from a speical correspondent A National lock-out of the 1,800 draughtsmen employed by members of the Shipbuilding Enployers' Federation is now over a week old, "The mspensions are 100% complete and will remain in operation until the Draughtsmen's and Allied Technicians’ Association calls off the strike at Swan Hunter's Tyneside shipyard," said a Federation spokesman. DATA instructed its members to report for work asvwual despite the Buspension notices. Employers at a number of yards made an attempt to turn the men away. Instead the men were told there was no work for them. They could sit at their desks if they wished but would not be paid. At most Tyneside yards men found that drawings had been removed overnight, and filing cabinets locked. A spokesman for the Tyne Shipbuilders’ Association said the employers were carrying out a defensive action and they wished to keep the situation "as peaceful and quiet as possible." One of the 70 yards affected by the dispute was Camell Laird's at Birkenhead, where about 300 DATA members reported for work? 100 of them employed on the Polaris nuclear submarine project. "Our men are staying in and insisting on work being given them, but all drawings have been locked away," said Mr. Ken Gill, the union's divisional officer. A similar situation was reported at Harland and Wolff's, Belfast, Alexander Stephens and other yards on Clydeside. A DATA spokesman said: "We have received reports from all our regions. Most of our members presented themselves for work and got into their offices but found their work was locked away or were told they would not be paid for any work performed," The saspension of Draughtsmen will mean an immediate half to quotations for new orders, but manual work will not be affected for several weeks. It could be several months before work at the majority of yards is seriously disrupted. The lock-out has been imposed because employers regard a local wage dispute at Swan Hunter's as part of a union campaign to force up rates throughout the industry. DATA decided to submit claims at yard level after a national pay claim was turned down. So far there is no indication of further talks on the dispute, and the Ministry of Labour is showing no inclination to intervene. While Vickers officials in Barrow denied they had broken the shipbuilding employers' lock-out of draughtsmen, about 30 of the DATA men marched from the shipyard to the Town Hall to present their union's case to local councillors. The mayor said afterwards that the draughtsmen had emphasised the ill-effects a prolonged stoppage would have on the town. "I told them I hoped for a speedy settlement, but that I could not intervene in the dispute in any way." The 1,800 shipbuilding draughtsmen locked out by the employers are "as solid as a rock," their general secretary , George Doughty, declared.
Workers at the Cammell Laird yard in Birkenhead are wondering when the
Minister of Defence, Mr. Roy Mason, is going to complain to the employ-
ers about the hold-up to the Polaris programme that will result from the
lockout. Last month, he had a lot to say about the need for round-the-
clock working, and the ending of restrictive practices by the unions,
"In view of Mr. Mason's concern about completing the Polaris programme
on time," a spokesman for the draughtsmen said yesterday. "one would
have expected an objection from him over the restrictive practice now
being used by the shipbuilding emrloyers in locking out our members."
A meeting of the 725 members of the Draughtsmen's and Allied Technic-
ians' Association employed by Rolls-Royce in Derby, unanimously endorsed
their union's policy on "the elimination of the abuses of self-employment
among draughtsmen and the establishment of decent industrial standards
among contract design firms."
The meeting called for a time limit of two months for firms engaging
self-employed men to sign an agreement with DATA for the elimination
of self-employment.