Strike wave growing in France

WAGES AND UNEMPLOYMENT forefront of a number of disputes industry and services this week.

On Monday and Tuesday torce Ouvrière (Socialist Union) members of the The CGT (Communist) and hospital services obeyed a CFDT (Catholic) unions called 48-hour strike call in support strike action only on Tuesday. of demands for an improve- At the giant Renault car ment in pay scales.

in this.

looks for power of independent decision economic planning and foreign policy'.

Proposing his union's motion, assistant T&GWU general secretary Harry Urwin warned that a decision to enter the Common Market would be irreversible and would interfere with regional development plans such as the Labour government had been pursuing.

Suggestions that the National Executive Committee should call a special conference on the Market issue—voiced by Party veteran Emanuel Shinwell - were welcomed by miners' union official Joe Cormley. After claiming to be uncommitted he was able to make use of the fact that the T&GWU resolution "cloaked the issue' of whether or not it intransigently opposed entry.

are at the in French plant at Billancourt, near Paris, unions have decided in principle on joint action against threatened sackings.

LETTER But the only step so far taken has been a letter to Prime Minister Chaban-Delmas urging him to 'lift the credit restrictions which are depressing the French car Threatened with widespread strike action by the CGT, the management side of the coal-mining industry has finally agreed to joint negotiations with all unions involved.

Previously they had used the minority unions for playing off against the CGT, which represents a large majority of miners.

Faced with the obstinate refusal of the state aerospace industry, SNIAS, to agree to a straight 2 per cent per year increase above rises in the cost of living, Force Ouvrière has called a half-day strike for October 7.

CENTRES

SNIAS employs 43,000 main centres being Nantes and Toulouse.

Gaullist politicians threatened to cancel the Concorde project at Toulouse as a lever in the present negotiations.

At 'La Redoute', the giant mail-order firm in Lille (NE France) most employees are back at work following the strike-breaking concessions made by CFDT (Catholic) union officials.

They put out a leaflet saying:

'All means of conciliation having been exhausted, it is useless to continue the strike.' At Epinal, in the Vosges area of E France, a factory of the Levy textile combine announced 300 future sackings this week, in addition to 800 declared ten days ago.

The Vosges textile industry is faced with widespread redundancies, against which workers have tried to organize strike action.

'RESTRAINT'

sut union omcials, including he Stalinist CGT, have urgec restraint, lest possible other employers 'be discouragec from investing in the area' AT CHARLEROI, in Belgium, the 7,000 workers of the ACEC electrical engineering plant struck on Monday for a guarantee against any future sackings.