Sit-in saves textiles

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Is sabotage blacking women at the Lovable Bra factory in Cumbernauld, near Glasgow, ended last Friday (March 12), when a takeover deal for the factory was finally concluded.

The women's fight began in the new year when the receiver, who had been running the factory since mid October the previous year, refused to provide guarantees about future job security for the 320 workers at the factory.

For six weeks the women carried out a round-the-clock sit-in and then, when declared redundant, moved out to picket the warehouse • in order to prevent the backlog of stock being sold off.

Whilst the sit-in and picketing were being enforced, negotiations about a take-over of the factory dragged on.

Potential buyers by Star ged and then vanished again. Deals seemed on the brink of conclusion and then collapsed again as one of the partners in the negotiations pulled out.

But however often the seemingly imminent takeover failed to materialise, the women carried on their fight.

And it was a fight against the odds: they received even less support from their union - the National Union of Tailors and Garment Workers - than did the women at Lee Jeans; the response from the local labour movement fell far short of what could have legitimately been expected; and outside of Cumbernauld itself, the fight was scarcely publicised.

"We never received much support," Sadie Laing, the NUTGW convenor told Socialist Organiser. "Once you're in a sit-in like this, the support should come automatically. We didn't f we should have to go rou the local factories cap hand. The support should spontaneous.

Collections

Most of the donations which came in were not from the local labour movement bodies but the result of collections by the women around local pubs and clubs. And the biggest donation of all - £210 - was donated by a local theatre group who staged a play about the weavers' uprising to raise funds for the women's fight.

Even some of the local employers did more to support their fight than sections of the labour movement. The Portacabin used by women while picketing the warehouse, for example, was donated by a local building AFTER five weeks on strike for union rights and against wage cuts and despite scab labour, women of Rulescan are still as determined as ever to win.

Successful blacking of the catalogue warehouses firm.

But after nine weeks of a sit-in and • then picketing the women's hopes for a new buyer of the factory were finally realised. A consortium involving two of the firm's former directors and two businessmen from south of the border, with financial backing from the Scottish Development Agency, the Royal Bank of Scotland and the Industrial and Commercial Finance Corporation, are taking over the factory and will be operating under the name of Modewear Ltd.

The pay and working conditions for the women working for Modewear will be exactly the same as under the previous owners but the number taken on has been cut, in the short term at least, from 320 to 92, although the women are optimistic about the expansion of the workforce.

"We begin work again tomorrow (14 March). 92 are going to be employed straightaway. The 92 will be the ones who have been most involved in the fight. We hope it won't be long before the number of employees is doubled and eventually the workforce will be the same size as when we were all made redundant," said Sadie.

Given the lack of support which the women received, to maintain any jobs at all must be recognised as a victory. But there can be no guarantees that the workforce will grow again to its previous size.

And yet the determination of the women showed that the retention of the 320 jobs could have been achieved in the short term had they received the support they deserved - especially from their own union.

Asked what she thought the main lessons to be drawn from this dispute were, Sadie commented:

"The main lesson is:

House, 129 St John's Way. Mar.26: Central America -still the USA's backyard?

HORNSEY Labour Party: Spring Festival. Saturday March 27, 3pm to midnigh1 at the YMCA Hall, Tottenham Lane, Crouch End. Ad mission f1, unwaged 50p.

MANCHESTER Labour Committee on Ireland meetings (LP members only). Thursday April 1, 7.30 at th Briton's Protection pub, Gt Bridgewater St, Manchester Speakers from Women and Ireland group, May 8 Organ. ising Committee, and 'Irish in Britain Representation Renan' LEEDS Troops Out Movement: public meeting with speakers from TOM and the Bradford 12 Support Committee: 'Political Prison ers are not Criminals'. . 8pm at Trades Club, Savile Moun Leeds 7.

BRITAIN OUT of Ireland!

Self determination for the Irish people! Demonstration (Gratton and Kayes), supported by USDAW members is beginning to bite.

Lorries have been turned back, and delivery of some doth has been stopped.

Runcorn Trades Council has called a demonstration in don't take the receiver's word if he says you're bankrupt. It happens all too frequently that the receiver moves in, strips the assets and then moves out again. If the company is viable, then the receiver should be duty bound to try and find another buyer, no matter how long it takes.

"And what needs stressing is that we wouldn't have won if we hadn't carried on the picketing. People said we were mad, but if we hadn't been sitting there for three weeks, we would have nothing now. For the first three nights of picketing we were out in the open and had to face the gales and the snow. There were forty girls out picketing and the victory is all due to them." *CC support on Saturday March 20, and some money has been collected.

Although it has been made official by the National Union of Tailors and Garment Workers, no other help is being given by the Executive Board or Head Office.

The local official has been left completely isolated to deal with everyday union problems (which are numerous in the clothing industry) and also run the strike.

No attempt The women - though learning rapidly - need all the help they can get.

But the Executive Board has made no attempt to get support from other clothing factories or from women who have been in similar struggles (Lee Jeans, Lovable Bras etc).

As a result of this blacking, the factory boss met area and local officials and agreed to take back half the workforce. This would have left 25-30 women outside the gates while those taken back would be outnumbered by non-union labour.

Turned down

This was turned down by the strikers, and the shop steward has said that it is "all back or nothing"

The latest move by the employer is to seek a court injunction against the official and the USDAW convenor for secondary blacking.

The first reaction of the NUTGW General Secretary was to tell the official to ignore it because he has had "plenty of similar problems"!

But this is only a front. It has been revealed that the very same day he was issuing this statement he was phoning the employer to say that the secondary blacking would be lifted.

This is a gross betrayal and an attack on union rights via the Prior Act.

Instruction

The local official has now been instructed by Head Office to write to USDAW and tell them to lift the blacking.

If this is done the whole future of the strike is in jeopardy.

This must not be allowed. The strikers must demand that the shop stewards in the area call on the Executive Board to condemn the General Secretary's actions.

The branches of the union must come to the defence of those officials who are prepared to fight in defence of their members.

Jean Munro

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