“AFTER WEEKS cceupation of the Ge Lorean car plant…”

AFTER @ WEEKS cceupation of the Ge Lorean car plant near Belfast, the workers ended their sit-in on July 26. 200 ef the workers were guaran@eeid 6 weeks work getting cars for shipment to the Meited States but after that fhe future io unknown.

ist Republic talked to Jackie Fitzpatrick, ATOW Trade Group Representative at the plant.

sa @# 222 8 Pe RE OH GA: Why did the workers decide Mo end the sit-inT SF: We were blackmailed by the Feceiver., We were told that @ British consortium was very interested in taking over the — and might provide 3,000 the sit-in was supposed to be holding up progress on the takeover and the receiver gaid we would be responsible for losing these jobs if we @idn't stop our action. Most Workers swallowed this and) oa enly a small number of workers mere actively involved inthe Sit—in, the offer of 200 jobs for 6 weeks was too hard to resist.

’ SB: What happens after the 6 weeks are up’

Fi Ho one knows for sure, We G@ever got hard evidence that 7. Eritish consortium existed.

eee of us felt it was «a big on to get bold of. -the. assete.

4 be back on the Se: How was ft decided who would get the 200 jobs?

oF: This was pretty shameful, Seth the unions and manageGent drew up « list.

the names were common to beth et at the end of ‘the day there were 45 workers and only 0 gcte. Shop stewards then Based 5 workers who wouldn't oer, the 6 weeks! work. I put own nance as I waan't cies to the dole, I don't Sentence someone MOH SPEED & FELICE COHEN SiIsCE we last wrote on the Constitutional Amendment, the Anti-Amendment campaipn has cored some successes. A Peblic meet in early Jume grew about 1, people and the campaign: raised £2000, Some protestant clergymen have joined the ranks of Feferenmiuz opponents. Over 200 of the delegates at the fecent TCTU annual conference held in Belfast, individually Simed a petition declaring their opposition to the referen@mm. Action groups have begun to be established in Cork, Limerick, Wexford and Belfast.

PLAC MOUNTS A CAMPAIGN Om the other hand, the main forces. behind. the referendum bave also been organising. Sra -- the."Society for the Pretection of the Unborn Child" = is one of the main compo@ects of PLAC —- the "Pro-Life dwencieent Commaipen" , of us Voted ta continue the oocuUpEtion to get permanent jobs. for everyone but we were obviously in a minority.

SR: How do you explain the willingness to give up the fight?

SocialJF: A lot of mistakes were ot workers. The only mass meeting held was the one that ended the sit-in and only about 100 attended that. When the | oocupation started the normal union structures were left in charge and thia led to the shop stewards committee keeping a lot of diséussion ane decisions to themgel;

done was elect an occupatian committee and hold regular Mass meetings to keep people up to. dete and involved .in A Tot ot Planning the campaign. ‘This Was & major problem, Another factor ie the general lack of confidence in the succegs of the plant because of the: antice of John De Lorean and. the policles of the Tory Government.

No one believed that the Tories would put themselves out to keep-us in work.

WR: At the start of the sit-in pert E the League for Decency long fine opponents of "artificial*® Contraception and arch : ation of of Ire Irish Femily League, cranks before in the battle for fon, But PLAC involves more than the usual die-hard afvocates of "moral order". It has gained significant support among conservatt male gsedical profession and parish-pump politicians. PLAC have reeched out into the commmitiés in the 26 counties with an-active campaign, Peoples Democracy believes they have learned from the mistakes of the past and a conscious effort is being meade to curtsil the activitjes of the "extremists"

PLAC also within their ranks: The more union movement?

Service, moral majority lobby.

of there kinds of ve ant os predominantly the more there was some talk of tying De Lorean [n with British Leyland, of nationalisation? JF: This was realaed with the British Gowermment in oeetings with Prior and the Industry Minister but they weren't interested. There wat no.camPalen to this end and the broader trade union movement the Mortham Ireland Comittee of Congress, for instance, didn't seriously promote publie ownershin ae an optian.

SR: What support did De Lorean workers get fram the trade threst?

At certain levels, the support was substantial, Belfast the healthworkere which allowed a lot of ue to appreciate better what the health ‘strike ig ahout -- not just pay but defending the National Health We also got Yinancial support from trade union branches. Importantly, we made some links with the @lon-= dalkin and Talbot workers in the South and some of wa went onthe March for Jobs, I'm sure more support could have been won if we had been get very much from the union leadershipa, SA: De Lorean- provided jobe for many workers. in West Belfast who were either unemployed for 4a long time or had never hed a job, Did you get any support fron the local commmity? JP: We got the support we re— Quested, Our action was very popular with the commnity and we held collections during which people wanted to talk about what was happening. But as there was- really no overall atrategy behind the occupation there was no reel tapping of community support.

SR; During the republican hunger strike there was an active cammittee in De Lorean. What role did the H Block sctiviste Play during the sit-in? JF: Well, some of us have been active in both the H Block hovenent and this fight but many of the H Block activists didn't play any prominent rote in the sit-in. This had sonething to do with the way the S6iTin Wes orgenised, -A lot of nationalist workers don't really relate to the trade Ulion Movement, don't trust it to defend them. A lot of people just accepted losing their jobs, sort of expected this to happen. They don't See the trade union leadership as genuinely concerned about workers? ie 60 while they Rave generel support they weren't prepared ta invest their time and enersy.

SH: What lessons does the De Lorean struggle here for other workers whose jobe are under JF: Well the first lesson must be to organise democratically. That's the anly way to keep everyone involved, teking oe have to “A built between = 4 Sr ag a ag workers in atruggle and workers prapered to fight. The Clondalkin workers geve us es lot of ideas which unfortunately we weren't able to put into practice. These sort of Links need to be develeped, Finally, you have to be very clear about your demands: at the start we weren't sure whéther we wanted tokeep our jobs or just get Home redundancy money, That fave a Let of room to the Government and the receiver to undermine our strugele, anti-amendment nt campaign

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