Industrial notes

from David Robinson, Militant Action Against Roberts-Arundel. Last weekend the Stockport and District Trades Council decided on a new course of action against the American-owned Roberts=Arundel textile face tory. The factory has been picketed since last November and a campaign has been carried out to '"black't the firm.J Jom Tocher, district secret~ ary of the AEU, said that a week of concentrated action has been planned to start on August Bank Holiday. Deputations will be sent to M.P.'s, the Prime Minister, the Ministry of Labour and the American Embassy. "We want the embassy people to know how strong the feelings are among trade unionists about the continuation of this dispute, which has gone on since last November,"he said. The week will culminate in a half-day general strike in the Stockport area. Twenty trade unions are planning to bring work in the town to a standstill. There will be a mass demonstration throughout the town and at the factory. The unions are also trying to prevent the firm from exhibiting at the Basle textile exhibition next month. The International Metal Workers' Federation is being approached to prevent machinery from Roberts-Arundel being shown at the exhibition. 'No Co-operation' Move by Power Workers. Union leaders of 155,000 manual workers in the electricity supply industry have notified the Electricity Council that their members will not co-operate in improved methods of working and other productivity schemes till a settlement is reached on current pay negotiations, They would continue to work those schemes already introduced but would not help with investigations into new schemes or with their implementation. Les Cannon, president of the ETU, has accused the employers of "abdicating responsibility" in bringing in the Prices and Incomes Board. The PIB is being used as a delaying factor, he claimed. The major issue is whether a 3 per cent or 5 per cent rise should be paid immediately for productivity already achieved and for various forms of co-operation (on which there is also disagreement) in the future. According to the Electricity Council future productivity improvements should not be rewarded till they have been in force for a year. This onesided interpretation of productivity agreements, which also includes the proposition that where employees do not accept new methods their individual basic rate could be removed at one week's notice, is clearly unacceptable to any union concerned with its members interests. Research into "Wages Drift" The Social Science Research Council is making a grant of £186,000 to the Centre for Business Research at Manchester Business School for research into the prohlem of “wages drift". The seven-man investigating team will be led by Professor Tom Lupton , professor of Industrial Sociology at the school. His brief is "to examine the influences which cause earnings to drift upwards away from negotiated levels without a corresponding increase in productivity". The research team will make on the spot enquiries at a large number of firms since Professor Iuton is convinced that plant bargaining is an important factor in wages drift.