Union official is shouted down

THE GUARDIAN

A union leader was shouted down at Liverpool yesterday when he tried to persuade members to call off an unofficial strike at a Triumph car factory. The strikers told him he was "not on" and by a quick vote decided to continue the stoppage.

Mr Roy Grantham, the general secretary of the Association of Professional. Executive, Clerical, and Computer Staffs, was addressing an open-air meeting outside one of the two Triumph plants. The two-day strike over a pay claim has halted the Toledo car assembly lines and production of bodies for other vehicles assembled at Coventry has been cut because 1,250 workers have been laid off.

Mr Grantham was appealing for a resumption of work to allow further negotiations. He said later that the management would not negotiate while the clerks were on unofficial strike. The membership had shown a great deal of restraint but members felt the talks had gone on for too long. One of the strikers said production controllers received only £25 a week, although women cleaners received £34 a week.