TEN years ago a limited number of short term contract workers were first employed in Rover, first at Swindon then at Cowley. Most of these were given permanent contracts after six months.
But the foot was in the door. The use of a short term contracts is now universal in the remaining unionised motor inaustry, sucn as Vauxhall, Jaguar, Peugeot and Rover.
But at least temporary instances employed directly by the company, and the unions can put pressure on on. for full time employment, and can control numbers lem. This ISG pamphlet is a contribution to the debate within the Socialist Alliance on the policies needed to challenge New Labour and unite a broad movement of the left.
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But the situation at BMW's plant in Cowley is different, who are desperate to and much more difficult, and no doubt will be followed by other car companies.
In the middle of last year the company started using agency labour, in ever-growing numbers. At its peak this reached 2500 shop floor workers, with the core shop floor workforce down to around 1000.
BMW promised that the agency staff would be with a view to full time conTracts beine Issuea. do Tar about 500 have been taken contract.
This created a dual probThe existing core workforce than the core workforce, is now surrounded by people and are under constant pressure the whole time. impress, in the hope of get- For them the job cannot ting permanent positions. At be just a question of a time of increases in pro- going in, doing their work, duction of the new model then going home. (big numbers are only ever If they want a contract they employed at such times), in must be perfect timekeepthis instance the new Mini, ers. If extra work is put on the agency staff are the them, then they must do it. means through which work If the company wants people rate is being increased, to take an interest in the job often to unbearable levels. through team meetings, In addition, the carefully quality checks etc they have selected people who are to be seen to be the keengiven contracts are often est. anti-union, and manage- This can be very mentally ment creeps. The union has stressful, especially if they little say in who is given a have problems outside work.
Most of the agency labour Agency workers in Cowley are young, and these presget 20 per cent less pay sures can be especially stressful to them, as they want some kind of social life. They have to be willing to work all the strange shifts that go into what is called "modern" factory life (as if employers in the past had never thought of 24 hour working). At Cowley the rotating shifts in the week include a fortnight of 5:00pm to 3:30am working, and weekend shift working includes 12.5 hour shifts. Most importantly, as with all the other agency workers in Britain (which has ov Tar John Lister the biggest proportion of agency labour in its workforce of any country in Europe) agency staff have to put their lives on hold as far as putting a roof over one's ne day one made chase is concerned. No mortgages or big loans will be issued to people who are not in permanent employment. And of course they are not accumulating any benson eatenears The only advantage over other agency workers is that being employed by an agency (unere are three in Cowley) directly into a unionised workplace can give some element of control on the agency.
On discipline there are procedures, especially with regard to safety: so these workers can be defended despite the pressure to work unsafely. They do have a voice.
This is no doubt why the majority have joined the The spread of agency labour conditions is a curse in that it is dramatically worsening the future for young people. They will have no security either in their jobs or finances.
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