Shipyard Workers Strengthen their Unity for Equal Pay in Defiance of Mass Sackings

Workers' Daily Internet Edition: Article Index :

Shipyard Workers Strengthen their Unity for Equal Pay in Defiance of Mass Sackings

Workers Must Solve Overproduction Crisis

Walk Out at Oil Refinery

News In Brief
CWU Announces October 1 London Postal Strike
Lecturers Strike over Allowances
London Local Government Workers Back Action
Firefighters’ London Weighting Battle
Lecturers Protest against Job Losses
Fujitsu Services Dispute
Further Job Cuts at Goodyear

On Wednesday, September 17, 98 sacked sub-contract shipyard workers were reinstated after 3,000 Shipyard workers from Swan Hunter and Amec on Tyneside staged a strike on September 15 in solidarity with the sacked workers who had themselves been on strike for equal pay with other workers at the yards. The employers were forced to concede when the shipyard workers and sub-contractors threatened to continue their actions unless the men were reinstated and their demands met.

The 98 sub-contract shipyard workers are from C&D Industrial Services – sheet metal workers, joiners and laggers, at Swan Hunter, Amec, and McNulty's. The workers are presently working on a naval vessel at Swans and the giant Bonga oil platform at Amec.

After a meeting with their trade union at Wallsend Peoples Centre the sub-contractors agreed to return to work on condition that talks continue between their unions and management to bring wages in line with those enjoyed by other yard workers. Amicus regional officer Dave Harrison, reported in the local press, said that talks would begin with C&D, adding: "Members have agreed overwhelmingly to return to work to allow these negotiations to take place. We have a two-week deadline to resolve the problem and we will aim to do exactly that and give them the parity they have been asking for from day one."

One C&D worker was reported as saying: "We are satisfied with what the union has put forward at this stage and we hope that they will be able to bring the dispute to an end over the next couple of weeks. All the lads were very impressed and grateful for the tremendous support we received from our colleagues at Amec and Swan Hunter."

The sub-contract workers want equal pay with regular yard workers, who they say get £11.30 an hour, compared with sub contractors' £9.35 an hour. Letters were sent to the striking workers warning if they did not return they would be sacked. Then they were dismissed almost immediately after failing to return to work on September 12.

At that time a sheet metal worker told the Evening Chronicle "Letters have been sent about the action we took as we were not getting the same rate of pay as others doing a similar job. Some of us are going down to get our tools as there is no way we are going back for less money than other men at the yard. We knew we were taking a risk when we walked out but there are men in the yard who are semi-skilled and are getting £2-an-hour more than tradesmen."

David Harrison, regional officer for the AEEU, was reported as saying: "We support the claim, the only difference of opinion is the way in which members have progressed it. We are asking the lads to get back into the legal requirements for the union to progress it but they are still saying no."

This latest strike by shipyard workers on Tyneside is one of a long line of struggles that the workers have had to wage in recent years against the practice of the multinational companies who use contract labour to cut wages and worsen health and safety conditions.

Whilst these employers can step up the exploitation of the shipyard workers through such practices without fear of prosecution for discriminating against the pay and conditions of the workers the state has laws in place to outlaw the just struggle of the workers and their trade unions. In this case the trade union would be open to prosecution if it supports the "illegal" strike and the workers can be "legally" sacked if the strike is "illegal". The state then acts through these laws as a partner in crime in allowing the employers to sack these shipyard workers for affirming their rights through strike action.

Undeterred these shipyard workers are upholding the collective interests of workers when they say "there is no way they are going back for less money than other men at the yard". It is this spirit that shows the interests of the workers can never be the same as those who in interest of maximum profits for the rich want to divide them increase their exploitation. It is this stand that has inspired 3,000 shipyard workers to walk out in solidarity and opposing the unjust laws of the state that might be used against them.

