Into the Midlands-new jobless belt

FROM PHILIP WADE WE MARCHED into the W Midlands on Monday, that area of Britain which used to boast the highest wages and the lowest unemployment.

Throughout the 1960s region prospered as the industry, car production and component manufacturing, expanded.

But-as we saw in Cannock, a small mining town ten miles outside Wolverhampton, the boom has finished. Recession has arrived in its wake, hitting light industries particularly hard.

220.28 for 12 months (312 lssues) £10.14 for 6 months (156 issues) £5.07 for 3 months (78 issues)

want to take Workers Press twice £1.56 for 3 months (24 issues) £6.24 for 12 months (96 issues) Circulation Døpt., Workers Press, 186a Clapham High St., Days required MONDAY (Please tick) TUESDAY Or Full subscription (six days) for .... Fill in the form below NOW and send to:

London, SW4 7UG.

out a subscription Am sunt encl 280C Almost 1,200 workers are on the dole. The prospects for these men and women? Well, the local Department of Employment offers a grand total of 49 jobs.

In other words, almost 25 workers chase every single job.

'I had great visions for this place once, ' the exchange manager told me. 'One says things will get better, but the reverse is true,' he told me downheartedly.

Cannock didn't suffer ally from heavy pit because car component fi Lucas moved there and e The daily Pander thet fight agains the Torles.

THURSDẠY

FRIDAY SATURDAY For drasticclosures rms like nployed But in the last year a clothing factory has closed completely and an engineering f ictory has moved its foundry to Tamworth, near Birmingham.

The youth fare no better. In Cannock there are 80 young workers on the dole with few vacancies, according to the youth employment officer.

With male unemployment well over 7 per cent, Cannock workers have been dealt another blow recently. GEC-AEI's at Stafford, which employs Cannock workers, is to lay off 400 shortly.

The Tories captured the constituency in June 1970 when they ousted Jennie (now Baroness) Lee. But the council remains Labour-controlled and has been since 1945.

The marchers warmly thank Cannock miners who provided at short notice the facilities for a midday meal.

The Labour Party Young Socialists also turned out to greet us, although in great confusion. They had seen a picture in "The Guardian' about the march. For days they had been trying—-not surprisingly in vain -to find out from the Labour Party where we were!

'We wanted to lay on a reception for you,' said chairman Stan Hall.

Physically some of the marchers suffer from heavy blistering. But the Red Cross has done a competent job in helping them to overcome such difficulties.

The marchers keenly follow all the news in the Workers Press about the magnificent performances of the other marches. Like them, we have learned that through our day-by-day experiencés on the march, it is possible considerably to increase our political understanding of the significance of the Right-to-Work campaign in the struggle to make the Tory government resign.

Such experiences are more than adequate compensation for the physical difficulties of the march. Name Address