Cogzell is the senior steward for the General Municipal and Boilermakers Union (GMB) at the plant in Hereford, a town near the border with Wales. The Special Metals plant, which processes nickel, is one of the biggest employers in the area.

In the face of threats to their jobs, the 440 GMB members at the plant voted by an 84 percent majority to stage a six-day walkout from midnight February 19. The workers demanded a cost-of-living increase. They pointed out that the low wages paid by the company meant many workers with families received Income Support, a government-funded benefit.

The background to the strike is a series of derisory pay offers by the company, which were rejected by large majorities in union ballots. "First of all they put nothing on the table: 0 percent," Cogzell reported. The union had asked for a pay increase in line with annual inflation, currently running at 2.9 percent.

The company then made a wage offer of 1 percent, which was rejected by the workers. The company demanded cuts in overtime and sickness payments for any larger increase, which they said had to be "self-generating."

At the same time, the bosses were becoming more aggressive on the job, disciplining more workers for taking time off sick. News that the president of the U.S. parent company had been awarded a salary increase worth more than the cost of paying a 3 percent increase to the entire work force fueled the union members’ anger.

The company pleaded poverty, blaming its financial difficulties on "September 11." Personnel manager Robert Hunt told the Hereford Times that the strike "puts jobs at risk in all sectors of the plant." The U.S. parent company, Special Metals Corp., has filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy proceedings, and there have been reports that the Hereford plant might be put up for sale. This did not deter the workers. "The lads here are so angry at the way they have been treated," Cogzell said.

Workers interviewed by the Militant pointed out the broader assaults on workers’ living standards that were part of the background to their fight. The press has reported a likely increase in the council tax, which funds services such as schools, road maintenance, and leisure facilities. In addition, the tax paid by workers out of their wages to fund the benefit system and the state pensions, known as National Insurance contributions, is set to rise in April.

Whilst Militant reporters were visiting the picket line, firefighters going by in a fire engine sounded the siren in a gesture of solidarity, and many passing cars honked their horns in support. A man drove up with a sofa strapped to the roof of his car and donated it to the pickets to make the makeshift picket hut more comfortable. Cogzell reported that the drivers of several trucks making deliveries to the plant had refused to cross the picket line during the strike.

A one-day strike scheduled for March 7 was called off after the company tabled a new pay offer accepted by the GMB members at the plant in a 274 to 108 vote. Phil Cogzell told the Militant that he felt the union in the plant, which will put in a new pay claim in August, had come out stronger from this battle with the company.

Tony Hunt is a meat worker in London.  
 
 
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