To defend their interests the shipyard workers have no other option but to develop their unity and the class struggle against these attacks on their livelihood. This the shipyard workers have done and they are waging this battle all over again just as the last generation of shipyard workers did before them. They have their solidarity and they have this experience but there is also the need to wage these battles on a new historical basis. This means that it is in the interests of all workers to start to discuss and organise around why in this society their rights are not defended and why the law which claims to represent their interests equally with the employer is actually aimed against them. In their discussions and actions the workers learn to differentiate between what assists their struggle and what harms it and to keep the initiative in their own hands. From struggles to defend themselves against increased exploitation by opposing a law and state that is used to side with the employers they learn to take up the struggle to transform society by directly developing their own worker politicians and fighting for a new society where their rights and the rights of all are paramount.

An important supplier to the motor industry is to close with the loss of more than 600 jobs. Hydro Aluminium Motorcasts, which has been based in Leeds for more than 60 years, said it can no longer continue in the face of cheap foreign competition.

The company is placing 612 workers at its Clarence Road site on the scrap heap because they cannot ensure maximum profits. If the proposals are accepted all employees, including local directors, will be made redundant with half leaving by next summer and the remainder leaving by spring 2005. The firm has recorded losses every year since 1997 and has failed to win a new order for five years. The firm produces cast aluminium engine blocks and cylinder heads for a number of carmakers including General Motors and Ford.

Overproduction leading to economic slump is an on-going problem of capitalism. Anarchy in production creates a situation where market driven economies cannot maintain constant unfettered production and capitalism is incapable of ensuring uninterrupted extended reproduction and the result is chaos and the destruction of the productive forces. The relations of production whereby workers do not control what they produce and society has no say in the fate of the social product must be transformed. A planned economy putting the needs of the people at the centre is the only alternative.

At Motorcasts, operations director Steve Watson admitted that the workforce had been made to compete against cheaper foreign-made products and said, "The simple truth is that there is global over-capacity in the automotive components industry and we simply cannot compete against cheaper competitors based abroad."

As usual with capitalism, workers are called upon to line up behind their employers in order to compete for the market. Only workers' solidarity can reduce that competition. The day must come when the workers take centre stage and put the full weight of their organisations and consciousness behind their right to a sustained livelihood. In doing so the new arrangements can also be put in place that will fulfil their aspirations for an alternative society.

More than 600 contractors at one of the biggest oil refineries in Europe walked out claiming it was unsafe to work at the sprawling site. Workers are wary that oil giant Texaco and union leaders at the Pembroke refinery, in west Wales, joined forces to appeal to them to return to work. Both sides claim that safety issues at the site have been fully dealt with and are calling for the men to return to work. When serious safety issues are at stake it is important that that class collaboration does not take place simply for the sake of making sure the superprofits of the oil companies are maintained.

A total of 2,800 contractors currently work at the plant, which has been shut while a major refit, costing more than £60 million, is carried out. Danny Fellows, regional manager with the T&G union, said part of the problem stemmed from unfounded rumours about safety at the site. "We had one report that someone had broadcast an alert saying workers are 'dropping like flies' because of a gas leak," he said.

It is a fact that in such a large complex employers cover up the real situation. It is not rumour mongering when the only way to communicate is by underground means. Another worker said that a contractor had broken his back in an accident. Workers have to make sure that their safety interests are secure and should keep the initiative in their own hands.

Dave Ward, the deputy general secretary of the Communications Workers Union (CWU), announced on September 24 that the union's 30,000 postal members in Royal Mail and Post Office counters will come out on a 24 hour strike on October 1 in support of increases in London allowances. Some action will also be taken in Parcelforce. Billy Hayes, the union's general secretary, said at a press conference that it was a position of crisis not in the CWU, but in the postal service in Britain. Asked about the national dispute, Billy Hayes said, "Last week the union's members decided by the narrowest majority that it did not wish to pursue the union's pay demands with strike action. That does not mean, as Royal Mail appears to think, that the issue is closed. It is not. The members continue to support the claim. Last week they took a tactical decision about how to pursue it, and decided that strike action is not appropriate at this stage. That does not change their attitude towards low pay: only about how to end it."

