BL: final decision

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ON WEDNESDAY a delegate conference representing the 38,000 workers in BL Austin Rover division is to take a final decision on whether to recommend BL's latest two year wage offer for acceptance, or reject it and recommend action.

The recent track record of the delegate conference, however, gives little confidence that they are prepared to lead any kind of fight. Last week they managi :d to completely reverse the decision reached by a 10 to 1 majority at a series of mass meetings throughout the plants.

The delegate conference itself had called the mass meetings in order to urge rejection of the principle of a two year contract, and on this they received massive support. Then, after one round of negotiatiors with management at which the company used the obvious tactic of offering slightly more money on a two year deal than on a one-year deal (although both offers are derisory, the two year deal being about 5% per year), they capitulated completely and reversed their opposition to the two year principle At that meeting there were three resolutions. One from Cowley Assembly said reject both offers and strike from November 1. One from Longbridge said reject both offers and call a token strike on November 1 followed by an overtime ban; and one called for negotiations to get the best two year deal possible.

The third resolution was carried with a majority of 73 to 59, and the policy reversed, with no reference to the membership who had taken the decision.

Negotiations on the two year deal took place on Monday of this week around what appears to be a new claim, drawn up by the Joint Negotiating Committee (JNC), of which BL workers have no knowledge. These negotiations resulted in an additional 50p per week on the second year of the deal.

Terry Duffy's man Ken Cure moved for acceptance of this offer, but this was rejected 20 to 12, and the resolution to be put by the JNC to the delegate conference:

"Due to the fact that the company's offer is far from satisfactory on all negotiations, be it the one year or the two year offer, this JNC recommends to a full delegate conference that the offer should be rejected. We should then debate what action should be taken* for hundreds of millions. for hundreds of millions.

With any economic upturn, these prices will start rising again.And the carnival will repeat itself.

The world poverty, unemployment and inflation are all effects of capitalist crisis - which can be shuffled and shifted a little, but not cured without changing the system.

Price controls, tavoured many in the labour UNEMPLOYMENT RATE BUSINESS ANKRUPTCY RATE by NEGOTIATIONS Birmingham and DHSS strikes about staffing leveis have now gone national. natinnal In the regional negotiations concerning the Oxford office, management.conceded all the points made by CPSA and SCPS reps, but arrogantly declared that the problems were caused by a bad office management rather than shortage of staff! This provocation has redoubled the resolve of the Maston Road strikers, now in their fourth week on strike.

The effect of the DHSS combining negotiations has been to give the Birmingham and Oxford strikes national prominence. Clearly any decision to grant more staff will be made at Cabinet level: equally clearly, it will need national action in the DHSS to force the Government's hand.

The strikes have not been used by the leadership of the unions to build and launch national campaign on staffing cuts. There is no political will to do so.

Problems over 'enough money in the kitty to fund a national strike are being used to blackmail members in other CPSA offices not to come out too. Instead there is the call for 'disciplined action' , with a clear instruction to focus on Birmingham alone.

What is required immediately is for those on strike in Birmingham and Oxford to forge links to share the es movement as an answer to inflation, are an attempt to regulate the riotous progress of capitalist crisis by government decree, and can only be a sham.

Instead, we need a way of organising the working class now to fight the effects of inflation - and deflation! - and prepare to deal with their causes in the system of production for profit. knowledge gained and probl ems experienced so far in their dispute. Unity is vital when taking on this government.

Meanwhile in Oxford the post is being delivered about 6.30 and the picket is too small to stop it. Help is needed on the picket line.

Mass pickets have been called for every Monday, 7 to 9.30, and Oxford Trades Council has called on all its affiliates to support.

On November 2 the Claimants' Defence Committee in Oxford is holding a campaign meeting, Sign On Today, Jail Tomorrow' This is to build the campaigning work on homelessness and unemployment which they have begun in response to Operation Malor.

À representative from the DHSS strike committee will be among the platform speakers.

Unemployed groups and DHSS unions should be inviting speakers from the strike committee and the CDC to their future meetings.

Messages/ donations: M.Robertson, 24 Beechcrofi Road.

ALAN STEPHENS LAST MINUTE: At the Ox. ford DH SS mass meeting on Wednesday, SCPS and CPSA members unanim. ously threw out the deal accepted by the CPSA nat. ional executive and recom. mended to them by nat. ional president Kevin Roddy in person.

Automatic cost-of-livin Automatic cost-of-livin wage-rise agreementi (with a working-class pria index) and work-sharin under workers' control witi no loss of pay provide sucl a perspective. While organ ising the labour movemen to resist the effects of crisi and not get caught in futil attempts to manage i better), they point toward workers' control workers' planning.

BREATHTAKING!

AND THEY SAID WE WERE Wright 2 1982 Mam