Ress Must Not Be Sold!

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The decision by British Steel Corporation management to stick rigidly to their derisory 6% pay offer unless union leaders concede 25,000 redundancies is a conscious attempt by employers to And it indicates also the Lib-Lab government's determination that the nationallised industries-including shipbuilding, steel and the part-nationalised British Leyland-should massively step up the exploitation of their labour force in order to increase the rate of profit for *privately owned industries.

No improvement The major steel union-the Iron and Steel Trades Confederation-was told bluntly last week that unless it accepts early closure of outdated and high cost plants then there will be no improvement in the pay offer.

ISTC leaders had in any case only demanded a pathetic 11.5% increase. And they are now seeking , 'clarification' from government axeman Eric Varley before deciding how to answer the management ultimatum.

General Secretary Bill Sirs almost fell over himself pointing out that he was more than ready to cooperate with the other strings BSC wish to attach to a pay deal-including increased productivity at profitable plants and slashed manning levels.

10,000 jobs Jobs are most at risk in steel plants at East Moors Cardiff, and Ebbw Vale. Closure of these would axe 10,000 jobs and allegedly save BSC £100 million.

But other, unnamed plants are also on BSC's 'death list' The fanfare surrounding BSC's projection of a loss this year of £520 million has been aimed as much to pile pressure on Bill Sirs and the other union negotiators as to assert the rights of Parliamentary Select Committees.

Sirs has repeatedly in the past shown himself willing to sell the jobs and conditions of his members in the name of the 'viability' of BSC.

Desperate

Now the dangers facing steelworkers are particularly acute as they confront a desperate employer and a completely bankrupt, class collaborating union leadership.

Even as BSC's planned cutbacks were revealed, union bureaucrats were entering 'worker participation' designed to enlist them as direct advocates of management policy.

Not challenged Sirs has yet to challenge a single one of the monumental assertions by BSC managements as to the financial state of the corporation.

Not a single Labour MP or trade union leader has asked the obvious question: if BSC is losing £520 million per year-where is it all going to? Who profits from BSC losses?

Rather than leaving their leaders to barter huge redundancies for minimal 'concessions' on wages, steel workers must elect committees in The private employers that supply and are supplied by BSC must be examined and publicised. The profits creamed off by the private sector remaining within the steel industry must also be revealed.

The huge interest payments made over to British and international bankers from the labour of steelworkers must be exposed.

On the basis of such information the fight must be taken up for work sharing on full pay to defend all steel

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