[The dispute at Albion Bottles, Warley, which arose…]
Socialist Press1977 1977-05-25Read it in the scan (PDF), scan page 11 →
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The dispute at Albion Bottles, Warley, which arose out of the April 20 strike appears to have ended in a serious defeat.
After the management sacked all 300 AUEW members and interviewed 400 unemployed workers to Ill the vacancies, demoralisation began to spread.
This was fuelled by the decision of the Birmingham West. District Committee to launch disciplinary proceedings against leading shop stewards.
Faced with the prospect of a long and probably violent dispute against a joint front of union and management, many workers signed a letter to say they would return without the shop stewards.
In this situation the shop stewards were forced to accept a settlement for a phased return to work based on seniority first. The leading shop stewards are to be left to last, so that victimisation is likely on top of disciplinary action by the union.