By Rab Bird and Clive Turnbull, AUEW, Sheffield LAST week a 'Triple Alliance' demonstration and vival Plan was cancelled.
Out of 22,000 redundancies proposed nationally, 3,000 in South Yorkshire. response of ine bstarts commilee i tue area was to fight for its policy of opposing job ioss to de realtrmca al mass meetings in every plant. This quickly happened at River Don and kotherham.
At the same time, delegates from South Yorkshire Crafts also tion at the Sheffield Steel working Party on The MacGregor Plan doesn't just mean the loss of jobs in BSC. sacked, four others will lose their jobs in those industries dependant powel and railway drivers.... For this reason contacts nad been developing with other unions for some months to launch a united fightback. Redundancies The Sheffield Working together not just the unions in BSC, but also those in ine private steel sector Although right wing union leaders in firms like Hadfields had been sitting back rubbing their hands believing their jobs were safe, the MacGregor Plan will affect them too.
The Tories have been planning for some time to hive-off parts of BSC to private industry. But if companies like Lonrho or GKN uy up BSC plants order books.
are more modern and have had millions of pounds recently invested in them. Then the other older plants will face closure and large scale redundancies!
A turther reason for seeking broad support for a fightback lay in the attack on trade union organisation ing. South nard Connolly explained that 'BSC management are trying to pull tne same tricks as it.
Leyland. This is the Tories' new Employment Act in practice. They've learnt a few lessons from Heath's try at it.
'Last time they made une threatening the union leaders, but you don't Kill the lame mice you ve got running on wheel in a cage, when it's the ones behind the Skirting boards who are eating the cheese. Sc it's the shop floor organisation that they're after now, and there are a few in the TUC wouldn't be teo upset if the Tories did their dirty work for them by picking off the rank and file leaders.
Negotiations negotiations. MacGregor's unions is a six months freeze on wages. Steve Pilley, a Boilermakers shop steward at BSC Rotherham, outlined how the management's claim that reducing the wage bill was essentialo to survival, was nonsense.
Al lils mceung management presenied ‹ set of figures showing how our price of £180 per ton was way above the German. Japanese and other plants; how their productivity was Socialist Challenge conference BSC Surmanagement are looking tor The immediate proposed broader achorevery sleeworkci SICCI workers, dockers, Party brings well. it won't just be for their because these plants that MacGregor is makYorkshire Cratts convenor BerStake who 'offer' 15 January 1981 Steel Strike: An Illustrated Review, South Yorkshire and Humberside Steel Strike Committee, £1.25.
Boilermakers shop steward, THIS is record ot the strike. Week by week the story of the dispute is told through photographs от Ine main events Hadfields, the fire bombing of the demonstrations and rallies, the rests, TRe sondarity.
higher and so on. So we said: OK, never mind the cost of a wage increase. How much would you save per ton if we all worked for nothing? After a lot of humming and haaing, they said ES per ton at most!
The fight to defend jobs in BSC has beer sabotaged by the national union leaderships. MacGregor's ballot in support of the Survival Plan and a six month pay freeze has been backed by the NUB and GMWU, the AUEW EEPTU, and other craft unions! The ISTC, medals.
1980 steel as did the pickets, the ar- be needing Ana COCK OROos whilst sort tional alongside this the posters were war Then the final day of sell-out by Sirs and Co, and the mass meeting at Clifton Park. The local paper sums up the outcome: 'Surely they have earned the name of MEN OF STEEL, the many women steelworkers and wives.
Виу а сору, even at £1.25. money goes to South Yorkshire and Humberside steelworkers, and we'll it to fight MacGregor's opposing MacGregor has behind yet again by calling it's own ballot, instead of organising a fight.
As in every other attack on jobs, Sirs and Co have said to the membership if you fight we're behind you: well, well behind.
leadership steelworkers take the redundancy money. No plant faced with closure nas much fighting alone. So in the absence of any naaction from the union workers won't gamble money when the crunch turns round and says:
tion plants such as sectarian with other unions.
time there wi any action led from also workers.
With this 'Triple Alliance' Sirs, Joe Gormley, chance ticularly when Weighell attacks executive, with their pay-oft Then Sirs we were reavo a but the membership wasn't with us.' In South Yorkshire a further obstacle to unity has been the role of full time officials in attacking the joint shop stewards organisaStocksbridge. craft full time officials played into the hands of the right wing ISTC leadership with their opposition to joint organisation The next meeting of the Sheffield Steel Working Party is on 29 January, but by tha 1 be little chance of organising The only hope for launching a fight in defence of jobs lies with BSC workers themselves. A detemined struggle from those plants in the front line would lay the basis fo drawing in, not just other steel workers, the rank and file miners and railwa no chance of a fighting steel, Coal workers being established by the likes of Bil For Sidney Weighell, ASLEF for proposing industrial action to even detend
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called for 27 January in Sheffield against MacGregor's