Steel sackings plan

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20% of the 1200strong workforce at Osborn Hadfield steelfounders in Sheffield are threatened by a management announcement of planned redundancies. 40 staff and 250 shop floor jobs are to be axed.

Management are blaming a "fall in orders" for this latest attack, which will aim to utilise 'natural wastage' and voluntary redundancy to erode resistance in the plant.

The necessary fight to --thalaalooftha fium in complicated by the fact that much information will be held at the Weir Group's major Cathcart complex in Glasgow.

The likelihood is that the Communist Party union leadership there will follow the notorious example of their comrade James Airlie at Govan Shipyards and turn a blind eye to workers' problems in order to "save" their own skins.

But the fight remains vital. There must be no question of trade unionists blindly accepting management Aaas a mao orders.

And if orders are falling, then the answer to be fought for is not redundancies"voluntary" or otherwisebut work-sharing on full pay to divide the reduced amount of work among the whole existing workforce with no loss in earnings.

This must lead to the demand for the nationalisation of all the remaining private sector firms in the steel industry. company to 'reconsider' and the first of similar setbacks which left the Metropole isolated.

Grand Metropolitan's claim, submitted as far back as August, was two months later, suddenly found by union officials to have been 'mislaid'. . And Rank Hotels, whose workers had previously thrown out a compromise deal were then able to convince leading shop stewards in the company to argue for the 10%.

It was rapidly becoming clear that the balance of forces was swinging heavily in favour of the alliance of bureaucrats and employers, and Metropole management were not slow to recognise it.

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