive meeting to avoid "showing bad faith"

Kettering have certaily not been smashed and they return to work with 100% membership. Whether the agreement will open the way to their destruction at the end of August is an open question until the substance of Key's private deal becomes known.

The Court of Appeal ruled one day before the Cup Final that members of the Association of Broadcasting and • Allied Staffs must cooperate in sending live transmission to South Africa whether they wanted to or not.

Arguments over the extent of the Trade Union and Labour Relations Act were all that General Secretary Tony Hearn was interested in.

So when three Law Lords headed by Lord Denning decided that to cut off this football match to South Africa was not part of a trade dispute, Hearn said: "We are a law abiding union" and withdrew the biacking threat.

----- pull-quotes -----

of Poly jailing