CLYDE CLIFFHANGER Govan freeze' deal boilermakers meet

28 Charlotte St London W1 STEPHEN JOHNS IT WILL BE another cliffhanger on the Clyde today — the deadline for signing a pay-and-conditions deal to establish Govan Shipbuilders Ltd.

The firm want unions to sign the agreement at 10.30 a.m., but at the same time the 1,500 boilermakers from the Govan, Linthouse and Gilchrist Scotstoun divisions of the former UCS consortium plan to meet to decide whether or not to give the deal the goLate yesterday talks between the chairman of the new company, Lord Strathalmond, the unions and shop stewards were continuing in a bid to resolve two remaining problems.

One is the position of the 139 'work-in men' at the three divisions. The boilermakers have insisted that these men reabsorbed by Govan Shipbuilders, but so far the company has refused.

possibility being canUlster death toll 527 THE DEATHS of nine civilians on Tuesday brought the official Ulster toll, since the current troubles began in 1969, to 527.

This year alone there have been 316 deaths: 221 civilians, 71 soldiers, 13 Ulster Defence Regiment men, nine police and two reservists.

Pilla PERI vassed is that the men-77 of them are boilermakers - should get a guarantee that they will be taken on as soon as possible.

Shop stewards' leader James Airlie said the agreement could be signed if there were 'guarantees to cover the work-in'. It is not clear whether he meant a guarantee of immediate employment for the men or merely a promise to do so.

Another obstacle is a demand by the boilermakers that immediate negotiations on a new pay structure should start.

The draft agreement talks pay deal 'not later than' January of next year.

But the boilermakers, traditionally the most militant of the 4,000 workers at the three divisions, are impatient. There has been a virtual pay freeze at the yards since the UCS consortium went into liquidation last June.

Today the boilermakers will meet to decide whether the results of yesterday's talks have given enough assurances for the future. If they reject the formula the company will be in serious trouble.

The Tory Cabinet has warned Archibald Gilchrist, chief executive of Govan Shipbuilders, that they will not receive the £35m aid without a signed agreement.

A further delay would jeopardize orders Lord Strathalmond is seeking to secure in Kuwait.

All these pressures are being used to force the boilermakers' rank and file to abandon their trade union rights and break faith with the work-in men.

Resistance to the deal has been strong. At last Thursday's Alrlie (second from right) with (I to r) Feather, McGarvey, Scanion LOSURE These were the demands of the Stalinists' policy betrayed them all. meeting a large minority of boilermakers voted to throw the deal out altogether.

There are also talks at the Clydebank yard now owned by Texan oil-rig builders Marathon Manufacturing on the job posiThis time the work-in is not such a big problem, since there are only 16 Clydebank men taking. part despite the 1,000 redundancies that have occurred JUINT MOP 5 : EWARD COMM CLOSURES, NU CONTACTIUNS, *'NTRAC NO 01 CONTRAC TION' If 1.C ND URE UCS workers last year... the over the last 14 months.

The difficulties surround the number of men Marathon want immediately to employ. This total is around 150 and by September a massive surplus of approximately 1,000 workers is seen likely at the yard.

The Communist Party-led shop stewards want to have them 'absorbed' throughout the four divisions, but this task would be impossible.