SHELL, one of the top multinational oil companies, is a tiger in the jungle of world capitalism.
Just a few weeks ago it was laying down the law to the Prices Commission and the Government with its threat to cut off all supplies of chemi cals to the British market unless it were allowed substantial price increases. Shell got its way.
But over the past few weeks the tiger has met its master- the workers. in the Shell petro-chemical operalions around the country, united for the first time in a combine-wide shop stewards committee.
WEAK
For many years workers in the petro-chemical industries, divided between different plants and up against giant firms united on the internationa/ riune, have heen in a weak position.
This has allowed the big petrochemical firms to become leaders in the sphere of capitalist lahour relalions tie. Improvine the efficiency with which they sweat profits out of the labour of their employces). For example, productivity deals, one of the key devices of the ruling class in attacking working class organisalion and working conditions during the 1960s, were pioneered by Shell's fellow oil-giant, Esso, at its Fawley refinery in 1960.
Now it is the turn of the petrochemical workers to bect me enders through the example of their organisation, militancy, and the big hole they are in the process of punching through the middle of the 'social contract, In January of this your Shell workers signed a Phase 3 agreement, giving them a pay risc of 8%. Subsequently negotiations opened up for a post-Phase 3 increase.
Through their national committee the stewards began to realise that the agreements signed by various plants were remarkably similar, despite cheir Seing reached by supposed local negotiations? It became clear that cbese negotiations had nothing to do with specific local conditions, but were simply a case of "divide and rule tacties being applied by the company.
STRIKE
When negotiations at Shell's Stanlow refinery in Ellesmere Port, Cheshire, ran into difficulties, the national stewards committee stepped in and demanded national negotia Ions for a national settlement. They threatened to pull out all Shell's petro-chemical workers along with the Stanlow workers, whose strike had begun on Friday, 28 June.
Shell quickly came to heel and entered national begotiations. A settlement was agreed on which gave the workers a 9% increase in basic rates as soon as Phase 3 expired (an extra 1% above what had been offered at Stanlow's), along with extra shift allowances and bonus payments. and a rise of £2.50 a week in lieu of threshold increases due up until January 1975.
This agreement was accepted by most Shell plants, but rejected by the Stanlow workers. An important factor in this rejection was a iocal dispute at Stanlow's over a demand that extended shift time (which is often required at short notice) should be compensated for with extra pay, rather than equivalent time-off. as happens at present.
An understanding that management would permit local bargaining on this questson was broken. and on that basis the national stewards" it minittee has demanded renegotiation of the cational offer, a demand to which She has agreed.
The Shell workers victory has a significance far beyond their own industry, Millions of workers were forced to accept miscrable pay settlement under the Tories" Phase 3 pay laws and Labour's subsequent enforcement of them, Now Phase 3 has gone many workers will want to take up for lost time.
BOSSES
This is why the national bosses orpanisation, the Confederation of British Industry, has made such a big point against more than one pay settlement in a period of 12 months, and why the Labour Governrent. in accofdance wilh Che canitalists" wishes, insisted on this in their social contract" with the TUC workers at Fisher-Bendix redundancies.
tiger to the working class that militant, the "social contract" into the dustbin (where it belongs) and win for workers the long overdue pay rises that they need to restore and improve their standard of living.
to insist on a threshold agreement was a serious mistake. Not only will the £2.50 they accepted rapidly be overtaken (workers have already received 12 under existing agreemay well pass the E2.50 mark), but they have set a precedent that the the next settlement due to run from next January.
than 20% next year, it is absolutely essential that the Shell stewards propare for an all-out fight on this question in the autumn. Then once again they can set a pattern for the unite with the millions of workers to defend and extend the existing agreements.
Ray Alexander In early 1972 the Kirkby factory of Fisher-Bendix was occupied by its workers and came to the forafront of anti-redundancy struggles. Today the - now renamed International Property Development Industrial" - are back in occupation again, and again the question is Here workers weld the gates shut to make sure that machines and stock cannot be moved out. A taste of things to come? Phato: Ron MeCarmick (FLI But the Shell struggle has shown united action has the power to sweep factory.
in this strike?
The failure of the Shell stewards ments, and figures due out tomorrow company will use in negotiations for the strike?
With inflation due to run at more rest of the workers' movernent, and Plastics who will then he going into struggle selves? conditions to help win the strike?
we did was to set about building bun there was a meeting of 1,000 cy which had so far been pent-up now burst out in full flood, The fiest thing up the trade union. On 5 May in Lispostal workers from all over the coun on Sunday 16 June.
And in the course of a general assembly of all the postal service delepites, the leadership was given a mandate by the workers to organise the strike democratically, to con the strike as soon as the ultimatum come out; and they were people whose sympathies lay basically with the previous regime!
Our test sim was to organise tinue as we had begun