Halewood production shops being run down Ford car 600 face Ford! parts go Continental

UNIONS ALLIANCE MEETINGS LIVERPOOL: Friday September 1, 7.30 p.m. Common Hall, Hackins ley. 'Lessons of the docks and building strikes. : Speakers: Larry Cavanagh (dockers' steward), Mike Farley (building worker).

Both in a personal capacity.

DAGENHAM: Tuesday September 5, 8 р.т. Со-op Hall, Fanshawe Avenue, Barking. 'Lessons of docks strike, UCS jobs fight.' HULL: Tuesday September 5, p.m. White Hart Hotel, near pool Bridge. 'Victory to SLOUGH: Wednesday September 6, 7.30 p.m. Slough • Community Centre, Farnham Rd. 'Force the Tories out! Expose the traitors in the labour and trade union move ment!' Speakers: Frank Tomany and Brian Bailey, both in a personal capacity.

WEST LONDON: Tuesday Septemhartedale Road, (off York Way):

Kings Cross. 'Stalinism and the builders' struggle.' WOOLWICH: Tuesday September 5, 8 p.m. Queen's Arms, Burrage Road, SE 18. 'Lessons of the dock strike.' GREENOCK: Wednesday Septemall rents Stread the ber 6. Salon Hall, Scott-Lithgow engineers' fight.' rents strucie RHYMNEY: Thursday September 7, 7.30 p.m. Rhymney Workingmen's Club, Rhymney, South Wales. 'Crisis of leadership in the trade unions.' SOUTHALL: Thursday September Bridge PRoad Lessons of the 8 p.m. Community Centre, dock strike.' Hone. Lessons than at Halewood, Liverpool.

Rents for the 1973 modification EAST LONDON: Thurs- of the Capri. The contracts in day September 7, 8 p.m. question cover 55 components.

Festival In n, Market Square, Chrisp Street, have been a series of threats to Market, E14. 'What is Ford workers' jobs as a result Stalinism?' of top-level policy decisions emanating from Detroit, MichiSOUTHAMPTON: Friday gan.

September 8, 7.30 p.m.

in Workers Press on April 17, 'The Glebe', Corner of 1971, was against tooling-design Brintons Road and workers at Dagenham, SouthampNortham Road. Speaker: ton and Doncaster. Ford's Alan Thornett (deputy described the fears of the workers concerned as 'quite unsenior steward Morris founded'. Eight weeks later 500 Motors, Oxford, in a per- workers were told they would sonal capacity). 'The les- have to go.

sons of the docks strike and the fight for jobs. that at least 1,000 workers at Dagenham and Halewood could lose their jobs by 1973 on the direct say-so of Henry Ford II.

HULL: Wednesday Se ptember 13, 7.30 p.m. Church I lall, Wayne engines and transmission producRoad, Bransholme (opp "The tion for the US Pinto model out Swallow'). 'Fighting the Tories' of Britain. Lima, Ohio, would Rent Act.! make the engines while the transmissions would go to BorCROYDON: Monda! / September deaux. 11, 8 p.m. Ruskin Ho use, Coombe Road. "Lessons of the dock workers' fears for their jobs had strike! reached such a pitch that 300 tooling workers at Dagenham would like information about THE SOCIALIST LABOUR LEAGUE Fill in the form below and send to NATIONAL SECRETARY, SOCIALIST LABOUR LEAGUE, 186A CLAPHAM HIGH ST, LONDON, SW4 7UG. Name Address FROM DAVID MAUDE, Our Industrial Correspondent THOUSANDS of workers at the Ford motor company and its supplier factories will lose their jobs if the company is allowed to carry through plans for a large-scale transfer of work from Britain to Europe.

The plans-revealed in secret company documents released by Ford clerical workers—would mean that transmissions, gearboxes and body-panels would be produced in Germany and France rather GATE A total of 30 British firms including Plessey, AC Delco and Lucas would lose all or part of their contracts to supply compon'If Halewood goes on strike Since mid-April last year there we can simply step The first, revealed exclusively stopped work to attend meeting on the issue.

Shop stewards at the Dagenham . paint, trim and assembly division noted that whereas in 1969 a total of 12 German suppliers held contracts for ten comOn July 23, 1971, we reported figures ponents had risen to 121 sup- by January 1972 the risen SUED pliers and 230 components. This was associated with a general loss of work from the division itself.

