Fighting Back In Coventry

THE DECISION of Jaguar workers in Coventry to fight the decision to end car
production has boosted the mood of opposition in the city. No one doubts that
it will be a hard fight against a ruthless, cynical multinational like Ford.
But it’s a fight that Coventry workers can’t duck.

Dave Griffiths and Bill Mullins

The city has faced closure after closure, now thousands of council workers
face wage cuts as the council bosses introduce new pay gradings under the
infamous ‘single status’ deal. Whilst many people are angry and therefore
frustrated the fact is we just can’t tolerate any more.

Ford have told Jaguar workers that there is no alternative to accepting the
closure of the plant, yet on the streets there is a mood of: "We will not
accept this and we want to do something about it". Socialist Party members on
street stalls have continually been asked: "What can be done and how do we go
about it?".

Ford have this well-planned. They’ve given no figures, no justification for
their decision, probably because Brown’s Lane is the most productive plant in
the Ford empire. They made the announcement on a Friday when all the workers
were at home as individuals and couldn’t take action. They’ve already sent
figures out telling workers what pensions they’re entitled to. They’re
offering lots of money to try to get people to leave.

Stand up and fight

But the decision by the workers to stand up and fight is welcome. Now we
must turn this decision into action.

At the Labour Party conference, Tony Woodley, the general secretary of the
main union at Jaguar, the TGWU, lambasted Ford’s broken promises.

He accused the bosses of being dishonourable and ignoring all agreements.
He pointed out that Ford could not have done this in Europe or in North
America because to make this announcement without consultation with the
workforce would have been illegal.

He swore that the union would not accept the closure and would fight back
against the Ford bosses.

Local Labour MP Bob Ainsworth seems shell-shocked at the treatment he had
from the Ford European bosses when he lobbied them at the recent Paris motor
show. "They told me the decision was made and that that it was not the company
ethos to explain the financial reasons behind it". He called for the company
to: "Share the financial reasons behind the decisions". Another way of saying:
"Open the books".

The Jaguar workers will rightly say to the union leaders: "It’s good that
you want to fight – now put your words into action". But Woodley, like the
others, seems to think that it is mainly a case of bringing Ford back to the
negotiating table to: "See sense".

But it will take more than talking to force the Ford bosses to abandon
their plans. It will take a determined and militant leadership that enthuses
its members, if the necessary serious and determined struggle is to be won.

Comparisons have been made with what happened in Birmingham with the
threatened closure of the Longbridge plant in 1999. Before he became general
secretary, Woodley led the campaign to keep the plant open.

Good capitalists?

But instead of calling for Longbridge to be taken back into public
ownership by the Labour government, he convinced the people of Birmingham that
he had found a bunch of "good capitalists" who would take over the plant from
BMW.

Unfortunately these "good capitalists" have been revealed as nothing less
than asset-strippers as they made millions from land deals and other financial
jiggery- pokery.

The same fate awaits Jaguar workers in Coventry unless the union leaders
raise the demand now that the government renationalise Jaguar. The other parts
of Jaguar, Castle Bromwich in Birmingham and Whitely Research in Coventry know
that their days could be numbered as well. They would also respond to a call
for the re-nationalisation of the whole Jaguar group.

But not just them either, Land Rover in Solihull is part of the same
"premier auto group" as Ford call it, along with Jaguar and Volvo. They were
threatened with closure not so long ago unless they accepted new working
practices including video cameras over their workstations.

Land Rover workers were told they had to reach the same level of
productivity as the Jaguar workers, who were praised as the most productive
plant in the Ford empire!

Ford is a huge company making huge profits. It has got the biggest cash
mountain of any company in the world, something over $20 billion. Its
mismanagement and lack of investment are the primary reasons for the crisis
today. The Socialist Party says: "Why should workers be left to pay the bill?"

  • Oppose the closure of Jaguar.
  • Open the books, let’s see where all the profits have gone.
  • Bring Jaguar into public ownership with compensation to shareholders linked
    to proven need.