Forcing Gunter to Act on Arundel

from an Industrial correspondent A five point programe of action to force Minister of Labour Ray Gunter to intervene on behalf of the unions in the Roberts Arundel cispute, was agreed here last night. The decision was reached by 100 engineering shop stewards representing 40 factories in the Greater Manchester area. The action began Wednesday when workers in every factory were asked to stage a -15 minute sit down from 9 a.m. Stewards will tell their employers to inform Mr. Gunter of the loss of production resulting from the stoppage. Sitdowns dobling in length from a_ half-hour on March 15 an hour on March 20 to two hours on March 22, will be staged, and will culminate in a half-day strike on March 29 and a mass demonstration in Stockport unless Mr. Gunter intervenes. Appeals to join in the. snowball sitdowns are to be sent to the Merseyside, London and Sheffield Committees for the defence of trade unionism, and to the London docks liaison committee, Other acts of solidarity are welcome. At a meeting last Thursday the point was made very forcibly that while efforts to black completely all Roberts Arundel goods are having an effect, this in itself will not guarantee victory. Another success was recorded on Thursday when the Tower Shipping Company, under threat of being blacked by Liverpool dockers, agreed to stop transporting goods for Roberts Arundel, Workers here are convinced that they face an American-inspired attempt to cash in on the Government's anti-trade union attitude by challenging the very basis of trade union organisation. Next week a deputation of strikers, together with six conveners from Manchester, will visit the Ministry of Labour in London to let Mr. Gunter know of the action planned here. -They will demand that he intervenes in support of the union's demands. All support and donations to: 125 Wellington Road South, Stockport, Cheshire.