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maintenance men join
AEU strikers MORE than 80 maintenance engineers and motor mechanics employed by the Scottish CWS at Glasgow depots joined an 11-week-old strike on Monday on the instructions of the AEU.
The dispute, in which 51 other maintenance engineers are on official strike, was caused when the SCWS decided to rationalize the "uneconomic" maintenance workshops at Shieldhall, Glasgow. Seven men, including shop stewards and members of the local trade union committee, were declared redundant.
The SCWS was asked to retain the seven men for four weeks to allow discussions to take place, but this was refused and the men were sacked on the spot but offered four weeks' money, which the union says they have not accepted.
During prolonged discussions, in which the Scottish TUC and Ministry of Labour have been involved. the AEU has not moved from its insistence that the seven men must be re-employed for four weeks during discussions to prevent "discrimination against them".
Offers made by the SCWS included payment of the seven men for eight weeks, during which discussions would take place on the possibility of re-employing them, and suspending the dismissal notices from December 28 until January 6, Under the second proposal the SCWS undertook to issue offers of alternative employment to as many of the seven as possible.