Jons OCCUPATION Labour Government from their plans But the Works Councils are treadThe dilemms is now new. The main Confederation -still generally known The works at Ebbw Vale, a ianour industry. Whilst the men at Lianwern By 1966, the writing on the wall became clear - Ebbw Vale, was for the axe. The workers begin to look for i But a split between craft and produc The craft delegates put the emplasis For many workers the argument of Ebbw and the surrounding commEbbw Vale is far too cut off in lerms of geography and transport faculties to make it attractive to private capilA successful fight against closure the Ebow workers and the commun was the first shaky step in this directactones in the area.
works, starting with £1 million to reThe second step is to move from the formulation of such class demands to a strategy wluch can impose them through class strength. An oco upation of the works, both rolling and tinning sections, is vital. It would secure machinery, keep the fumaces in working order, and provide a base from which to organise further actThere has neen talk of a work-in, but it would be impossible to guarantee supplies of iron and steel. The finished steel and tinplate would also have to be sold on the capitalist market in competition with BSC and foreign producers. In the same way: straightforward strike action would give BsC the opportunity to threaten closure of all the furnaces two years ahead of schedule, as strike action would put them beyond repair.
An occupation is the only way. It stops a major part of BS's tinplate output and stops steel output at a time when maximum production is needer from the Ebow works due to the re-ling of a furnace at Llanwern. Keeping the furnaces in working order without giving the bosses any prod uction provides a powerful base from which to demand a Government reInvestent programme. By establishcrossroads ing workers control over how much to invest and what plant to buy through an elected enquiry committee. the workers can also begin to tum nalionalised industry away from be ing a source of cheep steel for the capitalist class to serving the overall interests of the working class.
Control over the investment pro gratinte has to be extended to contral over hours and conditions, while the necessary work is being curried out. Attempts by BSC to impose sackings and short-lime working in this period must be met by the dem and for work-sharing with no loss of pay. The available work should be monitored by the enquiry committee and divided equally between the whole workforce with the workers receiving average weekly earnings.
Workers control over bours would have to be continued when normal production resurned, as BSC will try to introduce short-time bec ause of the fall in demand for steel and tinplate. Shorter bours would not only provide a lasting social benefit but defend jobs and take more people off the dole queues. Since January another 1000 jobe have already been lost in sinaller The fight for work-sharine with no loss of pay and a Government re-investment programme to stop redundancies needs to be taken Lo all steel works und all workers faced with short-time and redundancy in South Wales The steel industry in South Wales faces a bleak future. Lanwero and Port. Talbot, Lie main producing and rolling mills, are likely to be on shorl-time hy the end of March. Four-day production and one day maintenance and cleaning has been operating at Lianwerp since January The secondary and linishing plants of Whiteheads and Orb, Newport, and Tostre and Velindre pear Swansea, all bave similar cuts in orders At Panteg works, output of stainless steel has heen cut hack by 50 per cent. East Moors, Cardiff, faces both cuts in orders and the throat of the axe in 1980. Furthermore, BSC has also announced its intention to "dis cuss" with the steel unions the susp ension of the guaranteed week.
Ebbw can become a focus for opposition to HSCs plans. Proposals for a common jobs policy, for the regional implementation of work-sharing, would find a ready response among fellow steelworkers. A lead in creating workers control in a nationalised industry would quickly lead to workers demanding that the Labour ....at the Government nationalise all firms cre aling redundancies.
Such a strugge demands the greatest possible involvement of all workers to achieve its ends. But the Works Councils at Ehow Vale have not yet called mass meetings to discuss the way forward. Shop meetings on all shifts should be convened now to work out the alternatives as a preliminary to an extraordinary mass meeting of all cratt and proiluction workers to vote on what strategy tu follow and lo elect a special struggle COUNTIE Links with otber steelworkers can be built through the all- Britain action committee of works representalives, This committee can endorse the strategy of libhw workers in both words and action by arranging i sp ecial meeting for them at all steelworks, distributing leaflets popularising their demands, and agitating for national strike action prior to the April redundancies.
Regional conferences and regional jobs policics against short-time and redundancies involving delegates from all factories affected could also proside a massive boost to the steelworkers who are now in the front-line of the struggle for jobs.
-Newport IMG