Small-time
Mac Gregor
can be
beaten!
By Diane Farmer FOR hundreds of families of Striking Silentnight workers. this Christmas could have been very bleak. But as one of the strikers said although a lot of the extras were missing we had a spirit and friendship which made up for it and which we haven't had before." That comradeship has been built up over seven months of one of the bitterest strikes in recent times.
The 500 workers at two different sites in Barnoldswick, Lancs., and in Sutton, Yorks., came out on strike against management's refusal to keep to a no redundancy agreement. The workers had voted to give up their annual pay rise in return for no job losses. Management promptly posted redundancy notices; the workforce walked out, and all 500 were sacked in June.
Because of its geographical isolation and the heel-dragging of the FTAT officials, the strike received virtually no publicity outside Yorkshire and Lancashire until Commember Save then the ding committee been sending speakers out all over the country to build financial and industrial support for the strike.
The FTAT officials are hostile to spreading the strike and to calling for secondary action, as they are afraid of being taken to court for breach of the Tory anti-union laws. FTAT, once a large union has been decimated by the collapse of the furniture industry. The Silentnight strike is probably the Socialist Viewpoint No. 10 February 1985 p5 biggest and most important strike they have had to deal with and the bureaucrats are totally inequipped to give any lead to the workforce.
The most obvious way to win the strike would be to ask other unions to impose a 100% boycott on any dealings with Silentnight and sidiary companies. This would include approaching suppliers of the materials needed to make the beds as well as asking workers in stores which stock the beds not to handle them. This strategy would have brought the company to a standstill months ago.
Most of the solidarity action so far achieved - like the boycott at some ports of the coconut fibre used in the beds — has only come after the strikes pushed the officials to do
This initial action was followed by a meeting between the strikers and the FTAT national officials in an attempt to get them to push for an international boycott of the coconut fibre. The fibre comes from Sri Lanka and the strike committee are trying to get some trade union contacts there who will be sympathetic. The strikers asked for this kind of action months ago — and are still waiting for a report of
Meanwhile the Co-op which is sup posed to be sympathetic to the labour movement voted against implementing a national boycott of Silentnight goods in its decided it would be taking sides and becoming political!
Despite the long drawn-out strike, the freezing cold northern winters and the massive odds against them the strikers are holding firm. No one has gone back into the factory. The picket lines are still continuing on a
Many of the pickets, particulary on the Sutton site, have been subjeced to American style industrial tactics. Scab lorries have drawn up with men threatening the caravan has been wrecked. Some of the pickets have been attacked and some of their wives have been beaten up while walking home.
Tom Clarke the owner is a powerful
and rich Tory and of course the police have yet to arrest anyone for attacking the pickets. These tactics will become increasingly common in Britain as the Tories with their press and media attack trade unionists' right to strike in defence of their jobs and conditions.
Tom Clarke is a small time MacGregor, He shares the same politics but does not have the strength and backing that MacGregor had. This strike can be won.
The order book at the factory is thinner than usual for this time of year. The inexperienced scabs cannot do the skilled work required to produce beds. The rate of returns for shoddy work is far higher than at any other time.
With backing from other workers the factory could be shut down in a matter of a few weeks and Clarke would be forced to negotiate with the workforce on their terms.
Clarke must be getting desperate. This week he accepted an invitation to speak at the local school, where many of the strikers' children go, on "industrial relations"| The strike committee organised a demonstration outside the school with many of the children joining in.
Support groups for the Silentnight strike have been set up in many parts of the country. The strikers need donations to keep the strike going and the soup kitchens functioning. ... ....
CONFERENCE
SATURDAY FEB 22ND 1986
11 am - 5 pm
MANCHESTER
HELP
ORGANISE
THE FIGHT
support the Silentnight workers
They also need strong industrial support if they are to win.
Support groups should be organis-
.. ...
....
ANTI FASCIST ACTION
AFA
BACK • Were for deals and credentas tor.
Anti-Fascist Action, PO Box 273,
Forest Gate, London E7.
ANTI FASCIST ACTION
Socialist Viewpoint No. 10 February 1985 p6
50
FTATU ing demonstrations and pickets at stores which sell Silentnight beds and they should be talking to union stewards in those stores trying to get them to raise the strike in their workplaces.
Kinnock and Hattersley both promised support to the strikers when they lobbied the Labour Party conference. Neither of course have made a trip up to the area. The TUC has done its usual propaganda statement saying they support, but have done nothing else.
The wonder is not that the strike hasn't won yet but that under the present industrial and economic conditions that workers new to trade unionism came out at all. Trade unionists must raise this strike in their branches and Trades Councils. TGWU, and USDAW branches must send resolutions through to their District and Regional Committees calling on the union to support any boycotting action and must work to get that action.
One of the leading women strikers said "we are still here, we're still fighting. He hasn't done it in seven months, he'll not beat us now." FTAT cannot afford to lost this strike. The Silentnight workers deserve to win it and the labour movement needs a victory-
Cravendale Branch 92 Strike Fund, c/o Ann King, 10 Rainhall Crescent, Barnoldswick, Colne, Lancashire.