Alcan: Fight Employer Blacklist

tradesmen mounteda protest picket at 7. 30 on the morning of February 23rdon the entrance city. The aimof these AUEW ous applications and having all to tradespersonsfromoutside the area and from as far away as Britain The tradesmen!s claimhadalready received publicity in the jialismon the part of the men.

that more wasinvolved than meets the eye.

organisationsisbeingused to are many ways to get on that blacklist -acriminal record, a background of Trade Union activity or association with It has never been denied that detailsonthem, arer-outeg through Henry Street Garda its thumbs down.

BOSSES BLACKLIST picket when we spoke to them. onthe Aughinish site) that A dozen unemployed Limerick to the Alcan project outside the andNEETU members was to highlight the fact that, despite numer— the necessary credentials, pre ference in hiring was being given local and national press and many believed that what was involved was just a case of acute parochHowever, when we investigated the case more closely, ye found It isnow generally accepted that ablacklist, suppliedby Employer decide who shouldor should not be employedon the island. There Socialist or Republican politics.

application forms, or atleast the Station. If you are on thepolice listof "political activists", then It now seems that thereis another way of getting on this blacklist.

before people?

Thisis what we were told by some of the participantsin the Alcan The men claim that the Limerick Engineering Consortium, made up of O!Neills, O!Donnells, Nunans andKelly Engineering, have an understanding with Irish Site Management (the hiring agency tradesmen whousually work with one or other of the local engineering firms shouldnot, if they are attracted by the higher money at Alcan, be jobbed on the islandevenif they are unemployed at the time of applying.

At the moment, business isnot too good for small local engineering firms, but things are expec— ted to pick up within a few months. Is it possible that these firms are trying toensure areserve supply of skilledlabour by manufacturing acertain level of unemploymentinthe trades? The trades-— menalsobelieve that the IDA are supporting thistacticasa means of protecting any invest-— mentsit may have made in these firms and which would not bear fruit when things pick up if there was a shortage of skilledand, in comparison with Alcan, cheap labour. A case of money The unemployedAUEW and NEETU members who picketed Alcan made it clear to theworkers there that thepicket was only aprotest aimed at highlighting their case andall employees should proceed into work, Yet, despite thisurging, 300 workers refused to pass the picket andafter shop stewards on the site approached management on behalf of the picketers, it was agreed that the workers wouldbe given another interview.

SCARE STORIES Initself, the support of the workerson the site was significant. Apart from the half-day stoppage in supportof the H-Block/Armagh prisoners and the brief Wessoe stoppage, there hasbeen beennoindustrial action onthe site since last Summer's major _ stoppage. All the intimidatory clap-trap about "outsiders", "cowboys''"‘andDes O'Malley's latest creation-— "'bloodyminded workers!!- hashad'a certain effect. All the scare stories that thenext picket "will close the place for good"! are makingit very difficult to protest any high-—handed or heavy-handed moves by Management. Itisun— fortunate that some within the Trade Union movement should give tacit.support to this partic— ular form of industrial blackmail. In spite of this, the Alcan wor-. kers, like the vast majonity of Irish workers, still understand that only scabs cross picket lines.

In the 3 weeks since their picket action, the trades men have not been interviewed as promised and their local union official has been directed from higher up not to approach Alcan for negotjationson the matter. Cathal O! Shannon, Alcan!s personnel manager, has issueda statement claiming that it is company policy to give priority inhiring to local labour but neglected to explain why numerous applications, from fully qualifiedLimerick trades-— men have been persisitently overlooked. Next time the whole workforce will be asked to stay out. Alcan!'slittle favours for the native Capitalists may yet turn out tobe both costly and embarassing for that particular multinational.