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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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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.