productive' as car companies go year it made record profits of £387m. Despite this it has just announced that one in five jobs are to go in the foundry plant and in excess of 800 jobs are threatened in the engine Plant at Dagenham.
Despite high profits in Britain, Ford, as a multinational company, still investment in new machinery to keep abreast of the cut-throat competition in today's falling international car market.
The Erika, Ford's first world car, has meant millions of pounds have equipping River Rouge in Detroit. Two new plants are being built in Portugal and West Germany.
In America, Ford has lost $1,045 billion in the last nine months and hopes to recoup its losses by boosting its But above all Ford wants to drive down manning (sic) levels in order to cut costs and gain the widest possible markets for its goods.
Trade union leaders in Ford, who have called for "protect' the British car industry, have fallen flat on their face.
In Dagenham, assembly plant stewards led a campaign against a reduction of overtime on the basis that Cortinas being built in Genk, Belgium, could be built in Britain. When Genk production ceased in May so did overtime in the Dagenham assembly plant!
Stan Williams, for Ford UK, has not minced his words about sackings in the foundry plant. clear alternatives: massive maintain production levels; reduction to minor operations; or total closure.
(Westminster Branch)
THE Post Office Engineering Union is run by a rightwing clique known as the Bloc. This was founded in 1948 as a fighting organisation of the right to combat a strong challenge from Communist Party and its supporters for control the union.
After defeating the CP, the Bloc consolidated its position by constitutiona changes which made it easier for its electoral machine to maintan il grip, and since 1948 it has met secretly determine should go on to the national executive council and to circulate anti-communist rumours and gossip.
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director of manufacturing He has three reinvestment to the of who and the loss of the North American market for Fiesta, engine plant will be left producing only one car engine, the Cortina. workers will not be enough to tide Ford UK Supervisory and office staff unions have warned that Ford Detroit could reduce the role of Dagenham to 'assembly work and related marginal activities'. Paul Rootes, head of Ford UK, has refused to give guarantees of the future of the engine plant — a total workforce of 6,000 is at stake!
Only one meeting has been held to discuss. the future of the engine plant — that was two The Ford Workers Group (the Combine), organisation of shop-floor militants, cluding Big Flame, Socialist Challenge and Socialist Worker supporters, is campaigning to protect jobs by calling for the available work to be shared with wages made up from the 80 per cent lay off agreement.
combine wants talks between unions and management over their proposals for a supposedly shorter working week to end. The company wants to remove night production and introduce bell to bell working without shortening the hours worked at all.
This will do nothing to alleviate the effects of unemployment. Its aim is to increase the Ford is a multinational company. Managers of each national company work together to play off Ford UK against workers in other European and American plants. Co-operation in the face of an international recession is vital. The European Ford Workers' Combine meets in June to build such co-operation. FORD IN EUROPE Manufacturing or Assembly plants formerty considered Spain word, ween.
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