What Has Happened at Squ:s

The scan: The Week v7 no26.pdf (PDF, Marxists Internet Archive, opens at this page)

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i GRIP? From a Glasgow T.& G.W.U. member Readers will remember previous articles outlining the strike at the Square Grip itteinforcement Company's factory at Newhouse in Lanarkshire. For over a year 33 strikers have been striking for recognition of their right to be represented by a trade union. For a large part of that time they have been unable to picket because of the interpretation of an interim injunction on picketing against six named individuals granted to the company by the courts in April 1966, The men gritted their teeth, and decided to stick it out till the final decision, to be in May this year. However, after over a year on strike, the strikers were advised by the local area official of the TGWU to seek other jobs, at a time when a pamphlet outlining the strikers' case, on the lines of "No Bus Today" had been prepared for publication by the strikers in conjunction with some Glasgow socialists. The men are finding it very difficult to get other jobs, and 18 are still unemployed. Not only is work hard to come by in Lanarkshire, but local employers will not employ men they regard as "troublemakers", Why were the men advised to pack in the strike, two months before the court hearing on the interdict was due to be heard? If there was no reason for the strike, why weren't they advised to get other jobs a year ago, when work was more plentiful in the area? What ever the court judgement now (although the case has been heard, the judgement has been deferred until August) the company has in fact won - workers who strike for trade union recognition can be sacked with impunity - and the great Transport and General Workers Union has suffered an ignominious defeat at the hands of a small and reactionary company. All T&GWU members must search their consciences at this result, It is to be hoped that they will press for a full enquiry into the circumstences of the affair. Meanwhile the men still unemployed, entering into their 16th month on strike, deserve all our sympathy and support. ANNOUNCEMENT