Spillers slash 8,000 jobs open food firms' books

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SOCIALIST

Send to: Socialist Press, 31, Dartmouth Park Hill through 2,200 immediate sackings.

There is no hint that the steel union leaders have any intention of revising their well-established policy of selling the jobs of their members to the employers for token "compensation" payments.

The fruits of this can be seen in the 10.5% unemployment rate in the area, and a 30% cut in the steel workforce over the last three years.

BCS's new plans would leave a workforce of only just over 3,000 who themselves face speed up in BSC's drive to achieve what they euphemistically describe as "internationally competitive" manning levels.

Ebbw Vale has traditionally been one of the safest of safe Labour constituencies, presided over by one-time 'left' talker Michael Foot, now a senior Lib-Lab coaltion minister.

The fight to defend these jobs in the steel industry is thus bound up at every level with the fight for a new leadership in the trade union and labour movement and the struggle to break the Lib-Lab coalition.

BCS's books must be opened to elected trade union committees, and the available work at Ebbw Vale divided between the whole workforce within each trade-at no loss of earnings.

The private sector of the steel industry-which 1S expanding capacity in the midst of the slunp--along with private supplies, manufacturers and hauliers must be nationalised without compensation and under workers management.

One result of reformist politicians grovelling for crumbs from the capitalists' table was announced last week with the decision of food monopoly Spillers to withdraw from bread production, at a cost of 8,000 jobs and almost certain price increases affecting every working class family.

Since the re-election of the Wilson government in 1974 bread prices have virtually doubled to an astonishing 28½ pence for every tasteless prepacked sliced loaf.

Snatched

This is despite crazy reformist schemes such as food subsidies-which snatched money from workers in taxes and handed it to the food monopolies as cash handouts in return for minimal concessions on prices.

With bread so expensive and so unappetising it is scarcely suprising that demand has fallen consistently since the war-leaving the bread manufacturers with a surplus of baking capacity -which could be usefully employed in producing more attractive food stuffs.

Avaricious

But, as in every other industry, the response of these avaricious private employers has been ruthlessly to cut back productive capacity in pursuit of maximum profitability.

The figures trotted out to justify this latest closure cannot be accepted at face value. Spillers claim to have lost an incredible £28 million over the last six years in bread baking-suggesting that the whole affair has been run as a charity for years.

PHOTO: Chris Davies, Report Castle-proposed subsidies Yet Spillers' gigantic milling operation-as that of its main rivals Rank Hovis McDougal and Associated British Foods)-has remained profitable throughout. So has the Spillers combine as a whole.

But in pursuit of maximum profits, Spillers management have decided that 8,000 bakery workers must join the growing dole queues.

The whole affair, and the enormous prices being charged by the food monopolies, indicates the futility of reformist attempts to tinker with this highly organised area of capitalist exploitation which lives both by exploiting its workforce and actually leaves the NUJ members there better off within one week than if there had been a straightforward settleby selling its products workers.

The closures must be resisted. The fight must take up the demand for full access to the accounts of all divisions of the Spillers combine as well as those of RHM and ABF, and other food monopolies.

There is no doubt that these figures will show convincingly that the whole bloodsucking privately-owned food industry must be nationalised without compensation, under workers management.

Bakery workers must join with workers in the rest of the labour movement in fighting to break the Lib-Lab coalition, and to win support Shop stewards at Thorn Consumer Electronics-which announced last week the closure of two factories in Bradford and Shipley with the axing of 2,200 jobs, have made a false start to any fight for their members.

Two initiatives have been launched, both ot which accept the logic of closure and the responsibility of the work force to pay for the problems of the owners.

One is to ask Hitachi, the Japanese firm which failed to get permission for a factory of its own, to take the plant over. This electronics group would of course, no more be able to turn loss into profit than the British 5 issues 10 issues 25 issues 50 issues I would I Name. Address for a socialist programme for an expanded planned, integrated nationalised food industry in which all jobs are guaranteed.

Mass picketing continues at the Oxford Street Garners Steak House in support of the strike by TGWU members for union recognition.

Readers and supporters of Socialist Press are urged to support the mass picket, 12.30pm onwards at Oxford Street, (nearest tube, Bond St).

Messages of support and contributions to the strike fund should be sent to: TGWU, Room 84, 12-13, Henrietta Street, London WC2.

That same attitude is the which International at Harvesters allowed 250 redundancies to be carried out with absolutely no fight.

Although the leadership of the International Harvesterslike some of those in the leadership at Thorn in Bradford-is subjectively opposed to class collaboration, it did not even carry out the policy of AUEW District Committee, which called for a policy of non-cooperation with voluntary redundancies. There are now big dangers that similar failure to lead a fight will occur at Thorn.

Now a major development has taken place which could lay the foundations to turn PRESS *