Another successful page was added to Fife's book of industrial militancy when on Friday, 1 December, the company of Carron Hydraulics was prevented from closing its Kirkcaldy plant. As an exercise in rationalisation, Carrons had tried to move the company and the 80 employees to the main works at Falkirk, 30 miles away. The employees, virtually all AUEW members, didn't recognise the compamy's authority and set up pickets immediately. At the same time they formed an Action Committee of all trade unionists and left organisations willing to help. This committee played a dual role: it brought the Carron threat to the local population and gained support for the possibility of an occupation, and it also co-ordinated trade union activity.
The TASS Divisional Council took a decision to black all Carrons products and the engineering section, though somewhat later, followed suit. Under these attacks the management crumbled. The plant and the 80 jobs stay in Kirkcaldy and the top management has been replaced. The lesson from this fight is that we must recognise that Action Committees, uniting the widest sections of the working class, are the steel hand with which we hit the owners.
The Red Mole 11 December 1972 Page 3