18.01.2001

Unite shop stewards with SA

On December 12 General Motors revealed its latest global 'downsizing' strategy. Rick Wagoner announced that because of the overcapacity of the world car market GM would have to sack up to 15,000 carworkers.

Job losses were announced in North America and Europe. The Luton car production plant was to shut down in the first quarter of 2002. The announcement sparked a wave of industrial militancy not seen in the UK car industry for at least 20 years. GM's UK headquarters were occupied twice, Luton workers held sit-downs and, most significantly, there were the excellent unofficial solidarity walkouts at Ellesmere Port and Toddington Road.

Labour's response to the crisis was disgraceful. A 'rapid response task force' was sent to Luton, armed with the plan that all the redundant car workers needed was help filling in CVs, directions to the local job centre and advice on how to set up your own business.

Margaret Moran, the local Blairite MP for Luton South, whom the Bedfordshire Socialist Alliance will be challenging in the general election, initially intervened, saying that nothing could be done despite the fact that it was "a betrayal and just before Christmas"! But as the anger began to rise and the community got behind the trade union campaign, not surprisingly she started talking of the need to fight.

When challenged as to what was and is the best strategy to save the plant, she hoped that GM would take the money on offer from the European Structural Fund. She wants to bribe the company with millions in subsidies - after all the firm had 'only' made £6 billion profit in the previous year. This money, she proudly announced, was available because after three years of Labour government Luton had been successful in winning 'assisted area status'.

The response from the national trade unions and the TUC leadership was also predictable. They restrict themselves to complaining about how cheap and easy it is to sack British workers (which it is). In an effort to gain international solidarity, John Street, the TGWU local full-time official, excelled himself when he argued that the pain should be "spread evenly across Europe". Even though GM has given 15 months' notice of their plan, what was needed was the protection of the European Consultation Directive.

Members of the TUC general council came to Luton and announced that they would not allow the plant to close they would fight GM "all the way". It was almost believable until you saw the cobwebs on their speeches and realised that they were the same 'supportive' words that had been used to reassure miners, dockers, printers, Rover workers, etc, etc, and were most recently voiced at Ford Dagenham meetings.

On January 11 the parliamentary trade and industry select committee came to Luton to hear the reasons for the closure. Nick Reilly, Vauxhall chairman (who, following the occupation, now has his own bodyguards and had to be sneaked in through the back door), told the meeting that any labour agreements made "are not worth the paper they are written on". Although Luton had made profits for the last 12 years they were "not big enough".

In response the unions are considering legal action because they believe that it is illegal to just rip up the 1998 agreement. But by the time their challenge reaches a European court the plant will probably be another shopping centre.

The workforce was laid off for four weeks, starting in mid-December. Since then, shop stewards and activists have been out petitioning and leafleting daily for the rally/demo on Saturday January 20.

On Monday January 15 there was a meeting in Zurich with GM Europe bosses. The unions gave their detailed presentations and petitions and then Mike Burns gave his reply: Luton will still be closing. After the meeting the trade unions announced that they would be balloting for strike action and would bring all UK operations to a standstill.

Upon returning to work there have been two mass meetings at the Luton site. The mood prior to the meetings was sombre. The platform, which included senior shop stewards from all three GM UK plants, were arguing for everyone to reject the redundancy package and build for strike action. The TGWU convenor from Ellesmere Port, Mickey Whitley, got the biggest cheer when he stated that Ellesmere did not want the Epsilon car: "That's Luton's". Workers went back to work, their morale boosted.

On Thursday January 18 there are mass meetings planned at the Ellesmere Port plant. On January 24 there will be meetings with representatives from the European plants.

The January 25 European Day of Action will be absolutely crucial in either lifting the confidence of all workers in their ability to fight back and win or in severely denting the morale of those facing the sack. GM will be forced to keep the plant open only by building on the solidarity pledged by other GM workers, not by trying to dream up a 'defend British jobs' campaign or hoping to find a group of sympathetic judges.

The Bedfordshire Socialist Alliance has had a warm response whenever we have intervened. We recognise that the fight to save employment at Vauxhall is not only a struggle against General Motors, but also against the Labour government. They are working together to carry through these redundancies with the minimum of cost and political damage to the company and the government.

We are debating with the Vauxhall workers and shop stewards, stressing our view that building an opposition to the closure must involve industrial action against GM combined with political action against the Labour government. Whilst the support of the national trade union officials for industrial action is at this point in time important, we believe they cannot be relied upon to lead the necessary action, not least because of their past and continued support for the Blair government.

Despite the feeble protestations now coming from Luton South's Labour MP, she remains an uncritical member of Blair's government, which through its own inactivity and neo-liberal policies is backing the company plans.

The Vauxhall shop stewards committees are the only rank and file organisations capable of organising industrial action. The Socialist Alliance is the only political organisation on the left that will mount a general election challenge to Labour's support for GM. Therefore it is essential that we try to build the closest possible cooperation and liaison between the shop stewards committees and the Bedfordshire SA.

This is not just another industrial struggle. It must, through debate and dialogue, be turned into a political struggle. We urge more representatives of the shop stewards committees to attend Bedfordshire SA meetings and for this invite to be reciprocated.

Danny Thompson
secretary, Bedfordshire SA