Post on 10-Apr-2018
8/8/2019 Socialist Party TSG Bulletin www.socialistparty.org.uk
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in UNITE
www.socialistparty.org.uk | Socialist Party UNITE Bulletin | Tyneside Safety Glass Strike
Unscrupulous bosses atTyneside Safety Glass (TSG)
want to drive down the pay
and conditions of the workforce
but the first week of solid strike
action shows that TSG workers
are determined to fight this. Now
entering the second week of strike
action, workers are standingfirm!
At an ACAS meeting management
claimed they made a loss of400,000 at the end of 2009.
However, this figure was challenged
by one shop steward who has seen
a different set of accounts which
had been sent to Company House.
This showed they actually made a
profit of 50,000. We say, open the
companies books to inspection by
the stewards committee lets see
what theyve really got.
Management are trying to play
hard up, but director Chris Hannant
doesnt have one flash car he
drives around in three of them! At
the same time workers have been
offered 0% increase two years in a
row by Three Jags Hannant! Even
before that, the last pay increase
was well below the Green Book
rate.
To try and get a half decent wage
TSG workers have been forced to
work longer and longer hours. This
has at least partially hidden the
fact that basic pay has been driven
down. Some strikers say they have
to work 12 hour shifts 6 days aweek to make ends meet.
Alongside driving down wages the
company has also put notices up
in the factories saying the sickness
scheme was to be cut from 50 to
25% of basic pay. As a result of the
action taken so far it seems TSG
have at least partially retracted this
threat.
Working conditions in the factories
are also under attack. Workers
on strike have told Socialist Party
members that management
bullying is on the increase. The
management have a dignity at work
policy, but this is seen as a joke by
workers.
Conditions in the factory have
been described as horrendous.
The furnace makes conditions hot,
noisy, and dirty. When the furnace
was first installed management had
promised it would be partitioned
off in order to improve the working
environment another broken
promise.
Workers have said the heat next to
the furnace is incredible (constantly
between 90-100 F). At one stage to
save money management took out
a water cooler.
STOP THE DECLINE
TO MINIMUM WAGE!
TSGBULLETIN
NO. 1
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8/8/2019 Socialist Party TSG Bulletin www.socialistparty.org.uk
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www.socialistparty.org.uk | Socialist Party UNITE Bulletin | Tyneside Safety Glass Strike
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Other health and safety issues are
also a concern. The company got rid
of cleaners, claiming they couldnt
afford to pay them the minimumwage. For 6 months toilets havent
been cleaned and often there isnt
even any soap. TSG workers have
said, in the canteen you can smell
the toilets its disgusting!
Socialist Party members have
also spoke to workers who have
complained that there has been no
fire drills for years and machinery
blocks fire exits. This strike isspecifically about pay, but following
years of broken promises, attacks
and health and safety violations,
many workers will hope the stewards
committee take up all these other
issues with management while
theyre on the back foot.
Agency Workers
For around a decade the company
has used a growing number ofagency workers. Initially there was
an agreement that agency workers
would be taken on after 13 weeks.
That agreement went out the
window.
TSG management have used
agency workers during the first
week of the strike in a desperate,
and not very successful, attempt to
keep production going.
Prior to the strike the company and
agency put out a joint statement
threatening any who refused to
come into work that they would no
longer be required in the factory.
We say the company should not be
allowed to play us against each other
like this. Agency workers should be
given full contracts on the same
rates, terms and conditions as all
other TSG workers.
Lets get the agency workers in the
union and fighting alongside the
rest of the TSG workforce. Also, if
the agency is threatening to sack
anyone employed through them
who strikes why not take the fight
to the agency? A protest outside of
the agency offices in the town could
put them under pressure and raise
the public profile of this dispute.
This Dispute Can Be Won
The first week of strike action
combined with the ongoing
overtime ban has clearly had an
impact. Even before the strike, the
overtime ban alone had slashed the
deliveries from the factory by half.
In the first week of strike action
production of good quality safety
glass plummeted. Moral inside the
factory of agency workers is at rock
bottom.
In stark contrast the mood on the
picket lines has been upbeat and
this was re-enforced by support
from other Unite branches and
members of other unions visiting
the picket lines.
Tyneside Safety Glass has declared
war on the workforce - now is the
time to stand firm.
Restoration of the Green
Book rates of pay
A return of the sickness
scheme to 50% of basic pay
Furnace to be partitioned to
improve working environment
Health and safety issues,
including clear fire exits,
clean toilets to be resolved
Full employment contracts
for those currently employed
as agency workers
An end to bullying
management
Socialist PartyMembers of the Socialist Party stand fully behind TSG workers in their struggle. We
are ready to help organise support and solidarity. If you want to find out more about
the Socialist Party, or talk to us about what support we could help organise, please
get in touch via the details below. The Socialist Party has a long and proud record
of struggling to defend working-class people. We are involved in many campaigns
throughout the UK. We support workers in industrial disputes. Socialist Party
members played leading roles in important disputes in 2009, such as the successfulLindsey Oil Refinery strike in Yorkshire, the Visteon struggle in Basildon, Enfield
and Belfast, and the dispute at Swansea Linamar car parts plant. We are at the
forefront of campaigning against the Tory-Liberal coalition governments massives
austerity plans. Alongside RMT general secretary Bob Crow and others, we helped in
the establishment of the Trade Unionist and Socialist Coalition; an electoral coalition
which represents an important step towards giving workers a political voice.