Lecturers Strike over Allowances

University lecturers and support staff at higher education institutions began strike action on September 22 in protest at a freeze on London Weighting. Unison and the Association of University Teachers (AUT) said that up to 130,000 students were hit by the walkouts, a series of rolling two-day strikes which started at University College and Goldsmiths. Staff at Queen Mary’s and the School of Oriental and African Studies took action later in the week.

London Local Government Workers Back Action

Local government workers in London have backed industrial action in a dispute over the London Weighting. Members of Unison at local authorities across the capital will walkout on October 16 as part of a campaign for an increase in London Allowance payments. The workers have staged a series of strikes over the past 18 months. A consultative ballot showed 80% support for industrial action as part of a campaign for an increase in the allowance to £4,000 a year from the current range of between £1,500 and £2,850. The result shows a 10% increase in support for industrial action since the original strike ballot in May 2002.

Firefighters’ London Weighting Battle

London firefighters have been battling for a year for the London Weighting to rise to £6,111. But fire brigade bosses decided to impose a settlement that brings the extra annual payment to £4,308, up £1,137 from the situation prior to July

The Fire Brigades Union has indicated its determination to continue the battle for higher wages, saying it wants London weighting to be fixed at 27 per cent of a firefighter's salary. This would bring it to £6,400. London FBU spokesman Mick Shaw said on September 19: "It's something we are certainly considering taking industrial action on."

Lecturers Protest against Job Losses

University lecturers in Sunderland held a rally on September 23 to protest against possible job losses. The demonstration came after union leaders claimed cuts at the city's university would mean compulsory redundancies. A spokesman for the university and college lecturers' union NATFHE, said about 40 staff took part in the demonstration, outside the university's Langham Tower. He said the lecturers were angry at the threat of compulsory redundancies, which reflect the severe under-funding of higher education.

Fujitsu Services Dispute

Amicus members at Fujitsu Services, West Gorton, Manchester, are fighting to defend their rights and for a pay claim. Amicus believes that the company is aiming at de-recognition of the union.

Fujitsu Services is an IT services company, and was called ICL until April 2002. There are around 850 staff at the site out of about 8,500 in Britain, and 13,100 across Europe, the Middle East and Africa. The parent company, Fujitsu, is based in Japan, and has a turnover of around US$38 billion. Around one in three of the West Gorton workforce are paid less than the bottom of the company's own pay scales, which they now keep secret from their own staff. These pay scales are the company's assessment of the "market rate" for each job. This means that the workers are paid far below the "going rate". The company has been cutting jobs and terms and conditions for employees. It has launched a major attack on the union, breaking the union recognition and redundancy agreements.

The workers plan to strike on Monday September 29. They are planning a "motorcade" protest. This follows a strike on September 15, when a picket took place from the early morning. Far more staff stayed away than just the amicus membership – the car park was less than half full, and there were even plenty of spaces in the managers' car park.

The company wants to present industrial action as a threat to the workers’ jobs. Amicus says that it recognises that the action will harm the company, but are taking it as a last resort, after months of trying to get the company to negotiate seriously. But the choice to allow the company to attack the workers’ rights is no alternative, as then there would be no end to the attacks.

Further details can be found on: http://www.ourunion.org.uk/icl/man05.htm

Further Job Cuts at Goodyear

More than 400 Goodyear Dunlop workers may lose their jobs after the announcement on September 23 of further cuts in the West Midlands. The decision to end production of car and light truck tyres in Wolverhampton was described as devastating news by the Transport and General Workers Union. Cyril Barrett, TGWU convenor, said: "I demand Goodyear management, the government and local government agencies join with the trade unions to work on a plan that can secure a future for part of the Wolverhampton factory."