Management then brought in six new men, but they too refused to co-operate. Fords then decided to 'punish' the rest of the workforce, laying it off for the rest of the day.
In the welding booth the workforce had been reduced from four to two. When the output was consequently cut, the foreman approached the workers and asked: 'Is anything the matter?' 'No, nothing's the matter' was the reply. And so it went on, without any formal dispute being declared by either side, without the home and return for a mass meeting in the morning.
Trouble escalated night. Night-shift workers were laid off at 3.45 a.m. after rectifiers in the paint-shop refused to move a number of cars -normally do. It was then that the plant was in erect occupied. ine night-shift voted to stay in until normal finishing time. attempt to slam workers by turning the rest of the plant against them through lay-offs was effectively thwarted.
Night-shift stewards returned for a joint shop stewards meeting at 8 to a.m, and were joined by day-shift OTTON SECTOR Ten minutes later they returned to the section meetings to say that the company intended to stop payment from 8.30 a.m. The recommendation was to stay on site while stewards demanded that the company withdraw the lock-out threat and resume were production.
But little attempt was made workers stewards met. The union leadership in the plant was half-hearted about
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