from Humberside Voice (May issue) _————
rtant argument inst British entry into the Common Market is that aes sania iil ineaenbasty beoome the victims of the huge big businesses which already dominate the EEC. The real danger is that the big capitalist comb— ines like Shell, Phillips, Siemens, Courtaulds, 1.C.I., Krupps, Thyssen, Bayer and Fiat will have their positions strengthened by British entry and will be more able to play off the interests of one group of their employees at a plant in one country against the interests of some of their other employees in another country This is already happening. In particular, the biggest American corporations have been using this sort of international capitalist tactics inside and outside the Common Market for years. Imperial Typewriters is a case in point, Imperial was taken over by the American group of Litton Industries a few months ago. Litton Industries is based in Califormmia. It started out in 1953 with a capital of about £500,000 in the field of power tools. By 1967 Litton had grown to such an extent that it is now about the thirteenth largest firm in the United States. Litton interests are now on a world-wide basis, A list of their subsidiaries include many in France, Switzerland, Italy, West Germany, Belgium, Holland, Austria an Britain, ae The Litton companies have names like Hewitt Robbins, a materials handling company which Litton bought up in 1965 for 30 million dollars. As the "Financial Times" recently commented: "Litton tends to be everywhere. It produces a range of office equipment, from typewriters to 25,000 dollar computers...It has moved beyond cash registers to data registers, machines which will be used in the Mont Hance tunnel to record the payment of tolls, the measurement of the flow of cars, etc." It | now looks as though Littons have got a £5 million-plus deal with London Transport for data machines on tube stations. Other companies under Litton ownership include - Royal McBee, Sweda, Monroe Calculating Machines and West-rex. Mr Roy Ash, the American president of Litton made a brief visit to London in April "to talk to bankers," as the "Financial Times" reports. The newspaper also added "When, Litton is mentioned it is usually in connection with buying up some other company. This sometimes annoys Ash...The fact remains that Litton has bought over 50 companies, of ever increasing sizes; the deal being negotiated this week is worth 100 million dollars while that of two weeks ago, the acquisition of American Book wanted for its educational expertise-was valued at 60 million dollars." Litton also admit to keeping a list of 50 companies which it would like to absoorbs some have been watched for ten years. Official returns show that Litton Industries*profits increased by 28 per cent in the last six months of 1966. One sous ree of this huge increase was in the form of profits made on supplying equipment to the American Government for its murderous Vietnam wer. This is the kind of international company which Leicester's and Hull's typewriter workers on Hedon Road are up against. More and more of Western Evrope's workers are finding themselves with similar problems. It seems clear that Britain's trade unions must join forces with brothers and sisters in Western Europe andwork out a way of uniting against splitting tactics of international capitalists. There is now a real need for a European conference of trade unionists to come to grips with the workers! common fight. This need exists whether Britain joins the Common Market or not,