Tessa Van Gelderen adds: the basic rights of trade union organisation are under attack at BOC. On Tuesday at the Hackney depot management met all the shop stewards and announced the closure of the acetylene department, with 26 workers to go in three months.
The work will go to depots in Bristol and Cardiff. It just so happens that workers at the Hackney depot have been in the forefront for improving safety conditions in BOC and fighting for better pay and conditions all round.
Blatant
John Walsh, convenor at Hackney, says: 'It's a blatant attack on the union to break the solidarity at the depot.' The scheduled redundancies include the branch chairperson, the vice chairperson, branch secretary, shop steward, and assistant convenor.
The cutbacks will be fought, and they are not the only attack by management.
An all-out strike began at the Wembley depot on Tuesday, when the plant came out after installation engineers were suspended by management. The engineers refused to accept the splitting of their department, which would result in a weakening of union organisation. 'Management obviously thinks we won't support the other depots because we have our own problems,' says John Walsh. 'But the whole union must support both disputes.
'They are linked and a defeat of either will be a big blow to the union inside BOC. This is a make or break situation and we intend to fight all along the line.'