With the crisis in the building industry despening -two thirds of the National Federation of Building Trade Employers are already working at three quarters capacity or less - the building bosses have gone on the offensive.
breach an agreement with the un ions by bringing lump labour onto the Leach's site in Mitcham. The workers have responded by going on strike, and moves are on foot to bring out other Leach's sites in solidarity.
14 scaffolders victimised by MicAlpines -the so-called 'evidence to convict the Shrewsbury Two- has entered its fifteenth week, Below we print a special report from Newcastle ing support for the strike both in Newcastle and Scotland.
ers" Union scaffolders on Tyneside are now out on strike in support of the 14 victimised scaffolders at the castle, The site itself, a L40 million Council has a 51 per cent stake, has been completely closed since Monday 3 February, when the rest of the workforce walked off in sympathy.
is steadily growing. Edinburgh Ceninvestigate the alleged misuse of adverts in the Newcastle Evening Chronicle national headquarters of LICATT an crence. For example, the skills of the tape kits, could be used to produce matgeneral lanie of combatting job cuts In LONDON they are trying to scaffolders.
In NEWCASTLE, the strike of been organised. the same firm that provided IMG, who have been active in buildAll Trausport and General WorkAberdeen.
McAlpine's Eldon Square site in Newprestige project in which the Labour Meanwhile support for the strike tral branch of UCATT passed a resolution on Monday 10 February calling on the Union's Executive Council to union funds to finance strike-breaking They have also demanded from the Northern Regional office and the editorial workers, who produos slide and eral about their own strucele and on the It is in fact crucial chat joumalists and otier warkers support the ocupation nat caily to sere the six jobs but to indicate to their own emplayors that all redundascles and closures will be ngorousty resisted. A demonstration called in the lunch hou but explanation for why one of the North- the T&G- claimed he knew nothing ern Region organisers, Barney Mcintyre, voted with the two management represencatives in the original industrial triburial set up over the Eldon Square dispute. Had he voted with the two other trade union representatives, the decision would have gone in favour of the fourteen London dockers have sent a don- PELO ation to the strike fund and are blacking Godfrey Davis vans, which have been used to transport the scabs. Strikers have explained their case to workers in Glasgow, Liverpool, Burmingham and London, where collections and messages of support have The International Marxist Group has reproduced large numbers of the strike committee's collection sheets and circulated them in Motherwell Hridge Engineering, Leith and Aberdeen docks and via Stirling Trades Council, Strikers will be doing a series of meetings arranged by the IMG on rig module construction jobs in Bdinburgh and docks and shipyards in BREWERY DRIVERS The most impressive acts of solidarity have been in Nowcastle Itself. On Wednesday 5 February, drivers at the Scottish & Newcastle brewery came out on a one-day soltuarity strike, and led over 700 workers in a protest march to T&GWU and UCATT headquarters to demand that the union make the strike official. Despite this Deve Shenton, the T&GWU regional organiser - the sane man who scabbed on victimised shop steward Jean Jepson in Hull- has sent a Telex round T&G branches telling them not to support the strike.
Some of the pickets who went to London were kept waiting 241 hours Communist Party, who told them of the Telex. Brother Henderson at Transport House --number three in be an important step in this direction.
Nationalisation under workers control is the official policy of the NUL, but so fur this has remoined a comunicment on paper only. The struggle for the nationalisation of EAV, without compensatton to tho American owners, would force the union to take up this issue in a serious way.
Remiations and francial support 20 Mary Horrocks, EAl Ocespotion, 30r of the strike. Newcastle Trades Council, who alter an informal meeting decided to send a videotape machine to the picket line following the arrest of ten pickets, have now been sent an hysterical letter by Shenton saying the T&G will withdraw their delegates from the Trades Council unless it stops "'interfering" in the disThe striking scaffolders and their supporters have reacted quickly to the arrest of ten pickets in late Jan uary. A public meeting on Thursday 6 February, attended by 200 trade untonists and students, and chaired - convenor of the massive Vicken, Elswick worksvoted to set up a defence committer for the arrested pickets. The follow ing Monday 200 scatfolders marched to the court with the ten arrested pickets at their bead. The ten were remanded on bail of t25 each to the Crown Court on 10 March HIGH MORALE The morale of the strikers is extr emely high and they are now confid ent of winning There will be no returo to work unless ail the scaffolders are taken back the original 14 plus any sacked for supporting the strike. whether by McAlpine's or any other firm. This will maintain the tremendous unity of the scaffolders. many of them only recently unionised.
With the help of the local student unions the strikers are now bringing out a bulletia two or three times a week to explain their case to workers in the area, and flying pickets are still touring the sites and factories. The T&G 8/214 branch (scaffolders), to which all che strikers belong, bas also passed a resolution that in the event of a call for a marional strike to releas the two Shrewsbury pickets, this branch pledges to lead the strike in this area.' A delegation will also be going to the Wigan Building Workers Action Committee march when it artives in London.
The action of McAlpine's and the police, the open scabbing of UCATT and T&GWU officials, and the compl icity in their actions of the local Lab our Council makes it vital that this strike is won, It is a test case for militant union organisation not only on Tyneside but nationally All messages of support and donations should be rushed to the Strike Comnictec, cro Eddie Brady, 86