No backing yet for Rolls Ro
Socialist Press1977 1977-09-28Read it in the scan (PDF), scan page 11 →
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As the strike by over 100 production workers at Rolls Royce in Willesden, North London goes into its third week, the strike has yet to be made official by any of the four unions involved-the TGWU, the sheetmetal workers, the woodworkers and the EETPU, although the sheetmetal workers leadership promised a favourable decision this week.
A mass meeting on 16 September rightly threw the management's offer of an 8% wage rise and fl a week for sick pay into the dustbin and confirmed their original demand-for a 17% wage rise coupled with average earnings of at least f71 a week holiday pay.
As we go to press it is still unclear what response a similar claim has had in the two other plants in Crewe and Shrewsbury and news that the Crewe plant have accepted a management offer of 10% whereas the Shrewsbury plant seems set to strike for their original claim is unconfirmed.
What is clear though is that the fight for official backing will be a long and arduous one, something those in Willesden realise when they say they expect to greet snow on the picket line.