.. on Clydeside WOMEN TASS MEMBERS at John Brown's engineering in Clydebank have won increases leading to a £1,500 minimum wage after a three day strike.
The settlement fell short of what could have been wen and what most of the strikers wanted. But it gave a tremendous boost to the self-confidence of the women, taught a lesson to many of the male workers, and inflicted a defeat on the management's strategy of trying to split the traditional TASS membership - mainly male draughtsmen - from the newly unionised and lower paid office workers mainly women.
IDENTICAL
An almost identical dispute over equal pay at the Personna razor blade factory in Hillington shows this strateay is widespread in Crlasgow. The dispute began a month ago when John Brown management replied to a TASS claim. The offer gave draughtsmen increases of up to £700, whilst leaving the women at rales as low as £1375 in all. Some women in jobs not lone ago done by men were Striking women workers on the picket line outside the SEl factory at Heywood, Lanes still carning E15 a week less than the MeD.
A mass meeting of TASS members voted narrowly to accept the offer against the Office Committee's recommendation. Management p peared to have hought peace at the expense of the women. However, the mass meeting agreed that anyone who wanted to press a separate claim could do so.
The Office Committee called a meeting of women members which overwhelmingly decided to take action for a better settlement. They wanted to fight management's discrimination by bringing up the level of all the worst paid - if possible up to the original TASS claim for E1 600 STRIKE A mass meeting backed them with a £1.50 per week levy in support of selective strike action. On Monday. 19 August, the printroom and punch card operators walked out, together with two male computer operators also in dispute and taking joint action. The first response by manage ment was to get programmers to organise scabbing on the computer and punchcard operators. The TASS members promptly voted overwhelmingly for immediate strike action if scabbing carried on and the next day management made their new offer. So within a month the action of the women had moved the predominantly male staff workers from a 60 to 55 vote for accepting management's offer to an overwhelming vote for supportine strike action The offer brought the seven worst paid women to the sume level as about 20 others but it gave no advance to the majority of women and did not remove the equal pay anomalies. Unfortunately the TASS Divisional Organiser argued for the acceplance of this offer IMG Office Committee members argued against this and that the wo men should decide and the OC offer to the women without a roa narrow majority to return. There is no doubt that the position of the Divisional Organiser and the Office Committee's indecision conoffer which solved only the worst cases of discrimination.
be a pattern of struggles against discrimination against women, the their feet and scored a victory.
ALAN FREEMAN THE C5A iwelve months. menl Office Committee to recommend the should place its backing behind their decisions. The OC divided fifty-fifty and it was finally agreed to take the commendation. The women voted by tributed to the women accepting an But in a test case and what is likely to women at John Browns have found Manchester IMG While the working class is oppo sed to fascism not only the masaca BLESSEN but also large sections of the rank and file leadership are not opposed to racism or anti-irish chauvinism The aim of the left must be to preby ahowing that behind its racism so doing we deliver a blow not only to the fascists but also the racism Consequently at this stage, the 'military' threat of the fascists. The Brian Clynes political organisation. To tear away scale, behind the scenes actions are fascist movement impotent in the face of the reformist line to-simply out-mobilise the NF on a plattorm Vanguard actions omly have a Nabional Front, relevunce in su far as they have a perspective and the intention of drawing in mass forcos, We should SALFORD ELECTRICAL INSTRUments, a subsidiary of the giant GEC-AET company and scene of the long equal pay strike lust year, is once again facing a militant struggle from the women workers.
Three months of negotiations with the managements of the SET plants at Heywood and Eccles produced precisely nothing for the women towards equal pay. The women at Heywood therefore started a ban on piecework and the managernest promptly locked them out. They re fused to pay any wages unless piece work was resumed and 400 women downed tools and walked out. Blacklisted by APEX for ignoring the Equal Pay Act this is the third major confrontation at SEI in the last In many respects this is a test case for engineering workers, not oniy is it the first of many battles over equal pay, foreshadowing the pro blems of regrading, but it is also a fight about thresholds. It is certainly no accident that the management chose to lockout the women by attacking the local piecework agree A coordinated campaigo of support, following the backing given to the women from AL'EW District Committee, will not only casure that they get their full demands but also mack the first step by Manchester engineers to prepare their ground for the coming battles. Last week the Manchester and Salford Trades Council declared its support for a campaige around the Working Womens Charler, the first step being to organise support for the SEI dispute. In Heywood Itself, lessons of the last dispute must be learnt. Eccles is the parent plant of Heywood, but only the Heywood women took the fight for the joint claim to a piecework ban, which provoked the lockout. The old tactica of divide and rule should not be allowed to win. The Manchester District Committee has issued an instruction to the wo men at Eccles to down tools, and a coachload of women from Heywood leafletted Eccles for their support If followed up by mass pickets at Eccles, supported by the entire local labour movement as in the last SEI dispute, this would show the women at Eccles the determination of Heywood women to fight.
small actions for the action of the The balance sheet of the antifascist campaign so far indicates the correctness of this perspective The effect of the action against the N.F. in the first Red Lion Square demo provoked the debate and the victory of the No Platform position in the student field. The second Red Lion Square action has provided the basis for the involvement of broad forces from the working class and the whole of the revolutionary left
AGENDA
Some chill winds will be blowing through Brighton when the Trade Union Congress meets there on 2-6 September, The ruling class is very apprehensive about the debate on Labour's progranume. As far as millions of work ets are concerned that is what the main debate should be about. A glance through the agenda will however allay any fears that the ru ing class may have. The resolution itom the National Union of Mine workers says. 'Congress gives full support to the TUC Labour Party Liaison Committee in the efforts th are making towards solving the economic problems facing Britain t đay.
OLD FORMULA
The majority of resolutions on Economic Policy and Organisation Jike those from NALGO, NUT and the Textile Workers, repcar the old formula of the need far free collective bargaining. Only the te solution front TASS, which talks abour "permanent price control" and 'substantial increases in public ownership really gets to the nub of what this TUC should be con centrating on The same miners' leaders who not long ago were busy congratulating themselves on bringing down the Heath Government, are conten to leave the living standards of the working class in the hands of those who concocted the social compact The ruling class are right to be frightened about the power that th TUC represents. Over the past few years the plans of the ruling class have suffered considerable setback because of the power of the trade unions. But the trade union leader as the agenda for this TUC shows, are an obstacle to the full use of that power.
FAILED
Again, the TUC has completely failed to provide a programme of social and political demands whicl can consolidate the power of the workers movement.
The document is obviously writ ten with the General Election in mind. This is the road to disaster. Unless those sections of the Labos Party which support the Benn proposals-despite all their weaknesses get the upper hand the big danger is that Labour will suffer heavy losses.
With massive inflation, the col lapse of big sectors of industry, an the prospect of two million unem ployed by winter 1975, this weak whimper from Brighton i a crime PAUL SMITH Next week Paul Smith will examine d special reports on Industrial Democrat prepared for the TUC
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