14.11.1996

One small spark to fuse struggles

After a successful legal ballot for strike action 300 workers at Magnet’s Darlington factory were sacked at the end of September.

Four unions are involved in the dispute and workers are picketing the factory every day.

Labour relations had been deteriorating for a number of years with the company hiring and firing, using casual labour employed sometimes for only a few weeks or even days. The aim was to de-skill the factory and bring down wages, but it actually had the effect of cutting production.

A wage freeze has been in operation since 1991. In 1993 the company tried to cut wages by £35 a week, but the workers defeated this attempt and managed to push up their wages a little in that year. Nevertheless there has been trouble ever since.

This year the unions put in a claim for three percent. When it was refused, the workers were balloted and voted ‘Yes’ to strike action.

Magnet has over 200 retail outlets in Britain and there are five other factories. However these all produce different products and workers are employed under different terms and conditions negotiated as the company bought up the factories separately. This situation leaves the Darlington workers isolated. Although they have had much support from the other Magnet workers, there has been no attempt at solidarity action.

The Keighley factory, however, had a similar dispute with Magnet. Workers were actually offered three percent but with several strings attached, so they too balloted for action. After Darling-ton’s successful ballot the management at Magnet Keighley cut all the strings and settled. Darlington workers are now only demanding the same deal as the Keighley workers won.

The company originally bussed in workers from its retail outlets. Although the union machinery was slow to respond to this, it has now been stopped. All Magnet outlets are now being leafleted about the dispute. The firm is re-employing unskilled labour and a few ex-employees have scabbed on the dispute. The labour force is still low, but this dispute may have been a quick way for Magnet to replace skilled workers with unskilled.

However, as news of the dispute has spread, there is much support for the workers in the Darlington area and most of the scabs have to be brought in from outside. The job centre has stopped forcing unemployed workers to cross the picket line, although Ian Crammon, secretary of the family hardship fund and TGWU branch secretary at Magnet, warned: “The new Jobseekers Allowance may reverse that decision.”

The women’s support group which was immediately set up has been very successful in supporting a very well equipped picket line and putting pressure on Magnet’s parent company, Beresford. Letters were sent to all shareholders about the dispute and two of the major shareholders are now seeking a meeting to clarify the situation after meeting the women and shop stewards from Magnet. Beresford shares have slipped throughout the dispute and the managing director phoned Alan Milburn, Labour MP for the area, demanding that the women’s support group leave their shareholders alone.

The Magnet workers are planning a mass picket for November 25 and call for support from all workers. They have already received support from many unions. This date is a week before the end of the 90-day period, after which the company is legally able to pick and choose who to take back. The mass picket will be demanding, ‘one back, all back’. Nevertheless Ian anticipates a “time bomb” in the factory if they get their jobs back, as the company is obviously determined to force down wages and conditions.

On Saturday November 30 Keighley workers are organising a demonstration in support of Darlington with a rally in the town centre. The workers are receiving and welcoming support from all areas, though it is sometimes hampered by Labour and trade union bureaucrats who have been unhappy at suggestions that Arthur Scargill, president of the SLP, should speak at the rallies. Alan Milburn has also refused to speak on a platform with Yunus Bakhsh (of Unison and the Socialist Workers Party) or Jimmy Nolan, because of their working class militancy.

Ian told us:

“I am not really a political man, although I have been forced into that situation as a result of the dispute. I have spoken at union meetings around the country and of course it is obvious that this onslaught is not just about one employer - it is happening all over. Workers at Spartan Redhugh in Gateshead had a very similar dispute to us in 1992. They won. The attacks on pay, sick leave and holidays for Unison workers put our dispute in the shade.

“There is a wave of attacks on workers and trade union activity across the country which only takes one small spark to set it off. Workers just need to take the first step. We should have done it with the miners. They did not get the support they deserved from any trade union and I blame myself for that too.”

Linda Addison