Women bring whisky combine

YOU to Glasgow and stand outside the Slater Rodger whisky bottling plant early one morning.

This is the latest flashpoint of a running battle between the whisky workers and Scotland's biggest manufacturer Distillers Ltd.

The big picket at Slater Rodger, 90-per-cent female, has been confronted by the police for three mornings in a row.

Girls claim they have been thrown to the ground in the crush caused when the scabs sneak in to work.

But every dawn they keep on turning up. Their aim is to make Slater Rodger the sixth Distilers plant to close.

Attempts

Despite desperate attempts by a handful of scabs to dodge into work across a dangerous main railwayline, production in the plant is almost at a standstill.

In the front line are girls like Cathy, Sandra and Mary. The Black and White whisky plant at Shotts, near Glasgow, where they work was closed early in the two-week strike. Now they are helping out at Slaters.

Sandra, whose husband has been on strike for six weeks at Singer sewing machine Clydebank, bottles the whisky. Her two friends label and cap the bottles further down the line.

'The pay is OK for women,' says Sandra. 'But the work is hard. You're on the go all day and the management control the speed of the line. It wears you out.' Her remark about pay must be qualified. Women's wages are low everywhere-especially in Scotland. So the £15 take-home the girls earn is only 'good' compared with the meagre norm.

In fact Distillers, in common with all the big whisky houses, derive enormous profit from their army of female labour — often fresh from school.

The strikers say the steep climb in the cost of living and the gains won by workers like the miners and the railwaymen are the main reasons for such unprecedented militancy.

"They say women are not militant. Well they ought to Giant profits made by Distillers Distillers' labour force is made up mainly of women—particularly young girls from school who want quick money.

Many leave after two three years to get married or other jobs.

Mrs Mary Mackie, shop steward at Distillers' St Leonard's plant in Edinburgh says this makes the job of organizing unions more difficult.

*I am not against schoolleavers getting jobs, but it's hard to get a militant attitude because of the turnover, she said.

Distillers' returns have steadily risen for a decade. In 1962 profit before tax and depreciation was £32m; in 1965 it was £44m and last year it was a cool £54m. Profit AFTER tax AND depreciation in 1971 was a handsome £33m—DOUBLE the level a decade ago.

The yield per share has steadily_increased. Last yea it was 7.25 per cent and £23m was STEPHEN JOHNS IN GLASGOW come up to Shotts. Our militancy shut that place quick enough says Cathy. "The union official told me Distillers got £54m profit last year. We make it and we want a bit of it back.' Apart from Shotts and Glastiler the strike has stormanDis plants in Kilmarnock, Leith and Edinburgh. The latest move tillers. 's a bid to cut off Disexports by getting them blacked on the docks.

Behind the pay issue is a serious threat of redundancies. Normally, in every 12-month contract, the unions insist anı get clause giving security employment. paid out in dividends to share holders. The share holding by the 18-man board of directors netted each one an average £88,000 last year. This is on top of their salaries.

You could have bought a Distillers share for 99p in 1970 and sold it for 180p last year-a profit of almost 100 per cent.

This huge octopus of a company controls 160 companies in 18 different countries. It owns some of the most popular names in the hard liquor field including, Johnny Walker, Haig, Black and White, Dewars and Crawfords whiskies; Booths and Gordons gins; Cossack vodka and Pimms.

It owns United Glass which it bought for £14,683,000 in 1969.

It shares Bakelite Xylonite with Union Carbide and the Indisan Yeast Co. It sold its chemical interests (apart from carbon dioxide manufacture) to BP for £9m worth of BP shares and £25m cash.

But one 'string' on the firm's latest £3.20 offer is that management should have the right to fire when they like. Unmistakably this means that redundancies are on the way this year. The workers say they will not end the dispute until they have won back their old right.

George Haggarty, shop steward from one of the Edinburgh plants, explained:

The firm is opening a new £10m plant at Leven, Fife. We fear this will incorporate much of the work done in the smaller places. We are sure that the firm want redundancies. This is why they want to get rid of the Its chief executive is Alexander McDonald, one of the four 'wise men' who recommended the closure of the four UCS divisions. McDonald is also on the board of the National Commercial Banking Group.

Other directors include The Rt Hon Baron Forteviot of Eton and Oxford, chairman of the Dewar's group. He lives far away from the scene of action at Dupplin Castle, Perth.

Another board-room worthy is the Earl of Halesbury, a director of Head Wrightson's engineering combine and Joseph Lucas.

A diplomatic touch is added Marjorybanks, Ambassador to the UK delegation of the Common Market and the European Coal and Steel Community.

In short Distillers is very much of what monopoly capitalism is made of-as the women pickets are beginning to find out. no worker can afford to give up gains like these.' Despite the strike's solidarity the Genniland Municipal Workrefused to back the strike.

Its Scottish officer George Robertson has attacked the Transport and General Workers' Union in the local press for encouraging the strike before 'consulting' the G&M.

The 'Municipal' as it is known n the picket line, has held a allot of members and got two-to-one majority against strike action.

The firm has responded obvious glee to this split. Robertson's quotes to press have been circulated management to the strikers propaganda.

When the Washington Street lant of Slater Rodger was closed n Glasgow, G&MWU members were transferred to Seaward Street. This sight caused emotions to boil over among the normally peaceful women strikers.

Negotiations have been opened by the union, but the strike promises to go on for some time yet. The workers are adamant about the redundancy clause and the firm is equally determined to keep its hands free to swing the jobs axe when it feels it is necessary.

'They can't treat us like cattle,' said one bitter girl on the picket line after police escorted some operatives into a plant.

The roar of 'Aye' from the teenagers and housewives round about fairly summed up the mood of determination. by as

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