The indications are that, for the present, ICE's half the staff-for some sort of organisation 43,000 unorganised so-called white-collar workers are going to remain without trade union collective bargaining rights. Under presSures from both staff workers and interested unions, notably Clive Jenkins' Association of Scientific, Technical and Managerial Staffs (ASTMS) -which already claims a 12% member- at the Guardian Royal Exchange Insurance ship across ICI-some months ago ICI commissioned the Tavistock Institute of Humen Relations to an "attitude survey" of its staff workers. The main point of interest centred around the question of whether or not they wanted trade union bargaining rights to be recognised by the firm. ICt is the last major: firm to hold out on giving recognition to the The results of the questionnaire, distributed in February, were published recently (May 4th) and show a considerable antipathy to trade unions, which in the section of the survey set aside for general comments, were variously referred to and criticised for "militancy", "political bias" and "extremist action". In fact; overall barely one-third (34%) of the ICi staff were in favour of joining a union, and over a half (54%) were definitely against this. Instead, support was given to proposals for staff committees (70%), which already exist and are not intended to be involved in bargaining, and a staff association (49%), which would have certain limited bargaining rights but would be time being, their ability to unilaterally impose These results, however, were contradicted in another section of the questionnaire where it was found that thore was strong support-by which could bargain with the company. There is clearly some muddled thinking here on the part of the ICI staff as to just what an "improved system" of staff committees or even a staff A comparison with the bargaining situation Group is useful at this point, for there the company has been opposing the staff turning the company-run staff association into a part of ASTMS, which would of course break the company's hold over it, on the grounds that "many members of the staff had not wished to be collectively represented in the past" (Finencial Times, January 9, 1971). More likely to be worrying the Guardian is the fact that members of the Prudential and Norwich Union Insurance Company have gained themselves wage rises of 25% and 10% respectively since they started being represented by ASTMS. On the other hand, ICI have announced that there will be no general increase for staff workers at all in 19711 The antagonism expressed towards the unions in the ICI-Tavistock survey suggests that the press and TV's current witch-hunting of trade unionists fighting the Tories' Industrial Relations Bill and striking to improve their tiving standards is having "beneficial sideeffects" for the IC! management, which look as if they are going to retain, at least for the wage levels and working conditions virtually without restraint. It is certainly the case that the "Clobber these industrial wreckers" hys teria of the media in the present period is helping to ward off the developing trade union consciousness among wide sections of white-collar" workers-Including those of ICI.
However, a more significant paint to arise from the questionnaire is that there are some sections of staff where support for the trade unions is much more widespread, The term "staff" as it applies at IC! refers to a range of employees from technicians and supervisors to scientists and even top managers themselves. So it is not surprising to find that, say, technicians and supervisory staff tend to be generally very much more well disposed towards the unions.
If ICI's staff are to win their right to be represented in negotiations by a trade union, and this becomes even more important now it is * known that considerable redundancy is planned for staff workers with the forthcoming "rationa lisation and reorganisation", then it is from amongst the technicians and works supervisors especially that any initiatives are likely to come. This will necessitate more than just "bringing pressure to bear" upon the company for union recognition; it is highly favourable to ICI that a large section of its employees remain unorganised and that a struggle will have to be waged to force ICI to capitulate and recognise union rights. Action committees of staff workers com mitted to getting ICI fully unionised should be formed, and links with other sections of ICI workers who are organised should be sought, in order to effectively conduct an intensive campaign of propaganda in favour of trade union activity in the offices, laboratories and plants. Red Male Reporters Ominous sigs are filtering through from the bourgeois press giving the impression that another section of Scottish shipbuilding is about to crumble. According to the "Financial Times" of May 13th 1971, "the group's cash flow difficulties-aggravated by a five-month heid-up of credit guarantees while negotiations took place with the Department of Trade and Industry late in 1970 and earlier this year-had "not yet been resolved", "Further to this information, U.C.S and especially the John Brown shipyard at Clydebank are about to be claimed by Cunard for E2 million due to their alleged late delivery of the QE.2 It is certainly true that John Brown shipyard is in a bad way. Apart from the empiri cal data which shows its financial plight, one would only have to look at the vard itself to see that it could never compete with the Japanese or ever Western European yards. This fact is the most important point, for the claim by Cunard is one which U.C.S. will meet 1) Cunard aftered the internal design of the Q.E.2, 2) U.C.S did not design the turbines for the ship; in fact the part of the turbines which caused the delay in putting the ship into service, the turbine blades, were not produced by the turbine manufacturers The company which did produce the turbine blades It follows that Cunard would have a hard time pinning the blame on U.C.S. However, as said previously, this factor is not the most important It is reported that the John Brown yard is the most out-of date yard in the group and has the lowest level of productivity: in order to make the group financially viable the kely action which U.CS will take seems to be the transfer of workers from Clydebank and Scotstoun to the more modern Govan and 3000 worker will have to be moved in this process, and the employers seem to think that because no redundancies should take place the workers will not be concerned. However, the workers will not be too pleased when
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The Decline of Upper Clyde Ship-builders Ltd.