Car men in uproar as a union leader says: 'We strike'

DAILY MIRROR

Uproar broke out yesterday among 6000 car workers who had been asked to vote for a strike. The vote, by Morris Motors assembly men at Oxford, had seemed to be evenly divided for and against the strike.

But shop stewards' leader Bobby Fryer announced a majority in favour of striking. At that, hundreds of men surged round the speakers' platform. Shop steward Fryer was pulled off it. Other shop stewards tried to restore order among the shouting, jostling men.

After that, Mr Fryer said that the workers who disagreed with the strike plan should leave the meeting so that a fresh vote could be taken. Some of the men seized Mr. Fryer's microphone. It broke. Then Mr Fryer announced that there would be a strike anyway— starting on Monday.

The strike had been proposed as a move against the employers' plan for short-time working. The Morris strike is one of three disputes which are making 21,000 British car workers idle—and the total will grow over the weekend. A six-week strike at Standard-Triumph in Liverpool is to continue after pay talks broke down yesterday.