The 150 production workers at London Artid Plastics Ltd. in Slough have been on strike for more than two weeks, demanding the reinstatement of a shop steward and four workers, who were suspended by the management.
While the immediate cause of the dispute was the suspension of these workers, underlying it is a long history of racial discrimination pracused by manacemen an accepteu by nost of the white workers. Of the 200 workers in the factory, 50 or so are white-they have the belter-paid, les arduous jobs, The lower-paid production jobs are done by Asian and West Indian workers, Some of the Indian and Pakistani women workers, for example, are employed on heavy work like sand-blasting.
In addition, the Factory Acts are being ignored. Each shift works eight hours with no tea breaks, and during the half-hour lunch break production on the line has to be carried on at Che usumt high rate. The dispute began when the management demanded a 25% increase in the production targets, and summarily suspended the five Indian and Pakistani workers who found they could not manage the increase. Yel no action had been laken the previous week against a white worker who had failed lo achieve more than half of the old targets.
Anout nalf of the black workers are in the Transport und General Workers Union, and four T&G shop stewards are leading the strike. However, the convenor, a white woman worker, is crossing the picket line every day, along with the other white workers, some of whom are also T&G members. It is worth noting that in this dispute, for the first time in Slough. the Indian and Pakistani women workers have come our solidly with the men.
The T&G official responsible, a Mr. Willat, told unahle to maice the strike official hecause the procedure had not been followed." He told the workers that the strike was: Your choice, not ours. He also climed that ibere was no racis! discrimination in the factory.
After negotiations last Tuesday the Union officials stated, almost in the same breath, that the management refused to reinstate the five men, and that the Union would not make the strike official.
The T&d officials are resolutely dodging the isue of racism, and hiding behind their procedures to refuse official bucking for the strike. The immediate effect of their attitude has been to produce demoralisation amongst the strikers, and its long-term effect could very well be to drive members out of the Untion in disillusionment. This dispute underlines the importance of a ficht by black workers to force the trade unions to recognise their special problems and to resist the racist intluences which affect many white trade union members. words, there will have to be an enormous acceleration of women's pay increases if the provisions of the Act are to be met. If, for example, over the next two years, men's rates rise by 20 per cent, women's rates would have to rise by an average of 36 per cent and in some industries by as much as 50 or 70 per cent. Given the critical stage of Britsh capitalism reflected in the Tories all-out attack on wages through the pay laws, it should be obvious that there is no intention on the part of the capitalist class to give such large increases to women WOrKETS The Tories therefore must be preparing either to repeal the Act or at the very least to delay its implementation indefinitely, Employers who are going slow on its implementation are evidently confident that they will soon be released from their obligations. Il is imperative, therefore, that the labour movement should not only struggle against the increasing use of loop. holes in the Act, but should also be prepared to resist its complete sabotage, which tbe Tories are planning as part of their general attack on the living sandards of the working class. A chael Price
This Saturday, in Liverpool, delegates from all over the country will be meeting to discuss the way ferward for the campaign in defence of the Shrewsbury 24. This conference has an important job to do; it must start to organise the biggest push from the working class movement we've seen yet on the question of Shrewsbury. Engineers, miners, dockers, and many other groups of workers, are now taking up the Shrewsbury campaign. The prospect of their own struggle now looms large. For them, as well as for the rest of the working class movement. certain important questions must be answered. What does Shrewsbury mean for the ability to picket? How should we organise to prevent any more attacks on this crucial instrument of working class struggle? How does Shrewsbury fit into the general offensive against Phase 3 now building up? And, most importantly, what part can the Shrewsbury campaign play in the struggle against the Tory Government?
IN THE BEGINNING When the Shrewsbury case first began to break/ through the ring of silence imposed by the capitalist press. the workers movement was in fight against the Tory Government and the talks.
MOVING FORWARD The key to all this was the central defence committee's call for local defence committees in every area. In Sheffield, Edinburgh, London, even places like Brighton and Colchester, defence committees were set up, involving representatives of most of the local labour movement. In these areas, and many others, initiatives were taken to build up interest in Shrewsbury and fight back against the Tories. Trades Councils organised local conferences, delegates were sent on demonstrations; money was collected and rallies were held. At least a small section of the rank and file began to move into action.
These activities, together with the local fight back against the employers' speed-up and attacks on orginsation (for example at Chrysler), began to move sections of the working class forward again. A series of victories were won at the trade union conferences held throughout the summer. In ASTMS and the AUEW, for instance, a resolution was passed rejecting an Incomes Policy under any government. Finally Scanion was forced to withdraw from the talks. quittal of the 24 will not stop the effective use of police on picket lines, nevertheless the tactioal edge will clearly be decided by the defence which can be mounted onw The failure of the trade union leadership to come to the aid of the Shrewsbury workers so far could be a signal for even more extensive intimidation by police on gicket lines. We must make the defence of these workers part and parcel of the offensive of the working class around the engineers and miners Local defence commutees in the areas must convene conferences to spell out plans for mobilising the local working class movement to defend the Shrewsbury 24. We face big new struggles, which are threatened by the growing use of the police. We must not allow the polioc to break up pickets and arrest militants-even If they are eventually 'let off. That means that all local bodies of the labour movement must set up defence bodies for pickets in the struggles to come. Special meetings should be held to prepare for local picketing. Arrangements should, and can, be made to protect every local picket. This is the lesson of Shrewsbury, Now, more than ever, we must show the Tory Government that attacks on picketing will meet massive opposition. This implies a massive show of force in all industries in solidarity with the Shrewsbury 24 when their case opens on 3 October.
COMMUNIST PARTY These activities extend and strengthen the independence of the working cluss from the trade union bureaucracy. They depend on increusing activity in the locilities. They are not part of a recipe for creating 'ginger groups" in the bureau cracy as the way forward. The Communist Party, however, bases its activity on such a recipe (indeed wrote the cookbook). At the moment, through their actions in the areas, they are trying to oppose representation from local defence bodies at the Liverpool Conference. All along the line they have opposed the organisation of local actions by the defence committees, and they will continue to do so With the rising prospects of class struggle, the bureaucracy a forced more and more to aban don the idea of an easy deal with the Tory Government. Nevertbeless it is scared to death by the rise of militant strugeles. The possibility of creating a real independence of the rank and file of the working class has not been greater for a long time.