After 11 weeks of militant struggle against redundancy - • 26 days of strike action, and 53 days of occupation - the workers of Personna Razor Blades at Hillington, near Glasgow, returned to work last Thursday.
The deal secured in negotiations is a partial victory for the occupying workers. But it was only a partial victory because of the scabbing of the AUEW bureaucracy, which refused official backing for eight weeks, and when finally torced to recognise the action did nothing more than dole out strike pay.
The offer accepted by a mass meeting of the Personna workers contained a number of concessions by management - but it left some key issues unsettled. The number of voluntary redundancies has been cut from 44 to 24 and these are to be inoemented oniv ater a reas sessment of work loads and further negotiations at the end of February.
Most of the stewards believe that inis represents a lace saver by manage ment, and that February's negotiations nauonal acons wach were taken — e blacking of Hull docks, and the projected tour of Manchester factories - were made by the workers themselves or with the help of small organisations like Solidarity The self-organisation the Personna workers displayed in their struggle, and their initial demand for work-sharing with no loss of pay, showed a way forward against redundancies for the whole working class. In the future the lask wil be to extene sorcase wam such struggles throughout the labour movement through the building of Right to Work Committees in every That way a complete victory a ca can be guaranteed.
WEALTH AFITS Red Weekly 18 December 1975 Fight for Jobs 3