оссиру ON 1 DECEMBER, 1981 Plessey management served 90 days motice on its workforce at Bathgate in Scotland. The factory was to close with the loss of 330 jobs. The workforce has occupied the plant since 25 January.
machinery which management intends to ship to Italy. The occupation, overwhelmingly com posed of women workers, is the second action in Bathgate to defend jobs.
their management and now the courts to save their jobs. Socialist Challenge spoke to some of the women in the Plessey occupation about the situation the town now finds itself in. MARGARET Explained, worker, both factories redundancies this town on its knees.
Loss of the 330 jobs at Plessey would unemployment in Baungare to su per cent Teams Margaret pointed out, *Manv of ine women here have their husbands working at BI.. We are getting support from the whole Teams have been sent out to local factories and shops; they've had a great reception. We are travelling all over to raise support. A delegaton nas been sent to Lee Jeans.
There are four unions involved in the occupalion: the union and its white collar section, TASS, the electricians' union and the They are pledged to stop any movement of Two miles away BL workers are fighting clerical union, APEX.
Most of the women belong to the AUEW and so far have the support from But the fight will be very hard, as June said, *There's work to do in the factory but Plessey will not invest _In machinery. They have taken a great deal out of this place and put nothing back. Plessey last year had nine month profit of [84m and yet they propose to close us down.
Future *We have always been cheap labour. Average take-home must be 159 or here. And bonus. But we will stick it out as long as it takes They are not going to take our jobs well everything else they've got out of us in the past."
Links between the two struggles in Bathgate are growing every level. Last Wednesday a meeting in the town of over 200 shop stewards and convenors from all over the For Plessey and ll support Ann told Socialist Challenge about the welcome DOL 01 stovies which had been cooked in the canteen at Plessey for the frozen BL picket. She *We have to get together because it's sure that the management will get together. TASS convenor at Plessey George the the factory was the fight to save Bathgate's future as was the strike of the BI tractor plant there. those two factories close tere would be no work left in the town.
Breach The occupation action committee on hearing of the proposed closure and the redundancy money be produced balance sheet to show to the Plesser workers. necessities alone it would all be gone in 18 months.
As we left there was still no about management's failure to pay the week's wages owed to the women before the occupation. Similar tactics have been mice with Be But the mood was cheerful and contident and the message was *We'll stick it CUE Money is urgently needed Send donations to Plessey Gc/0 Mary Murphy, Main St Fauldhouse, West Lothian stant eroding of jobs by management.
only 650 workers cient machine eventually arrived.
union occupied.
cupation and were locked out.
Negotiations rounded by snow drifts, 20 to 30 feet deep Dunlop workers for solidarit fact thar Brunmowr blackspots in Wales to be observed. But management would not accept fight. They've chosen to fight.
mised support. matter.
c/o Wales TGWU, Transport House, diff Laurence Scott Strike Bulletin No 3 and their appeal for action against the AUEW council NOW OUT.
committee, 20 Rounderoft, gratefully accepted seriously mishandled Rule 14, paragraph five COUNCIL General Sccretary:
Cheshire with donations. SOME TWO months ago 450 workers occupied the Dunlop DiY plant at Brynmar South East Wales. Dunlop, the biggest employer in Brynmawr was occupied in protest against the conAt its height, in the late '70s, Dunlop employed 1,800 workers in Brynmawr. Today, a major redandancy dea and many small scale redundancies later, Dunlop employs During all this time the workers proudly boasted that not a day's work was lost through industrial unrest. Large scale reinvestment had been promised. One pitifully anJust before Christmas more redundancies were propos ed. 450 workers from the clearical section of the transport The members of the enginerring union and the office staff union, ASTMS, did not join the oc management had been considering shedding up to half the remaining workforce. The occupying workers survived the bitterest blizzards in living memory in South Wales, surIn mid January Dunlop announced the closure of the plant because of lost production! The negotiators from Wales transport union took over. Delegations from the local workers movement were received and appeals to were made.
The arbitration service, ACAS, stepped in. The Wale officials of the TG WU tried to make a new agreement. The union would accept the total closure of the plan despite the the unemployment In return full redundancies rights for all workers were The 1980 Tory Employment Act meant that the state would give nothing to workers who had lost their jobs through an industrial dispute. The Dunlop workers faced a choice: permanent unemployment or to press on with the Leicester Dunlop has banned overtime in support o Brynmawr and other branches in the Combine have pro Negotiations have now moved to a British level. Moss Evans, general secretary of the transport union, has been briefed and on 4 February a British team is due to meet Dunlop UK. Uf this fails the workers say that a national campaign at every level should be launched. As they point out taking on a giant multinational like Dunlop is no easy Send donations and messages of support to Dunlop strike Cowbridge Rd. Car NEW issue with the case of the Scott strikers engineers ORDER, 2p each plus postage, from LSE strike Romiley, Cheshire All donations for the AUEW rule 14' campaign Laurence Scott Strike Committee Protest resolution for AUEW branches THIS branch believes executive council has the Scott As this is an issue of concern to all AUEW members the branch demands a ballot for removal of executive council in line with Rule 14, paragraph five states: "The executive or any member thereof may be removed from office by a ballot of the membership of the union provided such a ballot is demanded by ten per cent or more of the branches and not less than two thirds of the membership are in favour of such removal. The ballot should be conducted by the If your branch supports the protest resolution make sure it is sent to the AUEW general office, TI0 Peckham Rd. London SE15 and a copy is sent to the strike committee, 20 Rounderoft, Romiley, Soctatist Challenge 4 February 1982
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Bathgate workers at Plessey are following in their sisters' ac- tion (above) who in 1977 worked-in to stop redundancies at the Kirby factory here mod that with