End Job Rumours

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Dealings in shares of Massey Ferguson were suspended two weeks ago following a massive loss by the company over the last quarter.

Production at Massey Ferguson Coventry plant has been cut by 50% and for some weeks a large proportion of the workforce has been painting machinery and the factory.

One rumour circulating the factory is that the suspension of dealings in Massey Ferguson shares followed a period of heavy trading which indicated that a takeover bid was in the offing.

The effect of the cutback at Massey's has been felt sharply in Sterling Metals, Nuneaton which produces transmissions for Massey Ferguson.

Production has been cut from 1,000 units day to 1,000 a week.

The 2,000 workers at Sterling Metals are now on an indefinite 3-day week with no immediate prospect of resuming full-time work. Inside Sterling Metals workers are saying that the 3-day week is planned to last until 1981 and that redundancies are in the offing.

There has been a gradual reduction in the workforce over the last two years. (It is thought that Sterling Metals' parent company, Birmid Qualcast, has a factory in France competing with Sterling Metals for Massey Ferguson orders).

It is high time that the workers at Massey Ferguson and Sterling Metals won the right to know exactly what is going on.

While the threat of unem-: ployment looms they are left with nothing to do but speculate on the reasons for the present problems and the future of their jobs.

The situation clearly calls for the demand "open the books" to be raised. Only with a comprehensive view of the real situation facing these companies can the workers be in any position to plan precise tactics in a fight for an alternative to the employers' cutbacks.

Alongside the demand for the opening of the books, workers in Sterling Metals must demand work sharing with no loss of pay.

If Birmid Qualcast can't pay up there must be a fight for nationalisation without compensation under workers management.