Land Rover: unite for wages and jobs

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WORKERS in BL's Land Rover/ Freight Rover subsidiary have voted by 2-1 for strike action in pursuit of their pay claim of £12 on the basic rate plus £7.50 bonus consolidation.

The action is due to commence on Priday 13, and there is no doubting the militancy of the workers at the two largest plants, Solihull and Common Lane (Birmingham).

Richard Gould, the Common Lane convenor, summed up the feeling in his plant where the vote was 785 to 315 for action: • 'It was a simple decision for our people. We have taken meagre pay rises for the past five or six years and people are frankly sick of it. It is time to make a stand."

At Solihull the vote was even more decisive with only 200 of the 3,000-strong workforce against the strike.

However, the votes at the smaller plants (eight in the Birmingham area plus Pengham in Cardiff) generally went against By Jim Denham strike action. This was clearly not because of any satisfaction with the Company's miserable offer, (amounting to only 3% in new money) but because all nine plants are scheduled for complete or partial closure over the next two years, as Land Rover concentrates production on Solihull.

It is vital that no. split is allowed to develop between Solihull and Common Lane on the one hand and the smaller plants on the other.

Land Rover managing director Tony Gilroy has attempted to exploit the fears of redundancy and closure in the small plants by sending out a letter to employees warning of more job losses if the strike goes ahead.

But the opposite is the truth. The only way of defending Land Rover jobs is on the basis of a successful, united fight over the pay claim. That is the message that delegations of stewards from Solihull and Common Lane should be taking out to the other plants this week.