By a concerned Vauxhall worker and shop steward

I write to you as a member and shop steward of the biggest union within Vauxhall Motors, Luton. The reason why I feel the need to write to you is the very feeling in my stomach of an absolute betrayal of our membership by our so-called leadership at national level!

The troops have been led up the hill and left there to the wolves of GM.

I sat at a recent shop stewards meeting and was told that there was no army to fight with. This was after 100% support for the strike on 23rd, 24th and 25th February by all of the trade union membership. At the same meeting on 7th March we were told by Brother Tony Woodley that the fight was over. The ballot result was blamed, even though 70% of all the membership had voted for strike action! The membership were blamed for not supporting the unions in the fight! This was after the union leadership told everyone at a mass meeting to hand in their option sheets into the company to indicate what they wanted to do, i.e., transfer to IBC, separation or go to Ellesmere Port. This was followed up by all the unions telling people to put their forms in via a written notice (22 February 2001). The leadership then blamed the workforce for then putting their forms in and decided this was the get out they needed to call off the fight!

Bill Morris stated at a mass meeting we aint going anywhere, yet this is exactly what he has done! He was supposed to go to Detroit and meet with Jack Smith and Rick Wagoner and put the pressure on them. Instead the pressure was put back onto the workforce to transfer over to IBC or take separation!

There is a feeling now on the shop floor that no-one gives a damn! What do you expect after this fine workforce has been battered into the ground by the constant propaganda from not only the company hawks but also the unions!

I feel very uneasy to go against the union as it wasnt the union who decided to close the plant, but I feel there is more we can do before it is too late.

There was talk of a mass boycott of GM products by the public. This was in conjunction with picketing the docks to stop GM vehicles being imported into the country. Also there were to be pickets sent to the dealerships, along with industrial action within the Luton plant.

This would have hit GM where it hurts most, in their pockets!

Instead we are now looking at Vauxhalls name, along with the plant in Luton, disappearing forever, along with over 2,000 jobs disappearing directly at the plant and in excess of 20,000 jobs indirectly.

Companies are already laying off workers who supply the Luton plant. The most recent, Delphi, who are to make approx. 300 employees redundant. The halo effect that Reilly was talking about has already started. Who knows where it will end!

The Government has remained silent, they have not condemned General Motors once. Prime Minister Blair states he will do all he can to help but as Rome burns Nero fiddles!

The recent Select Committee report on Vauxhall condemned what happened and recommended changes in the law due to the fact it was easier to sack British workers than our European brothers and sisters. The DTI refuted this and has done nothing to help the Vauxhall workforce.

So where do we go from here? There are two choices, one is the easy option the other hard.

The first union-preferred option is for the workforce to do what Reilly told them on December 12th 2000 - go to IBC, go to Ellesmere Port or bugger off!

The second and more difficult option is to rebuild from the shopfloor resistance to being forced into something we dont want to do!

There is resistance but it has to have a leadership who are willing to re-take the initiative and set out to make General Motors honour its agreement made with the workforce in 1998.

This is almost an impossible task for those brave enough to take on one of the biggest corporations in the world! I take strength though from the Hillingdon Hospital workers who were on strike for five years and won!

Their fight must inspire us all! Especially the Vauxhall workers who are now at the eleventh hour. We can all draw from their experiences of being on the front line to win justice for the working class against bullying bosses and corporate unionism!

Yours sincerely

A concerned Vauxhall worker and shop steward

* The full text of the GM-union agreement can be found at http://www.imfmetal.org/imf/main/main_text.cfm?show=news&ID=954&source =search