The 1,000 strong Euston No.1 Branch of the NUR has voted to oppose the Government's prices and incomes policy. Their action follows closely the unanimous demand by the Manchester district council of the NUR for strike action if the Railway Poard refuses to pay the 33% increase promised by Mr. Wilson last year.
DEA enginecrs and maintenance men at iondon Airport are refusing to co-operate in a productivity deal signed with the company in 1964. The pay increase promised in the agreement has been barred by the wage freeze, but the company is trying to impose the altered working conditions unilaterally. Shop stewards plan to commence their non-co-operation moves in October and expect this to lead to a steady accumulation in delays culminating in BEA's inability to operate a proper scheduled service by the start of the summer schedule in April next year. The 3,000 inen concerned are members of the AEU, ETU, NUFTO, NUVB, T&GWU, SMWU, ASPD and the ASW. In the 1964 agreement a fixed yearly increase was accepted in exchange for revised working conditions and shift patterns. The new double day shift comes into the third year of the productivity provramme, and was intended by SEA to be used for the overhauling of its Comet and Trident fleet during the winter months. The werkers maintain that the working methods will be frozen along with the wages and that they see no point in further discussions with the management. An industrial dispute is the "likely result in the event of the company posting notices because of the refusal to wort the new shift patterns."
The talks between the London port employers and the T&GWU, which comsenced a year ago on the basis of the Devlin Report recommendations for alterations in the wage structure, have now been abandoned. because of the wage freeze. Said one spokesman, "Tt is pointless to talk of modernisation when this can mean nothing in terms of wepes."
AIRCRAFT: Bankers' or Workers' Control? by Alan Rooney
The British aircraft industry, both airframes and aero-engines, is now
virtually one vast monopoly run by merchant bankers, Since the Rolls-Royce
take-over of Bristol-Siddeley Engines and the Bristol Aeroplane Holding
Company, there is now only one firm on the aero-engines side - Rolls Royce,
In fact the financing of the take-over of B.S.E. (which involved buying up
50% of the shares owned by Hawker Siddeley) was done by the powerful merchant
bank of LAZARDS, which also financially controls such companies as Shell,
English Electric and E.I.1.
On the airframes side, only two firms exist: 1) The British Aircraft Corp-
oration. This firm, too, is financially controlled by Lazards, as B.A.C.
is owned by English Electric (407%) and Rolls Royce (20%). The only other
shareholder of B.A.C. is Vickers, who hold the other 40% - and Vickers is
controlled by the MORGAN-GRENFELL merchant bankers. And, as Sam Aaronovitch
pointed out in his 'Ruling Class', "Let it be remembered that Morgan Grenfell
and Lazards in any case work very closely together."
2) Hawker Siddeley is the only other airframe company of any size. This
company is financially controlled by the merchant bank of HILL & HIGGINSON.
(The Government has a 51% stake in Shorts)
When Lazards were carrying out the recent take-over operations, Rolls-Royce
issued a statement, together with Bristol Aeroplane, saying that they were
of the opinion that the merger was in the best interests of the shareholders
and the employees of the companies concerned. (As far as is known, the
workers at the Bristol Siddeley plants at Coventry and Bristol were not
effectively consulted at all.) According to the ‘Financial Times', "The
Government has told Rolls-Royce and Bristol Siddeley Engines that it sees no
objection in principle to the proposed merger. The Board of Trade does not
intend to refer the proposed merger to the Monopolies’ Commission."
Presumably the Government regards such big business moves as in line with the
Plowden Report, which specifically stated that aero-engines should not be
nationalised. But the fact remains that the Government gives the manufact—
urers over £100 million a year in subsidies, according to that same Plowden
Report. There is no doubt that this private aircraft monopoly could not
exist without these Government gifts which allow the Lazard, Morgan-Grenfell
and Hill-Higginson merchant bankers much scope for profit making. And the
continuing dependence of the industry on Government money is illustrated by
the further subsidies to B.A.C. for Concord and by the extent of Government
military orders.
The recent report of the Public Accounts Committee shows how Britain's
Aircraft monopolists milk the Government. We know how Ferranti fixed their
books in 1963 on the Bloodhound missile and made vast excess profits. The
new P.A.C. report shows that Hawker Siddeley and B.A.C. also keep their
books effectively closed to Government inspection and still get vast subsidies,
as the 'Sunday Times' Insight column revealed:- "The most significant post~
mortem is on the Hawker Siddeley Buccaneer naval jet bomber, A crucial 1
question in fixing the price was the number of man hours required to build
the airframe. Ministry officials worked out - clearly haphazardly - sets
of figures which varied between 135,000 man-hours and 176,500 man-hours.
over /
Aircraft Industry continued Hawkers claimed that 207,940 man-hours were needed. After a series of arduous meetings a compromise of 171,500 was agreed - but the Ministry still does not know whether that figure was correct. In fact nobody outside Hawkers does. As is customary for a fixed-price contract, work on the planes had actually begun before signing. But Hawkers would not let the Ministry see their working-cost calculations. And the Ministry cannot demand them: in fact, it cammot even demand to see the actual costings for a contract after it has been completed, as a guide for the future. So, four months ago, the Ministry had to sign another, similar contract with Hawker-Siddeley under the same lack of ‘equality of information.' The case for the nationalisation of the airframes and aero-engines industry is unassailable, Even the AEU, which is the biggest union in the industry, the TUC, and the Economist are in favour of outright nationalisation. Technicalis;, nationalisation is easily achieved as the number of plants involved is small. Shop stewards systems in the industry are well organised and can easily be extended to include managerial functions in a publicly owned industry. Discussions on these questions are continuing among aircraft workers, following the Nottingham Workers' Control conference. This Government must be made to give a iead on this first of all showing: » that it is prepared to stop the subsidies to merchant bankers and is keen to replace the bankers' directcrs with workers' control.