Stand firm at Sankey!

UNION OFFICIALS will pull out all the stops today in a concerted bid to end the six-week-old pay strike at GKN-Sankey's Shropshire car-components plant.

They met the ‹20-strong joint shop stewards last night to push for a 'returnto-work' recommendation at this morning's key mass meeting.

Backing down before the governmentsteeled refusal to meet the strikers' just claim, leaders of all five unions concerned— from the General and Municipal's Lord Cooper to the Transport Workers' Jack Jones and the Amalgamated Engineers' Hugh Scanlon-favour acceptance of Sankey's so- called '£2 to £7 6s', multi-'stringed' offer. They believe it will yield further pay improvements following a return.

Strikers' demands that their claim for an across-the-board, 'no strings' increase is given official support have been completely ignored.

This is the sordid reality behind all talk of 'an offensive wages strategy' at last week's Brighton Trades Union Congress. Retreat before the Tories' productivity-dealing offensive against wages and trade union rights is fast turning into an ignominious rout.

Many GKN-Sankey workers were hoping earlier this week NLF that union officials were beginning to change their attitude to the strike after last proposes friday's arrogant refusal by he company to negotiate with them directly.

new deal • Like Ç&MWU steward Bill Fostér, who told Workers Press: 'I think they were disBY A WORKERS PRESS gusted on Friday-they must CORRESPONDENT be seeing now you can't give Sankey's an inchl' THE S Vietnamese National Such hopes have now been Liberation Front representative rudely dashed. at the Paris peace talks yester- Far from becoming more day submitted a new series of determined to fight it out with the firm (and with the car proposals. who have laid off Based on the existing ten- 40,000 other workers in an point NLF programme, they attempt to isolate the Shropshire strikers), union leaders called for total US withdrawal have waxed more and more from the South and the removal of the present Saigon enthusiastic about the virtues leadership. the company's proposed job-evaluation scheme.

However, the NUF delegate But despite the lack of desaid that if the US agreed to tailed information about this withdraw all its forces and deal touched on in today's those of its allies by June 30, special article on page 2, every 1971, the guerrillas would GKN-Sankey stop attacking them and would that it is far from roses all undertake to discuss the rethe way. lease of prisoners.

This new deal has obviously ADMITTED been made under pressure from Hanoi and the Kremlin, As company chairman H which is anxious to come to ‚Spencer Killick himself adterms with Nixon in both SE mitted in his letter to "The Economist' last week, these Asia and the Middle East.

Proposals - accepted by national union officials and Sainsbury some shop stewards - 'meant an award to individuals as from £2 a week to the highestpicket bailed paid pieceworkers to £7 6s to the top craft skilled worker'. (Our emphasis.)

ONE OF the Sainsbüry's And last weekend's letter to strikers arrested while picket- pieceworkers from personnel ing outside the firm's Black- director R. S. Aitken stressed friars' factory on Wednesday, that from December 1, 1970, was remanded on, bail of £50 ì than all piecework jobs earning less yesterday by London magis*justed to ensure that on stantrates.

Mr W. Ingram was charged dard performance ther can with possessing an oftensive yield 15s an hour gross'. (Our weapon, assaulting a police emphasis.) officer, using insulting words Bocause of sometimes as and obstructing the footway. much as 20 hours week The 2,000 Blackfriars 'down' (waiting) time in shortworkers have been on strike run jobs many pieceworkers for a week in protest against believe that their pay will rise proposed redundancies at the plant. MONDAY SEPTEMBER 21 The second of Two Trotsky Memorial Lectures "Trotsky's fight against revisionism' BE VER HALL GARLICK HILL Near lansion House tube Starts 8 p.m. Admission 28 TROTSKYS LAST V IAM CONFDENT C THE VICTORY OF TI FOURTH INTERNAT GO FORWARD.... 1965 THAT MEANS FOREAD TO L THE FILST DAILY TROTSKY PAPER 7 19O THAT MEANS ALE THE WO ERS PRIS HEALY

by less than 15s per week if the deal is accepted in its present form.

It must be remembered that under job-evaluation 'standard performance' means not what a worker can do, but what management requires.

'Indirect' (time) workers would face direct speed-up under the deal through the introduction of standard jobAs Bill Foster told us :

'We want a substantial increase-and we want it across the board. Instead of narrowing differentials, the managément offer in its present form would widen them.' 'MIXTURE' Some stewards and local officials, however, have started to canvass the idea that the deal would be acceptable 'with a different mixture of the ingredients'.

There are equally dangerous - if slightly more subtle — dangers here.

Every Tory employer, government official and newspaper-with the union leaders' collaboration — is now openly advancing the claims of jobevaluation and Measured-Day