by the Rover shop steward has already retreats will lead to more redundancies trol, this would form the basis for an Pre empting Sir Don Ryder's forthcoming report, British Leyland have announced a package deal of redundancies, mainly in Birmingham. The worst hit plant is Austin-Morris at Longbridge, where management approached the shop stewards before Easter with a demand for 1,200 redundancies.
The response of the stewards at the at the Austin plant was stiply to press for these redundancies to be "voluntary A similar position has been.taken by the shop stewards at the other BLMC plants affected - at the Rover, S.U. Carburetters and BLMC Tractors and Transmissions factories. Of course this has been accepted by the BLMC on condition that the volunteers are forthcoming But as a woman shop steward at the Rover plant pointed out, allowing voluntary redundancies opens the door for compulsory redundancies. Yet Jack Dickens, secretary of the Austin works committee at Longbridge, has said that if the volunteers are not forthcoming, then the shop stewards will fight for the extension of the period allowed for volunteers to come torward!
However the danger pointed out become reality. Encouraged by the acceptance of the principle of redundancy by the stewards, the BLMC management have now demanded un1200 already called for - in total, 3100 jobs. Even the shop stewards now realise that in the present economic climate there is little likelihood of this many voluntoers for the dolequeue.
Having accepted voluntary redundancies, the logic of their position reluctantly, forced redundancies or short-time working on a mass scale.
Workers in the industry are now facing progressive retreats by their plant leaderships — not to fight these and short-time working. From here. the short slippery slope to mass sackings is inevitable.
This fight cannot be conducted on other 1900 redundancies on top of the a factory by factory basis, but only on an industry-wide scale. Steps taken now to press for mass meetings on the shop-floor and for conferences of factory delegates from all the car-plants BRITISH LEYLAND in the country, would pay dividends for all workers in the industry, At these meetings, militants could begin to prepare car-workers for a fight agdraws them towards accepting, however ainst redundancies through demands for factory occupations to meet redundancies. Coupled with the demand that the Labour Government immedlately nationalise the car-industry and place the industry under workers coneffective struggle.
Similarly militants should reject completely the Ryder Report and demand that the trade unions conduct their own enquiry into the state of the industry.
John Graham (Birmingham AUEWI LANGUAGE SCHOOL BOSSES MOVE ONTO ATTACK VINN