motor industry - strike at landrover
WORKERS, MARCH 2004 ISSUE
The 24-hour strike at the Ford Land Rover plant in Solihull at the end of January was the first stoppage there since 1988. The strike, following on from an overtime ban and work to rule, saw a picket line of several hundred strikers. So much for the "6 pickets only" anti-union law!
The Land Rover workers are striking for pay — they have rejected a two year 6.5% offer — and more importantly for parity over pay and conditions with Ford workers employed at Jaguar. Predictably Ford have said that they will now consider any future development at Solihull — in other words 'behave or we close the factory.' Older union members will remember this as the line they rolled out in 1971! The dispute is continuing.