(Workers The seminar group was agreed that package deals and niga cage Fees ae 8 B92 3 a new phenomenon, an papiaeens Aaa sae ipso ae
ting workers' controls on shop . eh Mek iges closely linked with incomes polisy, being an eae a —. 3 e€ movements at local level under tight managerial ee ; i 0 Tne aeante were becoming more skilled in ‘buying out’ workers . coi eeacieyeny Rta ghia fchey tho -oerenie 2 aman Riso
rocess industries, deals o pa cae increased labour Gperomggiod me sag ta one ee (2) Industry wide deals were often much mo ’ evasion. sale i anti-union clauses; ¢.g. those which penalised strike a ’ wegee of managerial discipline upon the unions. These latter “ves pAb 8 agreed, should be strenuously opposed. In the first type, spe jpn ah cake stewards were faced with a real dilemma, since genuine gains o ite oo were possible, and difficult to reject outright. The acceptance _ Be soeerh terms, however, meant often increased speed-up, and loss of contro * iter r would, in fact, (and there was evidence of this already happen) egin eile rebuild their controls upon other levels and new issues, but we felt some more than this was required. Negative and anti-shop steward clauses in deals could be directly rejected, and a general strategy should be based upon the obtaining of maximum concessions for minimum sacrifice of controls. Some obsolete controls could in fact be 'sold' without real loss of shop steward positions. Counter demands could and should be made. Increased productivity should be met with the demand for the shorter working week: the 35 hour week should be put on the agenda. A ‘sliding scale of hours! could be demanded, implying that increased efficiency should result in automatic reductions of standard hours without loss of pay. In the U.S., for example, the slogan '30 for 40' (i.e. 30 hours work for 40 hours pay) had been injected into the workers! response to package deals, Accompanying this, workers should veto redundancies pending the finding of alternative employment. Speed-up leads to greater fatigue, and therefore greater safety hazards, Workers' control demands in the field of safety representatives and inspectors should therefore be raised in answering package deals. The introduction of new machinery by management should be treated as negotiable by workers' representatives at plant level, 'No new machinery without union consent' is the response to be aimed at. Finally, package deals imply increased profits for the employer: shop stewards and union negotiators at present are completely in the dark about the profits being made out of package deals. They should demand the opening of the company's accounts to the scrutiny of themselves » before they can be satisfied on this score, Some of these de,ands could be enormously strengthened through the development of national trade union policies, We therefore examined the proposals of Jack Jones, and the criticisms made of them, which appeared as part of the Conference papers, We agreed that the absorption of workers onto joint for managerial decisions in a context where they decisions, In rejecting committees of this kind, that they would work with any institution which genui workers! interests, and should advance their own such conmittees. Workers' rules should include be fully accountable to their members, should not "secrecy' regarding accounts and managerial decisions, and that there should be no limit set to pay increases by the movements of productivity, and that full and free access to accounts Should be obtained,