body plant in Dagenham.
Meeting the press on the first day of the strike, you were very confident about the relevance of the full claim and the Ford workers' commitment to it. view of that, how do you regard the SeCCH The settlement was satisfactory one. Of course we didn't achieve every aspect of the claim.
But to move from the position of the original 5 per cent to ultimately the settlement of 17 per cent — made up by 9io per cent improvement ur wac basic rate, with a 5.6 per cent supplementary navment ana-wiln morovcmeus soliday pay to "time and a third meant that there was much satisfaction and the atmosphere within the factory S One O SUCCESS On the question causes. the original attendance allowance contained 13 disqualifications LOUN couple to negotiate the elimination best part of them, and ultimately we finished up with just five.
And of course now the workers position within the factory is to begin to look for ways of eliminating them in the ICAL GLICCIR Anther dissatisfaction question of hours. We've had a 40-hour week since 1961. The reduction in the working week In 1961, volume prior to the strike, rigid in all question or nours. obviously budge one iota.
- in the new year propaganda, broad activity.
Saarlouis.
penalty of weeks .OI UIC in tne same poston, scale.
was the in ine motor industy international scale. degrees of Ine urenl Harana mechanisation between 1961 and 1978 made it important that we get some we were producing tn current model at 39 an hour. At peak the strike? we were producing at 76 Cortinas an hour.
We found the company extremely the negotiations on the •1 nCy wouldn't Ultimately, on the trade union side of the Negotiating Committee, we unanimously agreed a resolution to retain the question of hours as a priority, and now beginning a campaign of conferences, will be DaNIs I've just recently returned from a two-day visit to Germany, where I met Ford workers in both Cologne and There is a general recognition of the need to effect international links of the nature that could assist us in putting pressures on the company to achieve a reduction in hours, because we're both NJNC we produce the same models, and Ford production is extensively integrated on a European So there is a need to develop campaign on a national scale which we would do in conjunction with workers the steelworkers in Germany has led to us sending them messages of solidarity would be expecting reciprocaton if we were ourselves in a struggle around hours.
Can I ask you about the negotiating procedure and the state of the National Joint Negotiating Committee during This was a radically different NJNC to the one that existed in 1971, with a significantly expanded "lay" Yet there were certain inconsistencies between this move towards greater lay representation and what went on.
There seem to have been points in the strike when the full NJNC had decided against further negotiation with the company, or negotiations only on the full claim, and then individual full-time officials Todd or Reg Birch - acted to reopen negotiations..
You're right, the full NJNC completely changed. The day of the submission of the claim on 24 August was the first time we'd reconstituted the with full-time officials, representatives plus the CORYCHUES The union side grew to 56-strong.
Some people would say it's a bit cumbersome WIlnaU involved, but actually improvement, because prior to that the convenors were completely outside the CEOLdLUIS We've improved the industrial of each plant negotiating with the company. Il we could get that nationally INOuSTV. TaL COlVCIOS OE DaLS WCE engaged in negotiations employers, I think that would be a valuable development Now the NINC chairperson, Ron Todd, the secretary, Reg Birch, and the vice-chairperson, Doug Cornwall, were available to meet the company at any time. And they met the company occasions.
This was three officers meeting three people from the company to discuss various questions. They had no powers of negotiation. They were purely in a position of attempting whether there was any flexibility in any aspect of the situation. to find After the two exchanges with th company they reported back to the full NJNC. It had been agreed by the NJNC section.
that these three officers would be Ron available any time the company might wish to meet them.
Obviously 56 people can't do that major negotiating with the company, and so the chairperson and secretars had would make the presentations. During adjournments the trade union side would have its discussions and decide on formulations that would be put to the company. full-time In a recent pamphlet, Dan Connor and Bernie Passingnam pu people view that what we should be looking for in ine eno completely lay, full-time officials onlv in an advisor capacity.
Do you think an NJNC organised as part of. the NJNC strike? throughout the agreed that the being held claim.
LWO scodl dld StrUCtUTe.
stewards involvement establish reporting back distributed to stewards.
OrWarU LIC NJNC which presumably return to work. difference to the course of this year's No, I don't think so. Because what's most important is the involvement of membership in determining and securing the wage claim.
The claim originates on the factory floor. By this Easter, meetings will be people Cal forward their aspirations for the 1979 These will then go through all our of the BECCUES convenors to meetings of all the shop So the continuous the membersmip to them the claim, reporting back the negotiations, which is the key to the overall situation.
, * I very much agree with your stress on membership involvement. But wan't this a problem during the strike itself?
During the strike the workers in the main attended the factory once a week to collect their tax rebate and strike was the workers WACE reported what the situation was. So in that important sense the membership was involved through what we could call informal consultation with the It wan't until the company made the improvement to 9.6 per cent plus the attendance allowance that we decided to formally consult the membership. The membership broadly - out of the 23 factories, five small ones voted to accept — rejected any strings or penalty clauses which brought us back to the negotiating table again. Then we had the final mass meeting when the NJNC recommended acceptance.
At the previous mass meeting, the NJNC had recommended rejection on the basis of the penalty clauses. Wher we felt we had got as far as we could in eliminating them through negotiations. we went back to the membership. And overwhelmingly the membership voted to accept our recommendation and to
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interviews Sid raway, chairperson of the shop stewards at the Ford
pay Imost each week the shop stewards produced a weekly bulletin which