From BOB BEST In the new round of Manchester engineering disputes the giant Gardner's works in Eccles remains solid in its eighth week of strike and sit-in. But at Bason's in Stockport the occupying workers were evicted early last Friday morning by a large force of police and so-called "bailiffs. Picketing there continues, however. despite constant police intimidation, and the owners" have so far felt unable to repossess the factory.
The dispute at Gardner's is centred around the Manchester Piecework Agreement (MPWA). It was under the terms of this agreement that the Gardner's workers decided at the beginning of this year to protest against: low piecework earnings by going onto the basic day rate, banning all piecework until new piecework rates were agreed upon. After nine weeks of this management threatened to lay off the men unless they agreed to lift the ban, thereby breaking the MPWA. An official strike and the sit-in followed almost immediately. The MPWA has been a very strong weapon in the hands of Manchester engineering workers, and the attack on it is one prong of a new attack on shop floor organisation in the area SUBSCRIBE!
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OCCUPATION: Our of the asbestos paned broken weber police ond 'berlffs' stormisi Boson's inst Friday; by the local Engineering Employers Federation. whose president is the managing director of Gardners. The other prong is the attempt to isolate and intimidate militants through victimisations and sackings. The recent sacking of IS shop steward John Deason at the Newton le Willows works of Ruston Paxman (GEC) after an unsuccessful strike of seven weeks for his reinstatement if one exampie of this, the so-called redundancies declared at Bason's are an other.
Every step in this new employers' offensive directly affects th: lighting ability of all engineering workers, partioularly with the ponsibility of new struggles around the AUEW claim in the autumn. If the MPNA is smashed at Gardner's then it will encourage employer after employer to try their luck at the same game. Solidarity action now by other en gineering workers in the area a of the utmost importance: particularly effective could be a more general banning of piecework and a rever sion to the basic day rate as at Gardner's. This would clearly remove the initiative from the employers and place it ficnily in the hands of the workers.
REQUIRED URGENTLY: Fast, accurate typist now appear in court until 11 or 12 June. They are up on charges of conspiracy to trespass and endangering the public poice The trial may well involve new legal pre cedents which can be used ageinst worker: in struggle: the Birmingham Evening Mart reports that, "the police are regarding the Summonses as a test case.
The NUS is threatening to withdraw its backing from the National Union of School Studants which it hislped to found not so long ago. Although the mombership of the NUSS & now nearly 10,000 the number of activists is steadily declining and recruit men la coming mainy Tram muedia class school students in grammar schools and the higher streams of comprehensivas. This is not surprising gian the political basis on which the NUSS was founded lay the NUS which rejects militant struggle in favour of a respectable image aimed at winning participation in the running of schools under capitalism. Signs of change are apparent, though, with a large minority of vates at the rocant NUSS conference going to a revolutionary platform put forward by South London school students The Third Canference of Radical Scholars of Soviet ard East European Studies took place in Birmingham last weekend, with an strendance of some 7D people, Various pepers coming under the general title of The Dicterorship of the Proletariat' warl discussed and it was widely falt that the conference had provided a valuable oppor тиліту Тог fruitful discussion belear Marxists of aspeers of Sovie studies in was also marked by the appearanoe of the first issue of a new journe of Sovie: studies ind socialist theory, Critique, closely connected with the Conference