The Manchester area has the greatest concentration of engineering firms in Britain. If progress was to be made by the unions, a victory here was vital. On 1 March, 'carbon copy' claims were submitted to all firms in the Manchester district of the CSEU for a £4 increase on the weekly rate, an extra week's holiday, and for substantial progress towards equal pay for women. In support of this claim the Manchester CSEU was to initiate a workto-rule and place an embargo on piece-work from 27 March.
Isolation
The workers at GN's Bredbury steel plant, however, decided to take action in advance of the Manchester area as a whole. Management threatened a lock-out, and on 16 March 900 workers occupied the factory. This was to set a pattern followed by at least 34 other factories in the Manchester area, involving between 25,000 and 30,000 workers. But although certain individual factories in Leeds, Sheffield and one in London were also occupied, there was no general move by engineering workers to follow the Manchester example - which on a national scale thus remained isolated.
Even in Manchester the wave of occupations never involved more than 15 per cent of engineering workers at its height. Several major firms did not occupy but staged traditional strikes, and others - such as the giant Trafford Park AEI works - opposed any extension or intensification of the struggle.
These serious divisions within the Manchester engineers resulted from the failure of the key engineering union, the AUEW, to give any real leadership throughout the strikes and occupations. All initiatives and responsibilities for taking action were lett to the local rank-and file on a plant-by-plant basis. Hugh Scanlon, 'left' President of the AUEW, continually promised support for the occupation but never seemed able to deliver the goods.
Throughout the entire Manchester dispute, Scanion and the leadership of the CSEU (with the implicit support of the Communist Party) steadfastly refused to take the only path that could have led to victory over the employers' united front — national co-ordinated action. Instead they used the verbal support given to the occupations and strikes as a militant smokescreen to take the spotlight off the need for national action. Indeed the failure to give a central lead was put forward as confidence in the rank and file and belief in local democracy.
Weaknesses
The advantages of the occupation strike were stressed: it was a guarantee that management could not introduce scab. labour nor continue production; gathered together the strikers were given the opportunity of greater participation in decision making, and because they were not dispersed to their homes there was an enhanced feeling of solidarity; the mere fact of having occupied the employers' property greatly increased the strikers' self-confidence; and by being indoors the workers were much more comfortable than they would have been outside on a picket line in the cold and wet.
But these advantages were by no means sufficient to overcome the strategic disadvantages the strikers faced. The Manchester engineers the giant step forward. opments.
ering the goods'.
In the face of acute social problems and a politically bankrupt leadership, the rank and file used its imagination, took independent action, and learnt from each other's experiences On this front more progress was made in 1972 than in the whole of previous decades. This new mood was epitomised by the actions taken by the Briant's print workers occupying against redundancy, who in the course of their occupation produced material for and on behalf of the campaign to free the Pentonville Five.
But the limitations of this elemental progress have also been clearly seen. It has been the reputations of Benn and other left social democrats which have been most enhanced by these develBy demagogically confusing the meaning of workers' control and - initially at least -appearing to save jobs through the creation of co-operatives, these 'lefts' appeared to be deliv Occupations at Personna in Glasgow by thousands of GEC workers in Cov ences against unemployment in many ment from trade unions and Constitu prospect of a massive jobs demonstra signs that the struggle for the right to But as the struggle increases, new 1