BRITAIN'S CAR EXPORT DRIVE

Chronicle (Levin), 14 March 1946, Page 8

BRITAIN'S CAR EXPORT DRIVE

Prp.ss Assn-

OVER 60,000 MAY BE IDLE

Bv Telearanh

-C.nmiri.ah.f.

JL.ONDON, Marcn rz. More than 60,00f) motor-car indusfcrial -workers may ke involved in stoppages by the weekend, thus threatening to hring Britain's car export drive to a standstill. At Coventry 4000 men in the Humher factory liave heen on strike since x'ebruary 23 as a protest against the dismissal of 550 workers for alleged "go-slow" tactics. OfEicials of the Amalganiated Engineering TJnion are now making efforts to prevent the spread of the strike to the entire industry in the town, where 52,000 men .nay become involved. Sliop stewards ^t Coventry today rejected the trade anions ' executive s advice to postpone 'tne strike, and re-affirmed their decision to \yitndraw labour from most of the engineering worxs. The prov/isional strixe conmiittee later reahirmed.its decision to withdraw labour from the works tomorrow. In a last-minute attempt to prevent a general stoppage, the Amalganiated Engineering Union tonight fssued a stateinent instructing the 4000 men at I fche Hiunber works to return to work. j Tne statement urged ali the members of the Amalganiated Engineering Union. in thQ Coventry distnct to obey the j union rules. j The employers' associatioh is conj : -ering the men's declaration that the I only conditions on which the'y will rej sume worK are that the 550 men dis- ! oharged as redundant be reinstated, ! and that the dispute-over the hasic rate j for .iixing piece-work prices should be j given a "fair hearing."

"SIT-DOWN" STRIKE ENDED j The "sit-down" strike of 1000 Aus- ! tin factory worxers at Longbridge has | oeon settied and the men a-e return- : mg to work tomorrow. Earlier,, the ruuo strikers in tne ,bodywork ' and painc snops had been joined by the uien on tue assem'oly lines. The 12,000 "stay-in" strikers at the Eord worus at uagenham went through oue lormauty of clockmg in, but are uot woruuig. A meeting of strikers at ! laciory has appointed a deputa | tion to visit the House of Coinmons.to j see tue members of Parliament for the i Essex constituencteg. I 'xiie Kootes C-roup has issued the following statement in view of the con'Ginun cion of the strike in oue of tneir Coventry factories: "Pirstly, the sciufce has been unofficial from the out|set, as the men iiave rejected thp ! established liagotiating machinery. , Seconcliy, the piece-wurx rates ciaimed ! gveatiy exceed those already agreed on j between the emplo:/ers and the unions, j wlnle empioyees in this factory have | been earning already well in excess of tlie agreed rates. Thirdly, ths question of redundancy arose through the neces- | sity to rehalance the labour force on j fche cessatlon of war contracts. It | should be noted that the empioyees j mlopted a "go-slow" policy because of mis quesfcion and reduced production to j less tnan lu per cent. of what it should I have been. foiirtluy, the company, at j the request of the Ministry of Labour i and tne unions, has already made concessions to meet tne issae of redundancy. ' ' The motor-car industry was one of the first to recover from the war and cars* are high on the list' of industrial exports. The number of cars sent overseas has increased from 440 in Decernber to 1270 in January.