HALL 1981 LION SQUARE LEE JEANS workers, the large majority of them women, have now been occupying their factory in Greenock, since 5 February. Support for the occupation continues to grow.
near Glasgow, most of the major promised by the moves will However, the leadership of the workers' own from Lee Jeans were …olame the Ellen Monaghan, the senior steward at Lees, just another way of putting the and there would be no The NUTGW leadership has presided over the By Tessa van Gelderen occupation.
tacks on the weekend.
Last week started with a visit to Jacobi and Bratt, a garment manufacturer. Cathy Nicoll and Mary Harley, who had come Cowl from them occupa. tion in Greenock, near Glasgow, spoke to womer on the shop floor.
same union, the National Union of Tailor and Garment Workers, the women were sympathetic to the struggle of Lee Jeans workers.
There was a discussion how the occupation could be won, and a collection was taken toured lots of support - and they were the star attraction at the Festival for Women's Rights Against Tory At the women Lee Jeans were doing was seen to be the only way to fightback They had to be given full support trade umolists. Touch Everywhere we went, stewards and convenors other workplaces. At all the factories money was forthcoming shop stewards committees and handed over with promises. of more cash to follow.
Shop stewards and convenors were meeting us straight out of meetings management redundancies.
John Inwood, convenor of Trico, where the workers had won an equal pay dispute after a bitterly. fought strike in 1975, sum the tha was prevalent as we toured around: 'We've accepted but we've told management that any more and we te it So we're grateful for what you're doing in Greenock. South "The rate of redundancies is higher in the south now than anywhere else because there is no one left to make redundant. People are beginning to realise there's no jobs down here.
After visits to EMI, Fords Langley management threw us off the site) and Fidelity, the day ended witn £100 donation from a Post Office Union branch - London North Central Internal and £40 Ealing Trades Council Site A visit on Thursday to a Kyle Stewart building site at County Hall was not So successful the workers there were on half-day strike in memory of Bobby Sands!
Friday began breakfast on the Thames site. Cathy Mary spoke at a stewards meeting and were told that Lee Jeans workers were the only ones fighting unemployment. Gate The stewards collected £50 among themselves and gate collection from 1,400 workers on site thi Thursday. Mary and Cathy also met women stop stewards who ‹ work in the oanteen at Thames Barrier.
Then it was Hackney in East London to meet Lee Jeans workers Mary Harley and Cathy Nicoll with Trico convenor Johi Inwood, who told them: 'We've accepted redundan cies but now we ve convenor of British Ox ygen. He pledged firma support and pointed ¡ that it was crucial to g tion to stop the mover of goods. through docks and so on.
His union, transport workers, play a vital part in this BOC workers are ing threats to their told Mary Cathy that they shou down to Edinburgh which was one of threatened BOC de and tell them to follow example of Lee Jeans sit in.
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•We shall not be moved
The message from Lee Jeans: Workplaces in the London area where they found
he w all oti a (Socialist Challenge)