CONVENORS Ford plant in Britain -Dagenham foundry.
the 200 foundry workers.
Just 24 hours later the correctness of the Call was underlnea Irom an unlikely direction.
Engineer, the seekly magazine for •i ucc leurduaecuicul ran a lead story confirming that the Dagenham engine plant Replacement for the o ic would not overhead camshaft car engine.
Instead Ford will spend £100 million in Germany on its new 'world' engine. This will replace existing Онс petrol engines Sierra cars Transit vans.
The effect on the engine plant, which presently produces OHC engines, would be catastrophic. Half 3500 workforce would go top of the 2000 jobs threatened in the foundry.
together these macasures spell the end of the Dagenham estate as a comprehensive manufacturing unit. It would be reduced sembly and diesel engine operation employing bare10,000 shopfloor compared to 25.000 in 1979 and 17,000 oday.
Ás many as 7000 jobs Would be lost and union strength reduced both through loss of numbers Line strategic power thar the workers have as DaTT ot a compiele Cal manufacturing operation. This is no accident Recent Ford of Europe thai company policy is to avoid duplication operations. The exception is Britain, where Ford trying to gain the whip hand by dual sourcing chose products and operarons where the unions are strong.
In the campaign to stop the foundry closure, the unions show how the plant has been starved of while £961 and officials representing from manual and staff — are calling for all out strike action from Monday 13 February to stop the closure of the This decision, taken on Wednesday 18 January, was promptly endorsed by an overwhelming vote of million has loaned Ford UK the American Dal call CUlllpany.
Ford Dagenham In the campaign to stop the foundry closure, the unions show how the plant mas ocen slaveu olluvest• ment while £961 million has been loaned from Ford UK to the American parent company.
But new investment in itself will not save jobs. Ford has ploughed money into a new diesel engine hine, automated car body stamping lines, body welding and paint spraying robots. But every, instance the aim of this investment is to eliminate jobs.
Even in the least affected of the Dagenham plants The assembly combination ot new technology ana constant job-cutting in the name of efficiency have slashed the workforce to 4039 from over 6000 a few years ago.
This is why militant shop stewards are fighting for as policy of no more job loss whether through redundancies or 'efficiencies' This is the best way to rally the whole workforce behind the fight to save the foundrv and to stop Ford using new investment to cut jobs.
Mass meetings in every Ford plant will be voting on the strike recommendation this week. Far more than the future of the foundry hangs on the outcome. Ford has cut its national hourly paid workforce from 59,000 to 43,000 in the last four years.
successful could reverse this trend. Foundry workers demonstrate outside Ford HO And Ford workers have the fund, draw up picket rotas
----- pull-quotes -----
- the plant