Engineers in action OXFORD: TUC must organize support from other unions'

'Our. go and do it.

Vic Morris Others leadership Its laws.

John Paxman, CAV, Acton, west BY PHILIP THE FEELING among engineers on the march yesterday was that it was time for the AUEW's executive council to give a lead on all-out action and for the TUC to organize other unions in support.

'The whole fight boils down to he need for leadership from the rUC who are as usual still fencesitting, Peter Biggs, BritishLeyland AUEW maintenance steward, told me.

union is now having making a stand. But stoppage isn't going The executive must call an all-out indefinite strike supported by the TUC. We have to use the strength of the whole working class.' Foyle, AUEW steward at radiators, told me: 'The LONDON: Support grows for DELEGATES representing an neers on strike in the London to go on fighting the Industrial They called on their union leadership to involve the whole membership in action next time the AUEW was challenged under the anti-union laws.

But many delegates representing over 40 factories hit by strike action wanted to go further. A resolution demanding that the union executive call an indefinite national stoppage was defeated, but attracted a substantial minority vote.

One notable opponent of this line was Kevin Halpin, chairman of the so-called Liaison Committee for the Defence of Trade Unions, which initiated a series of one-day strikes two years ago.

The two resolutions came at the end of a discussion which centred primarily on the role of the AUEW leadership. Many delegates, from plants in London and Essex, criticized the AUEW for not calling official action. They said that one-day protest strikes were inadequate.

congratulated the for their firm stand Tory government and convenor at London, said:

I believe that one-da stopi pages have run their course. feel that certainly we should look towards the executive councall for a national stoppage, and ca or a madona stoopaxe.

Another Acton steward, Tom Hillier, said it was a pity that the 'Morning Star' had been unable to come out. Holding up a copy of the Workers Press he demanded that all the publications of the labour movement should be exempt from this kind of industrial action.

lim Cowan, convenor of the Decca radar factory at Battersea, said that the right wing had been encouraged because the engineers leaders had left an element of choice on whether to take strike action.

He demanded a campaign in the TUC to mobilize the working class against the Tory govern'There is no possibility of ridding ourselves of this legislation until the Tory government is removed and replaced by a Labour government pledged socialist and repeal anti-trade union legislaRycroft, member Oraham ties sreeh, London:

SW4 7UG.

Printed by Plough Press Ltd. (TU), 180b Clapham High Street, London.

SW4 7UG. fine takes us back to the 1800s. It means we've got to fight to the bitter end.

"The trade unions started Britain-and we're not going give them up easily. (Left to right) Peter Biggs, estimated area yeste north London district tee of the AUEW, whi yesterday's strike act manded that other ur off the fence. Lucas fail to undermine CAV sit-in 40,00 day p commitih called on, deions get He said the strike had signalled an end to the 'ducking and diving' which had begun at the Croydon conference in March 1971, where a united strike campaign against the Act was rejected.

The climax of the meeting came when an amendment demanding indefinite strike action and a campaign to call on the TUC to bring the government down was proposed.

The platform emasculated this policy by separating the political demand from the call for a strike. Even so it attracted a substantial minority in the meeting.

The final resolution stated: 'While congratulating the executive council on the stand in defence of the union to date, THE LUCAS combine has fa iled in another bid to undermine ten-week-old occupation of its CAV vehicle-pump factory Fazakerley, Liverpool.

Bargaining counter in Lucas's ploy was the Lucas Industrial Equipment factory on the same site as CAV, which has been laid off because of the occupation.

The Tories have found that on entering the Common Market wages had to be suppressed. This is the way they are trying to do it.

I see the fine as an attack on the whole working class. The Vic Foyle, BIll Fox and Andy Devlin.

277771 ANALGAMATED GINEERING UNION we urge them to call on the whole of the membership on the next occasion that action deemed to be necessary in order that our efforts and our strength is co-ordinated.

'We further call on other unions to give their support to any action in the future.' Factories affected by the stoppage were Ford's, Dagenham, where 15,000 failed to turn in;

Victor Engineering, Rainham; Portsmouth factories stop In PORTSMOUTH there were widespread stoppages; production came to a complete halt at several factories while most in the area were partially affected. The call for one-day strike action came from the quarterly meeting of shop stewards last Thursday.

There are 7,500 AUEW the Portsmouth district and It appears the combine management hoped to split workers from the two factories with threats against LIE's future.

Last Friday union officials were called in to hear that unless LIE were able to open within the next few weeks the 450TUC must now give a this fight.' AUEW member Bill Fox said the Tories had wanted 'to sneak up on the unions'. Now they were 'going to take us on, but CAV Acton, where there was a near-total stoppage, and six power stations.

Solidarity action came from busmen in Dagenham, who refused to man services to and from the Ford plant.

• After the meeting a 350strong delegation of stewards marched on the TUC headquarters and handed a message to Victor Feather asking for support for the engineers.

was estimated that at least half responded to the shop stewards' call. Firms hit by the strike include Power Brakes, Goodman's loudspeakers and Evans.

In LEEDS a decision on whether to hold a one-day stoppage will be taken at a district committee meeting tomorrow.

CORRESPONDENT strong factory would have close permanently.

The factory has been turning the corner' as far as pre ›fitability was concerned, mal lagement said. But the enforced s hutdown meant that the way was open for competitors to steal its market. are not prepared here', he added.

"This thing is going to snowball. It's time for the EC to take the kid gloves off and give the lead we've been waiting for. They should call for a General Strike and the recall of the TUC Andy Devlin, T&GWU steward from Leyland's body plant, said: I'm supporting the AUEW 100 per cent. There is an enormous feeling about this in the factories. Now all we want is for the leadership to lead.

"The laws in my own country, in the Republic of Ireland, are the same as Heath wants to bring in here.

'If the Tories can carry the Industrial Relations Act through they will then pass more laws to stop us striking and even demonstrating.

'In Dublin someone, and it wasn't the IRA, planted some bombs to keep the government in power. That shows how desperate the Tories are getting.' Hundreds march in Sheffield stoppage SOME 28,000 workers struck in the Sheffield district, and hundreds marched through the city chanting 'Heath out!' and 'Tories out!' Shop stewards from several big factories - the River Don steelworks, Ambrose Shardlow's, Bone Craven's and others brought their banners onto the demonstration.

At a meeting which followed, Albert Knight, president of the AUEW district committee, said that the struggle against the fine involved not just engineering workers, but the whole of the working class.

The TUC was not fighting the Industrial Relations Act, he said.

The Act had to be kicked out along •with the government that created it.

But the meeting was marred by an incident in which George Caborn, the union's district secretary, tried physically to prevent a member of the district committee addressing the workers present.

The member concerned, Paul Littlehales, a shop steward from Daniel Doncaster's engineering factory, twice indicated to the chairman his wish to speak to the meeting. On both occasions he was refused.

In a statement to Press afterwards, he described what then happened:

'When the chairman closed the meeting after my second attempt to speak, I tried to address those present on the need for a General Strike in support of the engineers and Councils of Action to defeat the Tories.

'Caborn and a number of others from around the platform came down the steps and tried to pull me out of the crowd. He then threatened me with disciplinary action.' Stewards from both LIE and CAV heard a report on these discussions on Sunday morning.

Their response was to call for a strengthening of the campaign, led by the CAV occupation committee, for the blacking of Lucas goods entering three other Liverpol factories: Ford's, StandardTriumph's, and Lucas's Victor aerospace works.