and the employers.
the workers whose jobs are in danger.
There is much speculation about Ryder's findings. But the grim facts spenk for themselves. In British Leyland's Midiand factorles alone, 25,000 workers are on short-time, At the BLMC Longbridge plant the management are demanding 3,000 redundancies, IN STORE The BLMC stewards know what the bosses have in store for them.
Derck Robinson, convenor at Long bridge says: In a aituation where the Corporation try to enforce ratsomalisation and redundancy it will be resisted with all the organisation at our command. We are preparing for any eventuality, If, after Ryder, steps are necessary to rationalise the Corporation, it has got to be done in such a way that it does not lead to large scale redundancies.
On this, the BIMC stewards are dead right. The Combing Committce's call for a conference of repres entatives from all the major cur CONTRARS -Including Vauxhalls, Fords and Chryslers as well as the accessory firms- on 23 April at Dig beth Civic Hall in Birmingham should be the beginning of an industry-wide fight back by the car workers.
The employers are now launching their second wave of attacks with Turther lay-offs and appeals for vol untary redundancies This is the prelude to a third stape of compulsory sackings. The failure of the union leaders to organise a united response is being paid for by the workers.
Short-time working was the first step cowards redundancies. The action of the stewards at Vauxhall's, Ellesmere Port in occupying part of the plant aguinst the re-introduction of lay-offs, coupled with the demand that the workers must get a full week's pay regardless of the hours worked, shows the way forward. This demand nuast be the keynote of the Birmingham conference.
Unfortunately, there is every indication that the conference will not be organised around such a line. RESTRICTED Jack Dickens, secretary of the Longbridge Works' Committee, has really only fought for the suggestion that if volunteers for redundancy are not forthcoming then the shop stewards should fight for an extension of the time allowed for voluntary redundancies. At Rovers, SU Carbunettors, and BLMC Tractors and Transmission, all that has been proposed is again that the redundancies be "voluntary". Such a policy only encourages the employers to up the stakes' - for example, at Longbridge the original 1,200 sackings have now been increased by 1,900.
The lobby of Parliament suppested at the Birmingham Trades Council is a small step forward, but in and of itself is completely inadequate. Without mass strike action and occupations to back up such a lobby it means relying on the left" MPs and the trade union bureaucrats to fight sackings.
The bankruptcy of such policies have been shown only too clearly in recent weeks with the lobby of Parhament called by the TUC failing to get warren and Tomlinson out of workers are facing further attacks on their livelihood by the Government Although the trade union officials co-operated in its preparation, the Report's findings are secret, and only an 'edited" version will be seen by jail, and with Jack Jones role in helping to defeat the London docks containerisation redundancy strike. Such policies are no substitute for the direct action of car workers.
Up to now it appears that attendance at the Birmingham conference will be restricted to the senior stepands, If the entire workfore is to be mobilised then much wider representation is needed. At the very least mass meetings should be held in every factory so that delegates subject to Ie-call by those meetings, can be elected by all the workers DISCUSSED Of course, in many, if not most cases, it would be the senior stewards who would be elected, but they would be clected on the basis of policics discussed by ail the workers und the campaign would he one which involved the entire workforce.
IMG militants in the motor industry will be fuily supporting this conference. They have been calling for such a conference since the beginning of the crisis. But they also paint out that the way the conforence is going at the moment, it won't enable real action to be taken.
Set up a National Motor Action Committee.
factory fighting redundances No short time working, Work or full pay.
fims- wwthout.compensation.
CLEAR DEMANDS wide demands which is the fatal weakness in the car industry at the moment. Each factory is fighting separately and the motor bosses are picking off groups of workers Full to win massive support when otber wurkers do not feel their intcrests are involved.
On the other hand, a struggle waged around demands uniting all workers - for example, nationalisatpay- would be capable of leading to a massive mobilisation of support.
The building of an effective conter ence and fight against reundancies in the motor industry depends on the ability to build national action and organisation, based on industry wide and class wide demands, which really mobilises the shop floor in To these ends the IMG will be fighting for the following proposnls to be among those which should be adopted at the 23 April conference.
The IMG puts forward the following proposals as among those which should be adopted at the 23 April conference:
-Each factory to hole miss meetings to elect delegates and decide porcies All decisions to be roported back to mass meetings. -A one-day notionafitrike on the day of the proposed lobby of Parliament. This to be the first step towards mobilising the shop floor against redundancies -The Conference so pladge full support including solidarity strike action for usy Occupations of all factares thrustened with redundiers. - Agninst all sacking. For work sharing with no loss af pay. - No increase if track speeds, No reduction in manning levok - Right of the workers to veto management plans on job loss and manning levels. - Open the boaks of the industry to workers inspection. - For the nationalisation of the entire mator industry -ircludi Not only is there no real mobilis ation of the shop floor, but also no programme is coming forward which can unite all car workers. The only policy which some stewards are talking about the policy of import te strictions- is reactionary and utop