The company was transferring When Ford started production of the Capri at Halewood in 1969 only ten parts were imported from Europe for the model, but by next January, the captured document reveals, the company plans to bring in 272.

By March 20 this year, Ford The bulk of these will again come from Germany.

Indications are that when the Capri's successor, codenamed Diana, is introduced in mid-1974 there will be an increase of German-made panels.

Already work in the Halewood press shoP fallen to its lowestpanels, has Bonus fight at Decca plant FITTERS, packers and storemen at the Decca factory, Battersea, south west London are to work to rule and ban all overtime from next Monday.

They have also given a fortnight's notice of strike action if management fails to improve a pay offer of a £3 bonus increase tied to a fl to £1.20 reduction in basic wages.

The men are claiming a £4.50 minimum bonus for line operaAs national total tops o=9,000 Ford's plan to slash more Coup catches (Ps unamares think New Sudan leader behind Hoth service snatched jobs ever level and 80 jobs have gone from the shop. When the Escort's successor, codenamed Brenda, is introduced in 1975 output is expected to plummet even further.

In April and May of this year a team of five executives from Ford headquarters in Detroit visited Britain to take stock of their British subsidiary. As their tour of the factories drew to a close the company's annual report brought news of a £30m loss, adding power to their job-cutting elbow.

Ford's policy, of course, is geared directly to British entry into the Common Market, but it is also designed to give it striking power against its workers both here and in Europe.

As one company 'insider' told 'We want the situation where we have absolute flexibility-if Halewood goes on strike we can simply step up production Saarlouis.' Saarlouis, Francotors and fitters and a £4.50 lieu bonus for the packers, storemen and repair wiremen.

The packers and storemen are particularly annoyed with this offer because they already have to grab every available hour of overtime, up to 15 hours a week, in order to make up a living wage.

Fitters and assembly workers who have been asking for a bonus scheme were bluntly informed by management that Men coming out of the plant in Liverpool OWER TO THE PEOPLE Brieny IN SUDAN at stake in Libya German border, is the site of a new transmission plant where Ford is building up production for Escorts and Capris.

The documents released by the Halewood clerical workers Halewood clerical workers Free published in the Liverpool Press', reveal that existing capacity in the transmission plant there will not be used to make 2000cc gearboxes for the new 'facelifted' Capri.

Again these will be imported from Germany.

The number of vehicles which will be shipped abroad from Halewood for assembly elsewhere will have slumped from 13,500 in 1969 to 500 this year.

In 1969, Halewood turned out 350 Capris a day with Cologne making 220. Now the positions are completely reversed. Halewood turns out barely 200 a day.

The threat to jobs at Halewood is real.

But it is no less real all over the Ford combine and in the supplier plants, too. Clearly only a determined united struggle for the right to work will stop the threat becoming reality, but this poses big issues.

Ford's will not be stopped unless it is nationalized under workers' control. And that can only be done if the Tory government is forced to resign and a Labour government pledged to socialist policies elected. This is the logic of the struggle on which the Halewood workers have now embarked.

there was nothing for them. The Decca combine joint shop stewards' committee recommended that the Battersea stewards accept the offer. But the Battersea men have combine representatives, to the comnine claim that storemen's rates are lower in the rest of the group was: 'Why don't they fight to raise the other storemen up to our rate instead of asking us to accept a cut in our basic, us to

CORRESPONDENT ROLLS-ROYCE management at the Bristol engine division factories plan to implement a new wages agreement based on the flat-rate, Measured-Day Work speed-up system in two weeks' time. Last week the division announced that it would soon be reducing the labour force by almost 1,000.

Both these developments herald the beginning • of a new and dangerous period for all Rolls-Royce workers.

A company statement on rationalization of the division says that in 1971 management constructed a plan which envisaged a substantial reduction in the numbers employed during 1972.

'However,' it went on, in January 1972, manufacturing were faced with a very bad situation in relation to achieving scheduled deliveries to our customers.' This was aggravated, the company added, by the strike at the end of 1971.

Rolls have made it clear that unless the unions co-operate in getting rid by 'voluntary' means of the present 1,000 workers they no longer require, then a larger compulsory redundancy will be implemented.

But the idea of a smaller voluntary redundancy is nothing more than a move to get the principle of redundancy accepted. No guarantees have been made on future employment.

The company says: 'It will of course be necessary to continue to adjust balance, and to examine continuously the level of Olympus engines prair Concorde. Are these job September i so secure?