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Wives of workers are not for the most part members of a union, but they are vitally concerned with trade union struggles.... So unions must take definite steps to involve the families of their members in support of struggles' Mrs. Miller's "wives' revolt" at Cowley, Oxford earlier this year dramatically drew attention to the position of women whose husbands are involved in industrial disputes. The episode got a great deal of publicity and was widely discossed, bet amidst many misconceptions. We must examine the situation that gave rise to such a situation and its implications for both the women's movement and for active trade unionists.
British Leyland On the Offensive The back-cloth to the situation is the alienation of many workers in the Britsh Leyland Assembly Plant at Cowley from their union leadership. Three years ago the Company imposed the "Measured Day Work' system of payment on the workers after defeating a long strike.
Over the past few years the Company has succeeded in holding down the level of wage increases. Car workers" wages are falling below those in many outside jobs. With spiralling costs, particularly of housing in the Oxford area, few families can save anything on a car worker's wage. But while the demand for cars was booming the Company could not afford the confrontation necessary to take on the work-force and get full control of the shop-floor - the other aim of Measured Day Work.
In recent years, with all bargaining over money removed from the shop-floor to annual negotiations workers have been shut-out repeatedly as a result of sectional disputes. The workets get no pay when laid-off from the factory. As a result of this repeated loss of earnings, many workers egged on by management and press propaganda, blame trade union militancy and the left-wing union leadership for their declining living standards.
This year, with a decline of about 30% in demand for cars. British Leyland has been prepared to go to greater lengths to destroy shop-floor resistance, British Leyland wants to make the workers pay for their crisis of profitability. Taking advantage of the weakness of the workers" bargaining position during and just after the three-day week, the Company has systematically broken a total of four of the factory agreements which protect the workers against arbitrary management action. Each breach of these agreements has been resisted, but so far the management has had most of their own way After a recent unsuccessful four-week dispute, involving the entire factory, the Assembly workers were again laid-off without pay. The management had breached an agreement on lay-offs with 150 transport drivers. The workers in transport walked out, insisting that their agreement be restored.
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The Company chose this moment of division and defeat to move against Alan Thornett, Deputy Senior Steward of the T&GWU, who is a leading member of the Workers" Revolutionary Party. On a series of trumped up charges, Thornett was refused facilities as a union representative in any capacity and instructed to return to his original job as a driver in the transport department.
The transport workers then continued their strike in defence of their right to chose their own steward: Thornett was also a section shop-steward for the Drivers. The management wanted Thornett out of the way because he was the steward principally responsible for negotiating and enforcing the industrial Engineering agreement.
Carol Miller Arrives on The Scene It was in this situation that Carol Miller's 'wives" army" came on the scene. Although right-wing forces helped to org anise the wives' actions, it can't be explained simply as some right-wing plot. Once again the wives, split up in scattered family units, struggling to deal with the soaring cost of living often on reduced housekeeping money found no money coming into The immediate cause of their financial difficulties was a strike over an issue of principle - in defence of the man whom the press, the management, and many of their husbands held principally responsible for their previous losses of income. The situation at Cowley was further sharpened by the fact that the 'wives army" came from the wives of laid-off workers who had no control of the situation and not the wives of strikers who had chosen to stop work over an issue they beFrom the start Carol Miller got the support of the Oxford Journal a free advertising paper which is pushed through thousands of front doors in the Oxford area every week. The Jourral put BBC Radio Oxford on to Miller. tion got wide-spreadadvance puhlicity from the national and local press and the local radio.
Mrs. MacGibbon, another worker's wife was also given free nin of Radio Oxford - to conduct a series of twice daily Phonein' programme. Vicious attacks on Thornett and the unions at the factory were encouraged on the programme. Anyone who rang in to support the strike was treated to Mrs. McGibbon 's vitriolic abuse. Mrs. McGibbon was being used as a front for a few right-wing demagogues within the unions who hoped to exploit the management's attack on Thornett.
Mrs. MeGibbon, in contrast to Mrs. Miller, argued that it was a man's joh to get rid of the militant leaders. the local radio to canvass a petition for a special union branch meeting to throw out Thornett. Radio Oxford obliged by giving frequent announcements of where and when the petition could he signed For a weck the local press and radio gave Mrs. Miller and Co. unlimited coverage. The first demonstration of ahout 250 women and children got pages of coverage. ened although it was smaller than many other demonstrations in Oxford in recent months - such as those against rising prices and in support of the nurses pay claim, which got little or no publicity: The national and even the international pressmen were soon camping out in a local puh, ready In pounce on any sign of the "wives revolt"
The National Housewives Association sent a message of support including the supgestion of a sex strike, which gave the papers still more material for writing "sensational reports. This group of women which has minimal support despite grandone claims, started out campaigning against rising prices. They claimed to be neutral between employers and unions Their actions to date expose them as an anti-union front, comhining demagogic rhetoric on issues like prices with nationalist poison characteristic of the extreme right.
