Over 6000 manual workers at Rollys Royce Bristol have been on strike since November Ist. Last autumn an interim wage award was negotiated which provided for a wage increase if there was high inflation. In January the claim for a 15% wage increase was made. However, after Rolls Royce went "bankrupt" earlier this year, Bristol management refused to honour this clause. After a series of Friday afternoon walkouts and a ban on overtime, the management offered E1.50. However strings attached to this agreement stated that 50p, of this award would be offset against any national settlement, and that productivity would have to be taken into account. In reply to this offer the RR workers went on strike.
Since RR went "bankrupt' central management has been considerably strengthened. Three famous butchers, Coles of Unilever, Weinstock of GEC/AEl and Beeching, have joined the board. Local managements refusal to meet this claim is in line with a new tough national policy of RR management. 1,150 workers at Coventry have been locked out by RR and workers at E. Kilbride are still fighting on redundancies. Management seems determined not to give way on the offset clause as it hopes to use this as a precedent for future negotiations. In insisting that productivity be taken into account management has shown that it sees this dispute as a useful skirmish before the major battle when it attempts to introduce its plans for a new wage structure based on a reorganisation following huge redundancies. This new wage structure will be designed to destroy the piece work system—a system which in practice has protected the workers 'standard of living The Claimants' and Unemployed Workers' Union joins the Struggle After the start of the strike the strike committee and the Bristol C & UWU met and jointly drafted a leaflet advising strikers how they could get maximum benefit from Social Security Since then mambers of the C & UWU along with shop stewards have been present at the emergency SS office. It soon became obvious to strikers what sort of treatment they could expect from the state; the SS. by either refusing to pay benefit or by paying very small amounts, have shown that the state' is not neutral, above class war, but is rather a part of the armoury of the ruling class. The law regulating the payment of benefit to strikers has been viciously tightened up by the government as from November 4th, Income tax rebate is now counted as income and so deducted from benefit, and the amount of income to be disregarded when benefit is assessed has been lowered for his dependants but not for himself still stands.
The SS are refusing to make any payment at all to single strikers-unless they have been served with eviction orders-and even then the highest payment they are allowing is £4! The SS are using their "A Code', a secret code which tells them how to interpret the Social Security Act, extensively to limit the amount of benefit which denies strikers benefit if their last two wage packets were above a certain level. The SS are seen to be directly acting as strike breakers, happily handing out appeal forms but not money to destitute strikers. SS management have a couple of times trid unsuccessfully to evict CU members from the office, on one occasion calling the police. SS staff were much offended, and even threatened to walk out (right on!) when a CU poster which read 'SS-Social Security or Strike Smashers' was put up in the office.
Lessons of the Strike 1. The stoppage on Friday afternoons and the ban on overtime had a very limited effect-they did disrupt weekend work and delay urgent' work, but they were actions broken by scab staff and they both depleted the wages of 'ancillary' workers so splitting them from those on piece work who could make up the lost half day. 2. The SS in setting up a special office which had no facilities for immediate payment, or even a telephone to contact permanent offices have cleverly engineered a situation where strikers are firstly separated from. ordinary claimants, and secondly, forced to go to a permanent office if they need immediate payment (this has as yet been made to only about three strikers out of 6000!. In future strike committees and CU's-must boycott these special offices. 3. The only way of getting benefit for single strikers is by collective militant action that goes beyond from £4.90 to £1. The old law whereby a striker can claim payable. They are operating a rent stop, a "Two times rule"
Racism in the Brit