Four hundred white workers, led by side-kick TGWU district secretary Reg Bromley, are planning a campaign •guinst Asian militants at Imperial Typewriters.
On Monday at a meeting in Spinney Hill Park, Weaver and the other stewards gave the "white-backlash campaign a boost when they called for a one-day strike.
Weaver admitted, when interviewed over Radio Leicester, that he was opposed to any of the strike leaders being taken back." A transcript of his interview has been sent to TGWU regional officer Brian Mather, On Tuesday, Weaver accompanied by Bromley attended a meeting at the Leicester Trades Club. A decision was taken there to return to work the next day but to refuse to cooperate with the 25 members of the Asian workers" strike committee.
ENDED
After thirteen weeks the strike at Imperial has ended, This followed the visit of Mather, GWU regional secretary, But Mather's visit was a formality to put the official seal on the agreements already reached between the TGWU national leaders and the bosses, Reg Harris, the Notting ham TGWU district secretary, then "Industrial Freedom vs State Interference - the Choice is Yours Vote Conservative proclaims a massive hoarding on the road running out from Kirkby to Liverpool. A sick joke perhaps, but not so funny if you're one of the 1200 workers at International Property Developers (Industrial), formerly Fisher-Bendix, on Kirkby's Industrial Estate.
There, for the second time in Just over two years, the workers have been forced to occupy their factory aguinst closure and mass redundancies.
Unemployment was running at a record level of 23% in this small, 'new town when the workers at Fisher-Bendix occupied in 1972, Archie Breden, the clectricians"
steward at what is now IPD. told Red Weekly. Luoking back we believed that with our fight being successful we reversed the trend in Kirkby towards closures and mass redundancies. We feel that this time, If this place is allowed to close, there will be more closures and redundancies. Already many of the factories on the estate are empty and more are threatening to close down.
SPECULATION
International Property Developers (LPD), which took over Fisher-Bendix, has assets of f20 million tied up mainly in overseas property, building and speculation, It has no other industrial concerns in this country. Its most recent speculation spree has been to use the Kirkhy factory for put the final touches to the negotiastorage.
The agreement called for a phased return to work, a guarantee of no victimisations, continuity of service and no deterioration in wages or gradings.
The National Front then crawled out from under the stones. They gave out a leaflet which said: Assan Victory — White sell-out. The management admitted the leaflet includ ed information known only to top management and the unions. The NF hope to reap where others have sown. Despite their boasts they did not initiate the white racist strike.
It was Weaver and the stewards who peddled a petition against the te-employment of the strike committer, Last week Bromicy was threatening a walk out by 800 workers when the Asian strikers went back.
A number of white workers have been saying that any walk-out would be organised by Bromley and Weaver, not the NF. When 80 workers in Model 80 Department stopped work for an hour in protest against the 'sell out" BBC Midland News sensationalised this event and talked about a strike of 250 workers.
Nobody knows who gave them this false information altbough It hoarding steel to take advantage of soaring steel prices.
IPD are blaming the closure of the factory on the failure of the Labour Government to fork out a loan ta similar request was rejected by the previous Tory administration).
Convenor Jack Spriges told Liverpool Trades Council delegates at a meeting on 18 July what happened:
Suddenly we started getting into Liquidity problems: bills weren't being paid: money that was coming has been noted that Bromley always got easy access to BBC when he was denouncing the Asian strikers.
Weaver are dictated by the desperate attempt to maintain their positions inside the union. Weaver has been convenor at Imperial for 22 years. He has been a member of the TGWU national committee for 14 years; for seven of those he has also been a member of the union's powerful finance sub-sommittee.
DITCH THEM
of the Asian workers has focussed attention on the role of these two worthies and caused particular ship of the TGWU. It is clear that the national bureaucracy would now like to ditch them.
a clear victory. We have turned updistricts in the TGWU.
*The real struggle begins when we get back in the factory. We will have to heal splits in the worktorce. That means carrying on a fight for better conditions and wages for all workers."
the TGWU Inquiry, due to be published in a fortnight, to call for all they have turned up with is a "feasibility study'. The results of to press.
The actions of both Bromley and say!
The militancy and determination embarrassment to the national leaderAs H Khetani says: "We have won side down one of the most right-wing The strikers expect the results of Labour Government. Both Industry Minister Tony Bern and his assistant Eric Heffer have promised that the jobs will be maintained. But so far this are expected as Red Weekly goes IPD could well become a test be expected.
cuse for both the fight apainst unemployment and the Lahour Government's attitude to nationalisation. election of more shop stewards; and a more democratic regime in TGWU 5/221 branch. They expect it to evade the question of racism, by saying none exists at imperial.
The strike committer have drawn a clear lesson from their struggle. In a press statement they black and Asian workers must never for a moment entertain the formation of separate black .. Where the unions fail in their duties to black workers they must he challenged to stand up for their rights. The union is an organisation of workers, irrespective of race, calour, creed or sex." ment, UNITED ACTION The strike has also shown that black workers do not have to wait until white workers join them before they can fight for better conditions.
Of course such struggles can provoke a backlash. The employers and sections of the union bureaucracy will attempt to play that card. But what. happened at Mansfield Hossery has some instructive lessons concerning In that strike the bostility between white and black workers was even more hitler than at Imperial. The ac shony and in-fighting continued for some months after the Asians won Last month's unemployment figure rose to 610,000 at a time of the year when it usually falls. With a predicted wave of mass redundancies likely to take this number to the million mark by Christmas, a spatc of factory occupations (the only effective way to resist closuresh, can *We expect the support of the Labour Party, said Archie Breden, *because there is a lot of people in But the organised militancy of the Asian workers improved conditions in the factory. Recently, black and white workers came out on strike zogerher and won higker wages at Mansfield Hosiery Mills. That unity would not have been possible without the first independent struggles of the black workers.
A similar basis for budding a strong united union exists at Imperial. The black workers are going back determined to fight for improvements for all workers, They also go back as an orginised force. They are now the militant spearhead against manage Members of the TGWU must insist that the union puts a stop to the racist manoeuves of the white workers who are demanding the sacking of the black militants. Resolutions should be put down in TGWU branches calling for:
The expulsion of Weaver and Brom ley from the union.
New elections of shop stewards at Imperial.
Those stewards who have joined in the racist strike be barred from bolding office for at least one year.
The election of the convenor by a mass meeting of all the workers BOB PENNINGTON here, especially during clechions.
who've done a lot of work for the Labour Party?
The best way the Labour Gover ment can aid the fight against un employment is to nationalise firms such as IPD who create redundanci and place tliem under workers' cont tol - that way the workers at IPD won't need another factory occupa tion in two years time!
LIVERPOOL ING of the printing industry is renning into