Thousands of D.A.T.A. members in various parts of the country walked out of their offices on Wednesday, March 22nd, to join in demonstrations of protest against the action of the shipbuilding employers in locking out shipbuilding draughtsmen, Huge demonstrations took place in working hours in London, Glasgow and Belfast. In London some 2,000 to 2,500 members (mainly from engineering firms) converged on 'Speakers Corner', Hyde Park, to show their solidarity with their locked-out colleagues, In what was probably the biggest London demonstration ever organised by D.A.T.A., the great column marched silently behind their divisional banners from Hyde Park to Westminster, holding up London's traffic at several points. More than 1,500 of them went on to a meeting at the Central Hall, Westminster, to hear Mr, R. Whiteley, President, and Mr. George Doughty, General Secretary, describe the background to the lockout. In opening the meeting Mr. Whiteley thanked the members for their "Massive demonstration through the streets of Ingland's capital". It was, he said, a great gesture for the members in engineering to come out in such numbers to demonstrate on behalf of their colleagues in shipbuilding, Mr. Whiteley referred to the lockout as a challenging and critical stage in the history of the union, It was a fight forced upon D.A.T.A,. by the brutal =“ action of the shipbuilding employers who had violated every normal concept of industrial procedure, D.A.T.A,. had pursued a claim for a wage increase at Swan Hunters, Newcastle, because our members there were receiving -:.° salaries below the average in shipbuilding; wages in shipbuilding were, in any case, the lowest in any section of industry in which D.A.T.A. members were employed. The offer of the employers. at Swan Hunters was insufficient to bring the wages of the members there up to a satisfactory level. D.A.T.A had taken the cleim through‘every stage of the. procedure: agreement~andild the’ Shipbuilding Employers! Federation had then threatened that if D.A.T.A. members at Swan Hunters went on strike every member in shipbuilding would be locked out, They had threatened this action in 1965 but at that time the Ministry of Labour had intervened and a subsequent court of enquiry had completely justified D.A.T.A.'s claim, The employers had anticipated that when faced with this threat D.A.T.A. would order its members at Swan Hunters back to work. The President said he was proud to be able to report, however, that the Executive Committee had decided unanimously that the union could not accede to such a threat. D.A.T.A, was net prepared to see the effective bargaining power of the union sabotaged by the shipbuilding employers, D.A.T.i. was prepared to fight to its utmost capacity to defeat the challenge of the employers. Mr. Doughty, General Secretary said that when the history of the dispute came to be written-as it would one day-the demonstration in London would occupy a proud place, There was in D.A.T...., said Mr, Doughty, a strongly held tradition: .of grass roots democracy and egalitarian control by the members, The annual conference, the supreme policy-making body of the union, had passed a number of resolutions of wages, They had instructed the E.C. to present to the employers claims for increases in the miniumum rates; they had declared their complete orposition to the prices and incomes policy
ef the Government; and they had affirmed their opposition to any legislation which would seek to limit the rights of trade unionists to bargair collectively. os D.A.T.A. has a reputation, said Mr, Doughty,. for observing procedure and the rules of the game and this we had done, There was no doubt at all, Said Mr. Doughty, of the unanimity of view of the E.C. and the members in their determination to win this fight. There had been unanimous votes from every shipyard in the country that the dispute could not be solved until the employers put the matter right and treated our members at Swan Hunters properly. Following questions and discussions from the floor the meeting passed unanimously a resolution which said: "This. mass meeting of D.A.T,.A, members congratulates the Executive Committee on its support for our members in. shipbuilding. This meeting further condemns the shipbuilding employers' illegal and unconstitutional lockout of our members as a totally irresponsible act of industrial anarchy," In the west of Scotland there was a general stoppage of work among D.A.T.A. members, and im Glasgow 1,600 D.A.T.A. members demonstrated their anger at the action of the shipbuilding employers, A meeting at the Govan Town Hall was addressed by Mr. McTurk, Vice-President, Mr. J. Shaw, EC. member and Mr, F, Stephen, Divisional organiser. In Northern Ireland every main factory stopped work at about 2,30 p.m. After a demonstration of nearly 1,000 D.A.T.A. members a meeting took place at the Wellington Town Hall, Belfast. Some 500 members attended the meeting which was addressed by D.A.T.A. representatives, by the President of the Northern Ireland district of the Confederation of Shipbuilding Unions and by the District Secretary of the Amalgamated Engineering Union.A district meeting of the Sheet Metal Workers' Union, called for the same day, was abandoned so that the members could join in the demonstration, Other mass demonstrations have been held in the past two weeks throughout the country, On Saturday, March 18th, more that 800 members marched to St. James Hall to a meeting addressed by Mr. McTurk, Vice-President, Mr. Baxter divisional organiser, and Mr, Albert Booth, D.A.T.A.'s MP, On Saturday, 18th March, More than 750 D.A.T.A. members took part in a demonstration in Newcastle in support of the locked-out shipbuilding draughtsmen., They marched for about a mile through Newcastle to St. James's Hall where a meeting was addressed by. D.A.T.A. Vice-President, Mr. Alex McTurk, Mr. Alb:rt Booth M.P, and Mr. A.M, Baxter, D.A.T.A. divisional organiser, The D.A.T.A. demonstration was the largest trade union demonstration held on Tyneside since the war, Draughtsmen from every shipyard on the Tyne were represented. Hach yard had its own banner and posters. A resolution of support for D.A.T.A. was carried unanimously. On Thursday, 16th March,400 D.A.T.A. Members attended a meeting in j!anchester to hear a report on the lockout of shipbuilding draughtsmen,The Speakers were Mr. E. Halliday of the Executive Committee of D.A.T.A, and Mr. John Forrester, D.A.T.A. divisional organiser. The meeting adopted a resolution commending the Executive Committee for their action in.supporting the . shipbuilding draughtsmen when faced with a national lockout by the employers. The resolution recognised that the — in ——e was of direct interest to all D.A.T.A. members. ° mae Se