Seven hundred redundancies have been announced at the British Aircraft Corporation's 'Concorde" factory in Bristol. But the only supersonic flight these workers will be making is to Avonmouth's everlengthening dole queues if the union leadership at the plant maintain their present passivity.
As part of the national aerospace strike on 6 February, there was a mass meeting and walk-out at BAC. Tribunite MP Ron Thomas addressed the meeting, which supported a resolution calling for 'no more sackings, no more closures until the British Aerospace Corporation is formed" (presumably life's better on the dole queue when you ve been sacked by a nationalised firm).
But there is no evidence that the Amalgamated Union of Engineering Workers District Committee is preparing for a serious fight. No steps have been taken to reduce the 50 nour per monen maximum overtime limit, linked with a campaign to raise basic rates to compensate for loss of earnings. Instead there is more talk of negotiations with management and Eric Varley. Yet Varley's side-kick Gerald Kaufinann, the man sent to the US to sell Concorde, made it clear when interviewed last Friday night that he thought it would be quite unprincipled of me -to intervene Now is the chance for the Aerospace Liaison Committee that called the impressive 100,000-strong strike on 6 February to prove its mettle. Together with the joint shop stewards committees at BAC and Rolls Royce, which is also feeling the threat of redundancies, it should prepare an occupation of the plant to defend all jobs. In doing so it could give a much-needed boost to the 600 strikers at Commonwealth Smelting Limited in Avonmouth, who have now been on strike for 15 weeks against redundancies and wage-cuts.
ittee has been getting support from CSL and BAC for the national Right to Work March. Although this can provide an important national focus for action around unemployment, this must not be counterposed to building the broadest possible unity in Bristol around the struggle against redundancies at BAC, CSL and Rolls Royce.
Ominous signs are appearing as to the The local Right to Work Comm-