I go up there and I say, Any vacancies?' They say No' It's short and sweet'

to the dole in Scotland. You may work for a combine which launches an economy drive and decides that its Scottish branch must go.

Or a firm faced with strike action may decide that a protracted dispute just isn't worth the money and shut-up shop rather than pay an increase.

Many • other workers are sacked in the wake of a productivity deal like the BritishLeyland workers who joined the labour exchange at Bathgate after accepting a jobevaluation exercise.

This is apart from the unemployment due to the decline in the two basic industries of coalmining and shipbuilding. Upper Clyde Shipbuilders, for example, employed 14,000 a year ago. Now 7,500 work there.

Higher unemployment means that employers can obtain stricter discipline on the shop floor and an intensification of work.

This is what Strachan discovered four m s ago when he lost his job the Royal Ordnance Factory Bishopston, Glasgow, for alleg/ "bad time keeping. Since then' and his wife and little girl ve lived on national assistance.

'They introduced a , roductivity deal at the factory. This was to come in three stages, but there was no mention about redundancies.

'It meant moving men around and speed-up. Then one day I was sacked for bad time keeping. Its true I had been late for one or two days, but only a few minutes and this had happened before the deal and no one had bothered. It was, I think, a way of getting rid of surplus labour-getting rid of men without having to pay redundancy fees.

'So I signed on the dole. My benefit was suspended because I was classed as being fired for industrial misconduct.

Benefit down I draw about £7 15s on social security - this goes mainly on rent so there isn't a great deal over for the wife and the kiddie to live on.

I have been down the Renfrew exchange about four or five times, but they just say , they have no jobs at all. They did get me one, but that was only a holiday relief in the Rootes fac'I go up there and | say, "Any vacancies?" They say, "No". It's short and sweet.

'At the Renfrew exchange they're queueing outside the door. It takes about half an hour or more to get to the counter to sign on.

'Soon my benefit will go down because its based on my last 26 weeks earnings, I have only about until Christmas to go on this rate now.

'I have, of course, tried for jobs. I must have been to every factory and ship-yard in the area but they just say they're not starting anyone. In fact they are layıng people off; its the worst situation I have ever seen down here.

'The Ordnance factory always used to be a stand-by; a place where you could always get a job. But now even this source has dried up. The situation will only get worse. The Tories are in and they want to create more unemployment to get their anti-union bill through.

The unions won't fight wit le leadersnid ine • have got at the moment, but I think the DATELINE:

YESTERDAY'S WORKERS PRESS.

REPORT:

Hillbank works—Tay Textiles, Dundee H. K. Parker Co. (Great Britain) Ltd, Glasgow Burrough Office Equipment, Strathleven L. Sterne & Co., Glasgow Ranco Motors Ltd, Uddington British Leyland, Bathgate ...

Fibreglass Ltd (Pilkington), Glasgow workers will fight-what choice have they?

I support the one-day strikes move. This on its own can't get us very far. What we need is socialism and I don't mean the kind that the Labour Party tried to bring in last time.

'But there are big problems.

The working class, even on the Clyde, is backward and sometimes divided. There are divisions between the crafts and even religious divisions between Catholic and Protestant. But unity is the only answer.' The workers at A. L. Sternes, refrigeration engineers of Glasgow, are unique in as much they did not accept redundancies without a fight.

(Continued from yesterday)

When the Prestcold group (in turn owned by British-Leyland) decided to close Sternes down, the 460-strong labour force struck against the redundancies.

They held out two weeks. Eventually the union made the dispute official, but at a key stage the Clydeside district committee of the AEF refused on a vote of 18 to 4 to spread the dispute.

The Sterne workers returned and accepted the closure. Most of the 460 are now on the dole.

Official strike Willy McCann was a steward at Sternes and is a member of the Clyde AEF district committee. He is one of the few workers still left in the plant clearing up. By December 25 he will be on the dole-'a nice Christmas present,' he says grimly.

'Prestcold took us over two years ago promising good prospects and expansion.

'We suggested alternative products that the plant could produce. They had said that our products were obsolete. We even suggested, as a joke, to work for nothing, but they were adamant the place had to close.

'We went to see Ridley, the Secretary of State at the Ministry of Technology. He was sympathetic but said he could nothing for industry in Glasgow and W Scotland at the moment. We told him how desperate things were, especially among the skilled groups, but he said one of the troubles with the Clyde was its bad labour relations record.

'So we gave notice of withGLASGOW redundant redundant redundant redundant redundant redundant redundant redundant redundant for a miracle-that Sternes keep open.

"The whole of Scotland is in a big crisis. In the engineering field irms are taking Heath's advice nd shutting down when they don't make profits.

'There is only one way to beat all this, to unite in one solid front and get behind the labour movement and kick these Tories right out of office.

If we don't there are going to be very black times ahead in Scotland. What happened in the 1930s will happen again in the 1970s if there is no change Together with his workmates at Turner & Newall asbestos works at Clydebank, Tom Temple came out on strike in April for abolition of bonus working and a higher basic rate.

STALINISM IN BRITAIN High S1.. swa Price 24s nost incl The firm closed the out of Scc What ha particular groups of land.

JUST OUT NEW PARK PUBLICATIONS TROTSKYIST ANALYSIS didn't argue, they plant down 1 and got tland. d frightened them in was the approaches like Tom made to other workers in EngMore unemployment Tom spent four weeks on the dole then was taken on at a training school.

There he is learning to be a capstan setter, but he is not optimistic about the chances of getting a job when he leaves.

We went on strike in April in response to the firm's announcement that they were not negotiating. They were closing the place.

"The union officials met—we're in the Municipal Workers-they wouldn't see the strike committee at all but they eventually did pay us some money—f12 hardship pay.

I think what scared the management was our approaches to other workers in Turners. We went down to Widnes where they have their biggest factory and met the stewards there.

"They gave us some mone their support. But m vre in ant we established ontac the first time and w : agre in the future they was trouble we would come together.

1959 The firm knew that they would have to make an example of us, like those Pilkington blokes, or else they would be faced with trouble everywhere.

'So they closed the whole place down and that was it!

'150 lost their jobs. I felt most sorry for the older merabout 50 of the workers are over 55. When they got their redundancy notice they must have known that Turners would be the last job they would ever have. You don't get much decent employment in places like Clydebank at 55 and óver.

'A lot of us were hoping fot a Job at Singer Sewing Machine, In the town, but the week we left they laid 800 off there. This was a bit of a blow; Singers was always the place you could get a I signed on at Clydebank. Its 1oke there: it takes vou ar hour, maybe, queueing to get to the counter. I was out for four weeks then I got taken on at a training school.

'Whether I get a job when I come out depends entirely on the TOTAL SCOTTISH UNEMPLOYME (yearly averages except for 1970 where figure is for September) job situation and you don't need to be a prophet to see this will not be good.

'Still it's better than some of my mates. They have been offered all kinds of jobs. One was told by the counterman that there was a job round the corner It was at a grocer's shop for £l6 —he said he'd rather stay on the dole.

"To change this situation we must first of all throw out the Tories.

'I support the idea of a one-day strike, but really its a prolonged general strike that the Tories fear despite all Heath's talk.

'If we don't do this the Tories and employers will use the fear of, unemployment to discipline the whole of the working class. That is why we can't separate the fight of the unemployed from those still in work.

'The TUC and the union leaders could give a lead here and if they don't they must be forced to by the workers in the rank and file