Then at the National Conference of Shipbuilding and Re pair Unions in Surbiton on 22 September, the minister of State for Northern Ireland, Stan Orme, appeared to confirm these suspicions when he told delegates that the Harland and Wolff shipyard in Belfast would receive no further financial assistance from the British Government after 1978. But worse was yet to come. yard's joint consultative committee, which involves both management and unions, the date he spoke of was not 1978 but Christmas 1975. must be a 'marked improvement' in productivity by the end of the year, otherwise the yard loss ol tub million a week — could not continue and the jobs of 10,000 workers would be in serious jeopardy.
There can be no doubt that the Northern Ireland economy is not only facing a crisis but is in fact in a state of gencial condose. mach When Orme later met the shipOrme delivered an ultimatum: there -which is operating at a week brings news of more factory closures Two faces of Loyalism. Left, UDA para-military; above, William Craig. more Protestant workers turn to the para-militaries to protect their jobs and privileges at the expense of Catholies.
The ground for this has already been prepared by the cam paign of intimidation directed against Catholics working in trucestan areas ana be came or canon 202 stra Irish Congress of Trade Unions to which many of the North's workers, Frotestant and cacnonc, belong the trade unions bolster this sectarianism by posing as the solution the strengthening of the link with Britain. places responsibility for the economic crisis not on capitalism but on those who oppose the British linkworkly class. Conuary to whats beneve ov the trace unions and those organisations who support this policy, such as the Communist Party of Ireland, such a campaign can only intensify sectarian attacks and place further obstacles in the path of the struggle for socialism and workers' unity.
, red weekly 16 october 1975 news 9