James Prior, former Tory minister, sent the wives a message urging them to greater efforts! And locally they were given considerahle assistance hy Margaret Butler, the local Liberal candidate, who saw the chance of votes in getting on the anti-union bandwagon. She turned up at the first demonstration posing as another worker's wife feeling the pinch. She is a substantial landlord in Fast Oxford and her husband is empioyed in the Technical Publications Department which is never laid-off. So she has little difficulty in keping the wolf from the door!
British Leyland man sement showed how they felt by inviting Miller & Co. into their office for tea and a chat. They encouraged the wives to keep on demonstrating hut regrettfully said they could not immediately comply with Miller's demand for the sacking of all the militants!
Miller's subsequrnt demonstrations were poorly supported But the factory management seized the chance of usug the pretext of pressure for the women to re-open the factory and attempt to run it on scab labour. Mrs. Miller & Co. claimed they had won a victory. They decided to picket the factory to encourage the workers to stay at work and scab on the strike of the drivers! There they met for the first time organised resistance from other women giving out a letter addressed to workers' wives 'in defence of the union'.
Women to Defend Trade Union Rights The women's opposition to Mrs. Miller brought together women trade unionists from the car factory sewing machinists from the trim shop and canteen workers - wives of striking drivers. other women trade unionistsfrom the town and members of the Oxford Women's Liheration Group. Following the production of the factory leaflet, these women decided to organise for a meeting held by Carol Miller in the Town Hall.
This mecting was to inaugurate an ongoing wives action group" to camapien against strikes at the car factory. But the press and TV who came to herald this event instead saw the meeting taken over by Miller's opponents who outnumbered her supporters. Eventually after the chairman had attempted to close the meeting. resolutions were passed for Thornett's reinstatement and in defence of trade union rights Mrs. Miller has now boon forced to set up her wives action group, with a handful of supporters, from her own living room! Her rout at the Town Hall was a considerable set-back for her reactionary handwagon, but she still gets publicity for any move she makes. Those who orgunised to stop her will have to be on their guard to preempt any attempts she may make to rally anti-union forces in coming struggles at Cowley The support that Miller's campaign won initially arose out of a specific situation at Cowley, which is unlikely to be exactly repeated alsewhere. But the massive press campaign launched to promote Mri. Miller & Co. demonstrated howimportant the rulIng class saw this development. The mobilisation of the Cowlcy wives gave the employers the perspective of organising a section of the working cluss itself who are not organised in trade unions Already attempts have been made to cmulate Mrs. Miller's actions in other struggles around the country. Miller herself hopes to spread the "wives action group' on a national scale When the AUFW called its memhers out against the siezure of its assets by the NIRC, Mrs. Miller was on TV that very evening to propose action to get the strike called off.
Carol Miller has been portrayed as a women's liberationist! And sone women in the movement were inclined to support her! They saw her campaign merely as a group of wonen getting organised -a good thing in itself - ignoring what the women were trying to do The reaction, of many shop-floor workers was to attack the anti-strike wives for meddling in factory matters which were none
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of their business. And this attitude was echoed by several of the where the workforce is scattered all over Oxfordshire. union leaders. But this attitude equally plays into the hands of employers., who themselves have not reservations about mobilsing forces against the working class fromoutside the trade unIOns.
Wives of workers are not for the most part members of the union, but they are vitally concerned with trade union struggles. There is nothing automatic about their support for the trade unions. So Unions must take definite steps to involve the families of their members in support of struggles.
The management has sent out nurerous letters to Assembly plant workers, putting their case, raising fears of redundancy anc sonetimes containing veiled (and often quite open) threats of victimisation, These letters reach the workers at home where they are isolated from the strength of the shop floor, and are reinforced by the campaign that is always conducted in the press against strikers. To counter this the union must put over its case to the men and their wives. Letters should be sent out, meetings held with the wives during struggles to organise support and solidarity such as that seen amongst miner's wives. But it is very difficult to organise the wives of workers on an ongoing basis away from struggles in the workplace - especially The staggering price inflation of the last 18 months has had many political consequences. One of the more interesting, yet Women trade unionists, however, are organised permanently and may provide the Starting point for reaching wives, as many are the wives of workerthemselves and are in daily contact, living on the same estate. It is necessary for the unions to take steps to ensure the maximum participation of their woren members. For this, they need to overcome the special problems that face women trades unionists who are also wives and mothers...for eg. the times of meetings, child care facilities, encouraging women to speak for themselves and to put forward their own stewards, etc. There is a need for wome to get together independently within the unions to campaign on these issues.
In the medium term, the forces that came together to opposed Mrs. Miller must be united to campaign around the broader issues of women's oppression. These must be taken into the workers' movement and campaigned on by and among workers - questions of low pay and equal pay, discrimination against women in jobs and education, abortion and contraception, nursery and child care facilities. A national Charter campaign would serve to remove the basis of any support for Miller-type activities pickets and boycotts have been held, accompanied by placards leaflets and speakers, and all receiving broad support from