BEHIND THE LINWOOD SACKINGS from Tony Southall
The key points in the 'trouble' are (1) the speed-up without increased pay; and (2) the huge differences between the Scottish and English rates. These are, of course, tolerated to 2 large extent because of the high rate of unemployment, <A recent article in Labour Worker examined in detail the background to the unofficial strikes, and a passage from the article ;ives some idea of the management's ‘sweatshop! attitudes
".00"Floaters" for instance are practically non-existent on the tracks which means if a man drops out even for a moment there is no; one to replace him, “hen a man on the main track goes to the toilet, he returns to find six cars to work on in the time he usually devotes to one...eand that is short enough! Time and again the management have promised stewards that “immediate attention" would be given to the "floater" problem, Nothing whatever has been done about it.."
When the announcement of the sacking of the 270 men took place, John Boyd, Scottish executive member of the AEU made the statement "I have absolutely no reason at all to disagree with the Rootes decision" (quoted in the Glasgow Evening Citizen, May 29). John Miller, Renfrew district secretary of the T. and G.W.U. (whose union organises most of the sacked men) said; "I think it is shocking and naturally I will press for the men to be reinstated. I hope also to have talks with the shop stewards," It is should be noted that John Miller is by no means a militant left-winzer,
The go-slow started was started at the Imp plant in support of a wage claim. The assembly track men decided to limit their production to 1,750 a week against 2 normal 2,500. Rootes had hopes of raising the production level to nearer 3,000 a week to meet the huge export orders and heavy hone demands for Imps. Directors ordered the sackings after a special meeting to which Lord Rootes had flow especially from the U.S. Ed. Notes Ye shall publish next week more material on this question especially in light of the Chrysler partial take-over of Rootes.