AUSTIN-Rover management are using the courts to enforce a secret ballot and supporting their position by confusion at a mass meeting at Jaguar Browns Lane on 31 October.
An error in counting in the first vote led to a recall meeting to correct the error. Management and the press nave seized unt portunity claim that secret ballots are a better way to take decisions.
In fact the Jaguar mass methugs are a wale lu the methods of open work11g democrac even if they sharply reveal the weakness of working class leadership, on occasion.
Virtually every single worker at Browns Lane took part - something no secret ballot ever achieved.
The voting figures al curacy of the shop stewards head count. It is possible to see exactly how the vote moved on the re counts, and every vote is The discipline of the workforce, and their conFor First vote Declared 1559 Actual 1559 Second vote Actual 1492 Change - 67 fidence in the voting prothat they all turned up (except for 14 who were the second time!).
In a secret ballot, with less than 85 per cent participation the same error would not have shown up. If the error nad been discovered secret efforts to correct it wond riehtly be regarded with suspicion.
Against Total 1866 3425 1436 2995 1489 2981 +53 - 14 Cowley washing-up strike, March '83
THE TORY attack on jobs and services continues. The government will not change its mind about abolition and rate-capping because by-elections and opinion polls show a large majority against them.
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SOCiAlist ACTION