Union action is vital to tenants' fight

Passed motion in movement.

Some have action union Not prepared to be shut out of gates-convenor MANY TENANTS are quickly realizing that the struggle against the Tories and their 'fair rents' Bill involve the mobilizaof the trade union already taken through their trade branches, demanding action from their leaders.

Charles Colquhoun lives on an estate in Chiswick near the Great West Road, London. He is also an AUEW shop steward at Addressograph Multilith's Acton factory 'We put a motion through my branch on the rents issue. It called on the unions to fight the Bill and to declare a national strike of the AUEW if any Labour councillors were prosecuted for refusing to implement the proposals.

'If the rent goes up fl we'll be paying £5.62 a week. Of course the principle of this Bill is to destroy council housing. They don't want the working class to benefit from FROM STEPHEN JOHNS MIRRLEES engineering is one of the giant plants involved in the greater Manchester engineering battle for more money, shorter hours and longer holidays.

The 2,000 workers began the sit-in at this Stockport plant last Wednesday when management refused to pay them if the ban on piecework was not ended.

The Mirrlees men had begun working day rate the previous Monday together with engineers throughout the Manchester area. The day rate tactic is a very effective way of choking off production. Under the piecework system, time is money. and managements have spent huge sums on sophisticated costing systems, sometimes involving computers.

When ..ter gasanta.day. rate. and therefore abandon payment by result, this elaborate costing equipment becomes totally useless. Inaddition, workers estimate their output on the current basic rate for a skilled engineer of £19 a week. There are man! men who consider this low rate is not worth any output at all! Others are content to produce a couple of components a day. Output slumps and in Stockport and Manchester employers have tried to suspend workers.

This is when the occupations occur.

Mirrlees convenor John Dougherty told me why the men had adopted this tactic and what he thought about the course this decisive struggle was taking. 'I think first one should realize that the occupations are not true take-overs. We are not trying to run the plant. But men are not prepared to be shut out of the gate. We don't want a repeat of the usual thing-the few old faithfuls in the cold and wet picketing at the gates.

The way we are doing the subsidies through- they've out the years.

*Most people . seem to be forgetting that private tenants are going to be far worse off when they are decontrolled next year. I can see their landlords shoving in bathroom or a toilet and putting the rents up to fl2 a week.

I know what it'll be like, because I used to pay 8gns a week for a kitchen and one bedroom before I moved into this flat.

'As far as the rent rebates are concerned, it's like going back to the old means tests, Before you can get one they want to know what you've got in your house that can be sold.

'It happened to me once in Scotland when I applied for national assistance-and I swear it'll never happen to me again.

'The Tories will never climb down, that's for sure. The problem seems to be getting someone to lead the working class against them.

'We had a • chance with the miners' strike. If Labour MPs had backed them all the way, instead of saying it would never have happened if we'd been in power, then I think the Tories could have been ousted.

'And TUC secretary Victor Feather found himself in America when the strike was on instead of being here to call everyone out.

Charles is now being faced with another vital question: defending his right to work.. In September his factory closes down with operation being moved to Hemel Hempstead.

John Dougherty: convenor tactically better. The lads come in for a 24-hour stint every three days. They are together, in the warm and spirits are far higher. They can have a get together and sing—all these things keep their spirits up. 'Some of the scenes in Mirrlees have te be seen to be believed. If you had told me a few years ago this would happen I could not have believed it.' But John admits there are more fundamental * reasons for the occupations. 'I think obviously the miners' victory has had an effect On the whole mood of the working class. We saw the miners win a victory from this government and it encouraged workers every'This and UCS has made workers refuse to sit-down and accept the gate as they might have done in the 1930s. And, of course, this is not altogether a token thing. So far the management has allowed us free movement in and out of the factory. If they stop this, we will have to seriously consider what steps we will take to restrict their freedom.' John, who has worked at Mirrlees six years, believes the struggle has gone well.

He points to the 18 firms who have signed agreements involving all three points of the claim. The unions- claim 12 • of these "The Tories are beginning to get what they want, setting worker against worker with six chasing every job.

'But I think the working class has learned something from the 1920s and 1930s. They are not prepared to see those conditions come back.

'Now you've got all these sit-ins, something which has never happened before. It could lead to a big movement against the Tories.

*If all this hatred over rents, prices and the trade unions was brought to the surface, there would be a big fight against the govern'Tenants' associations can't defeat the government on their own. They stand to become a bit isolated if they try.

'What we need is the backing of the trade unions and Labour MPs. Then we could get somewhere.

'In the 1920s we didn't have a lot to fight for. Now we have these so-called little luxuries like TVs, decent houses and cars. If the Tories mean to take these away, there'll be an enormous fight.

'The TUC never put up any fight against the Industrial Relations Bill and kept sending round petitions as if they would do any good.

'It's up to them. If they give a lead, workers will follow. If not, people tend to sit back and wait which is dangerous. And the Labour Party needs a shake-up. There don't seem to be any real socialists leading it any more' are in the Engineering Employers rederation, which has specincally instructed its members to give nothing on hours and holidays.

Neither has he any strong criticism of the decision to abandon the claim nationally.

'I think at local level we will get more than we could have nationally. The main sticking point of the employers is on hours, but I think this is a vital part of the claim.

'Raging - inflation will soon swallow up a £3 or even f4 increase. But a cut in hours stays for good. The employers are very worried about this demand. If we win this in Manchester, it will be the green light for every other area.

He is disappointed however, over cne aspect of the fight— the retreat in Sheffield.

'There was one stage, I believe, when it looked as if Sheffield was cut in front. I think they even had a resolution forward for a district-wide strike. Nothing seems to have come of this.

Obviously something has happened there. It is a pity; joint action by Sheffield and Manchester powerful Would have, been a employers.

•We have seen at Sharston's engineering that at least one employer is prepared to use the law against workers.

'All of them are using the threat of redundancies. This issue of unemployment is something I have thought about a lot. The employers say that they can only give more money if we pay for it in unemployment.

This to me is a sham argument.

I think if we got redundancy notices we should send them back en bloc and consider action.

'We are all expecting, anyway, the long awaited pick-up in the economy and the blossomingout of business.' But suppose this does not happen?

'Then we would be in for a slump. We would obviously have to look very seriously at how we fought it.'.i.