More strikes in Britain

Press, Volume CXI, Issue 32524, 6 February 1971, Page 15

More strikes in Britain

(N.Z.P.A.-Reuter—Copyright) LONDON, February 5. Unions representing about 1,500,000 skilled industrial workers yesterday decided to hold a series of one-day token strikes throughout Britain.

Union leaders agreed on the moves to protest at the Conservative Government’s Industrial Relations Bill, which is designed to reform the unions and end wild-cat strikes.

The action comes after a three-week-old stoppage by postal employees, a strike by Ford Motor Company workers, and a walkout by oiltanker drivers.

About 10,000 chanting postal workers marched through London yesterday to back their demands for a 15 per cent wage increase in the face of the management’s refusal to budge from an 8 per cent offer. Besides the State-run Post Office, private employers are taking a cue from the Government’s stand against what it considers inflationary wage settlements.

Workers at Ford plants yesterday, entered the fourth day of a walkout which has lost production of 3000 cars a day at a daily cost of £2m. PETROL SUPPLIES A wild-cat strike by oiltanker drivers for Shell Mex and British Petroleum has cut supplies to South-East England. As more and more garages run out of petrol in London, a Shell spokesman warned one in four would be without fuel within 48 hours. Union leaders have also

pressed the Railways Board for answers to demands for pay rises of up to 25 per cent for Britain’s 280,000 railway workers.