Cowley victory: step to build a fightback
Socialist Organiser1980sTranscribed by hand from the printed page.
THE 225 striking trim shop workers at BL's Cowley Assembly Plant returned to work on Monday, 20th.
The strike had closed down the North Works of the factory, which produces the Rover and the Honda Acclaim.
The strike was against a management decision to switch workers onto the new LM11 model, outside of the seniority agreement which management have not recognised for the last two years.
The strike ended with a significant victory for the trim shop workers. Management did not concede the precise terms of the agreement they had previously repudiated, but they did agree to the principle of seniority.
Workers will now be moved on the basis of seniority and the move itself will be supervised by the trade unions. Workers will have the right to return to their original jobs when vacancies arise in the future.
That is a very different situation to the one management wanted and which has become the norm in the rest of the factory outside the trim shop.
It is a significant shift from a management whose philosophy for a long time has been never to make concessions, particularly on something they regard as central as seniority.
They were, however, under heavy pressure since the strike was preventing the start of the new model.
The settlement represents an important step in the development of a fight back against the management offensive, which has done so much damage to the shop floor movement over the last few years.