Book review: Cowley against closure
Labour Briefing1990sTranscribed by hand from the printed page.
Cowley Works — Why it Matters and Why it Must Be Saved, by Oxford Motor Industry Research Group, £1.00
Since British Aerospace management (BAe) announced the closure of the Austin Rover South Works in Cowley in 1991, every attempt to build a campaign capable of defending the plant and the thousands of jobs there has been undermined by right-wing conveners.
They have refused to mobilise the workforce in defence of the plant and even failed to challenge the stream of spurious management figures and media disinformation which have repeatedly clouded the issue.
Now a remarkable report has blown management figures out of the window.
The report has been prepared by the Oxford Motor Industry Research Project, which was set up following a public meeting organised by the Oxford Trades Council on the closure.
It comprises a number of Oxford academics who voluntarily gave up their time to help defend the Cowley plants, including Theresa Hayter and David Harvey of St. Peter's College, Andy Kilminster from the Polytechnic School of Business, Matthew Lockwood of Wadham College, and Ann Schofield, of Ruskin College.
According to their report entitled "Cowley Works", 7,500 jobs will be lost when the proposed closure (now revised to include the whole of the old Morris plant with some assembly transferred in to the present body plant) takes place.
And many more if the whole plant closes as a result of its non-viability as a single model plant.
They nail the government as ideologically motivated in the sell-off of the Austin-Rover Group (ARG) to BAe and point to the scandal of the sale itself: "In fact it did not so much sell Rover to British Aerospace, as pay it to take it off its hands".
They say BAe actually paid "minus £422m" for Rover with a £38m additional secret "sweetener" which was deliberately withheld from the European Commission.
They nail BAe as being one of Britain's major asset-strippers and property speculators saying: "It decided, in effect, that it is in its interest to make profits from the sale and redevelopment of land rather to invest in the volume production of cars".
They also challenge the secrecy and absence of accountability which has characterised the whole process. In fact the closure was only announced when it was because of statements by the European Commissioner.
They point out that: "Neither the people who would be affected, nor their elected representatives, were able to control the company's decision through any democratic process… It is surely right that those who have given their energies and skills over the years deserve more respect and dignity than suddenly to be tossed aside as useless and redundant."
The report contains extensive research on the effects of the closure on the local community. It points out that huge job losses have already been absorbed. The Cowley workforce has gone down from its 1973 peak of 28,500 to a 1989 figure of 11,490.
The majority of those who would lose their jobs at Cowley are male semi-skilled manual workers, whilst many of the jobs available are for women and are at much lower wage levels than currently exist at Cowley.
The effects of the closure on the local economy are obvious. The report quotes a leaflet distributed by the ARG management at its last factory open day two years ago that claimed its "cash contribution" to the local community that year was £134m.
It went on to say that: "We should be proud of what we do for the Oxford area and the country — and its time we let everyone know it".
The authors acknowledge that without industrial action by the workforce — something which the workforce has never had the opportunity to express its opinion on — there are limitations to what can be done.
This is true. But they have made an important contribution in raising the issues and analysing the situation. Hopefully the work they have done can be translated into an active campaign to save the plant whilst it is still there — both amongst the workforce and the local community.