Flowers time to prepare his to get every penny out of the the new mini, and will be on their own negotiating with deal, cut prices drastically. down to the gate, chanting selling at a loss because any BMW. "Towers in!" Immediate moves need to made to form links by mittee then flew Chinn and the works com- to Munich and would simply reduce the stocks they were giving workers internationally to break the nationally and away. Will these sales con asking for BMW to listen to tinue when prices go back Towers. union leadership's approach. meetings of the national At national level several up, and when the firm drops out of the media limelight? The lessons should be The realicy is that in order taken by the Ford workers negotiating committee, led straight away. You need to Woodley. TO COlle Towers will have to cut costs. occupy immedtately, don't called for them to accept the This is where it is so danger- let union officials put off Towers only unions, apart from their rep- so readily into bed with the Call for unity with vour boss. European plants calling for the board work sharing. Won tie one Cook has led the workers to cheer place at this time. They were tion in London demanding the Towers bid. him when he worsens workSo when the Alchemy bid ing conditions? Remember United we can fight back:
divided we wind up pleading failed on April 27 it was not Coltons major plants usually lead the way surprising workers bail us our. Much of the bid is still hazy. What is clear is that hardly airy FIGHT FOR THE RIGHT TO WORK now money is involved. The stumped up £200 million has the stock as collateral: but what interest rate are they charging;
BMW gave C75 million as a 50 year loan of 6500 milion. This latter is spread over three years, no doubt so that BMW can get tax advantages out of workers acquiring one third of For that matter, what salaries are they paying themseyes! mit they get ie? They have already appointed from a company on the Isle of (They have sold Land Rover Will they have to pay cash for a Manufacturing Director, shares! Or does he perhaps Chris Bowen for Longbridge, Man, Samn themseres L/V expect them to car Ty out the and they are now looking for a But who has put money in? suggestion of BMW UK's boss Manarine Director Werner Samaans, that they pay At that point the founders Apart Trom the famous clu appears that each of the 6 by working unpaid overtime? will just be the board of direcAnother percenage we go founders - Towers, Hemmines to the dealers. a other businesses. Nick Stephenson from Lola cars, Mayflower, John Edwards So what percentage of No doube they will continue Phoend will remain with the six founders? If anything is left board. But whatever reward t100.0W0. Is this t.600.000 to sell off at the end, what per- they receive, it will basically be really the only new money!
cenaze of the asses will try negotiations.
The workers at Longbridge save had no vote on the deal but at least they could try to influence events through their stewards.
But what about the compo. nent workers, whose foos are also at stake?
Ford have announced that Towers wil have come out very well. In 1996 he left Rover with a 2500,000 payout. No doubt when he is on the board he will make sure his style of TSUSETTER COSTUFUC In 1991 he proposed Rover Tomorrow, a far reaching document that dramaticaly changed working conditions, and led to draconian pressure on issues such as time keeping and flexibility. He told the unions he would them". The union negotiators. then led by Jack Adams and Tony Woodley, immediately capitulated and strongly recument. This was outside of a wage review, and gave nothing TO WOre Clearty Towers hopes to go on the way he began nine ycars ago. It seems the union chiefs have already conceded on this - and arry other demands he may make. they are going to buy more components for the i Rover prank at sounut from Europe, and some models will have to share the ponents as their Maverick and Explorer models.
Phoenc, too. have snid they will switch to component suppliers in Europe Many workers in the component industry have already Already there have been 600 job losses at Fort Dunlop in Birmincham, but more obs can be expected to go, among steel producers and in the many smaller companies that supply Rover.
They are usualy in the same unions as the Rover and Ford workers, and they are situated though the unions kept saying that ten times as many' COTH as direct car plant workers, they have had no say whatsoever - they are hidden workThe main unions should call an emergency conference of all car and component workThis should be the forerunner of such a conference on a European scale. The centrepiece of such a conference sion bargaining, that is putting more and more out of work. shared across the planes.
If such conferences were held, then air workers could put themselves at the foreront of developing a nationalised public transport system. the last time the gos. I fos ernment stepped in..
when British Leyland NU nationalised in 1975, Harold Wilson's Labour government the immediately set about 00: preparing it for sale, insisting that it must be They brought in Michael Edwardes, fresh unions at Union Carbide. As his deputy they - A MacGregor, who went on to smash the 1984 minThe workforce was reduced from 186,090 In 1975 to 46,000 in 1988 when it was priva• tised. Plant after plant was closed. moves to weaken the shop-floor unions throuch drawing stew. ards and officials onto so-called "participation" commitees, where they sat alongside manage. ment.
After this softening up exercise. Edwardes and about the unions with a Longbridge convenor Derek Robinson was sacked, committee was smashed. Alan Thomett cowley. followed by Bob Cullen and others. More from Longbridge. Unlimited government money was available lo carry out this task.
This is not our view of nationalisation.
We want workers' conthrough elected committees, drawn from the most vicious sections of busi-