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A tribute to Ron Mills by Brian Salisbury on behalf of former Lucas Aerospace Combine members & friends
We are very sad to announce the death on Saturday 18th of June 2022, of Ron Mills, Liaison Officer of Lucas Aerospace Combine throughout its existence.. Having just been informed of the sad news of Ron Mills’ death, it brought back vivid memories of the time we worked together as fellow trade unionists at Lucas Aerospace. Ron and I first met up when working in the Defect and Investigation Department at the Shaftmoor Lane site. I wasn’t politically active or involved to a large extent as a trade unionist. As a result of contact with Ron and being influenced by him through his observations in his quiet unassuming manner, he awoke in me an urge to bring about political change through being active in the trade union movement. His manner was not to preach socialism but to demonstrate it through involvement at grass roots trade union level. As a result of his encouragement I put myself forward and was elected to a number of union roles in TASS and as Chairman of the Birmingham sites manual and staff Joint Shop Stewards’ Committee. Ron encouraged me to attend Combine meetings at Wortley Hall and it was there that I really took off, realising the importance of grass root trade unionism at company-wide level. This resulted in me taking an active involvement in developing and promoting the Combine’s Alternative Plan (the Lucas Plan) and in later years being elected as the Combine’s Chairman. All the time I was being supported and encouraged by Ron: he was always a trustworthy and a loyal comrade and it was an honour to work alongside him as a fellow trade unionist, knowing we were working on a day to day basis to improve the living standards of our members. As well as encouraging me and many others, Ron was elected year on year as senior TASS representative for the five Birmingham sites and Chairman of the TASS Branch. While at Combine level he carried out the crucial task of Liaison Officer, communicating news and messages that provided information to site shop stewards between Combine meetings. At a time when the only means of communication was by telephone, Ron’s role was crucial Outside of the work environment, he studied and achieved degrees in English, French and a diploma in Shakespearean studies. This was not common knowledge but that was typical of Ron; he was never one to promote himself or his achievements and it’s to his credit that he regarded self-promotion by others as a weakness, not a strength! It is without doubt that Ron Mills was an inspirational leader in a quiet unassuming way, leading by example and selfless in his treatment of all those he came into contact with. He was a committed socialist who put his politics into action on a day to day basis through his trade union activity. He was in pursuance of a better and more equitable world and his contribution during his lifetime helped to achieve that. I was inspired by Ron, I valued his friendship and I will miss our regular telephone conversations; goodbye Comrade and Rest in Peace. My thoughts and the sympathies of all of us who knew and worked with Ron are with his family at this very sad time.
A tribute to Mike George by Brian Salisbury on behalf of former Lucas Aerospace Combine members & friends
It is with great sadness that we mourn the death on Friday 3rd of June 2022, of Mike George, coordinator of the Centre for Alternative and Industrial Systems (CAITS), established at the North-East London Polytechnic by the Lucas Aerospace Combine in the late 1970s. The outstanding work that Mike did at CAITS and the people he worked with were immensely important to him and his socialism and struggle for social justice never wavered. On behalf of the surviving members of the Lucas Aerospace Combine and countless others we are sure, we would like to express our heartfelt sadness to Mike’s wife, Linda and all of their family and friends. We would also like to record our gratitude the inspirational work Mike did with and for the Combine and other trade unions, which saved thousands of jobs in Lucas Aerospace and beyond. As far as the Lucas Aerospace Combine is concerned, there’s no better example of the brilliance of Mike George, than his role as coordinator of the Centre for Alternative Industrial and Technological Systems (CAITS); in particular the key role Mike played in orchestrating support for the 14 union representative CSEU Working Party in 1979, established by the Labour government of the day in a reluctant response to the international support for the Lucas Plan. The Working Party had been elected by a delegates’ conference with a mandate to oppose the Lucas Aerospace management decision to make 2000 workers redundant. The working party visited all of the LA sites with the intention of investigating the basis of the management’s decision. Meetings were held with site shop stewards and managers were questioned. CAITS then provided the facilities for the Working Party to draw up proposals for inclusion in a landmark report, which addressed and countered management’s argument for redundancies. Based on the working party’s investigation, Mike, along with his CAITS’ staff then compiled a 200 page report entitled “Turning Industrial Decline into Expansion – a Trade Union Initiative”. The contents completely destroyed the management’s reasons for redundancies and proposed alternative solutions which would have resulted in expansion of the workforce. The solutions put forward were based on proposals made by the Lucas Aerospace Combine Shop Stewards in its alternative Corporate Plan (aka the Lucas Plan) for the company which it had launched in 1976. Central to the plan was the inclusion of a range of products which answered social need, advocated renewable energy to address climate change and challenged the throw-away economy Without the organising and research ability of Mike George, the report wouldn’t have been compiled. Looking at it now brings home to you the value of research support facilities in taxpayer funded educational establishments, for trade unionists to counter management arguments. Mike George provided that support and as member of that 14 union representative working party Brian Salisbury said ‘I will be eternally grateful for Mike’s professional support and comradeship’. Subsequently no compulsory redundancies occurred within Lucas Aerospace. The above is just one fine example of the countless projects and initiatives Mike led throughout his far too short life, working with the Combine and afterwards. Mike’s amazing contribution, his talent and not least his sense of humour will be sorely missed by us all. Phil Asquith, John Routley, Brian Salisbury and Mike Cooney.
This website has been established by surviving Lucas Aerospace Combine Shop Stewards’ Committee (LACSSC) stewards to recall the history of the Combine, its Alternative Plan (now known as the Lucas Plan) for the company and its campaign to have it implemented. It also aims to encourage other workers and community groups to follow in the Combine’s footsteps of shaping their own destinies by developing and pursuing their own “bottom up” plans.
Back in the 1970s Lucas Aerospace, which was part of the Lucas Industries group, designed and manufactured components for the military and commercial aerospace industries employing 18,000 employees on its 17 UK sites.
To address corporate issues, the company’s nine works and staff site trade union representatives established the LACSSC. The Combine, as a recommending body to individual sites, set up advisory committees on Pensions, New Technology and Wage bargaining and coordinated action when sites were threatened with redundancy. Two Resource Centres were set up and jointly managed by the Combine and the higher education body involved. Information on all these issues was provided to the workforce through a regularly distributed newspaper.
To combat a declining workforce the Combine, on the advice of the Government’s Secretary of State for Industry, drew up an Alternative Plan for the company which included the identification of dozens of products, suggested by the workforce, academics and others, both to stabilise the workforce and answer the unmet socially useful needs of society using the existing skills of the workforce and available technology.
The Plan attracted both National and International acclaim and was nominated for the Nobel Peace Prize.
Whilst the management rejected the Plan, the campaign to get it implemented put management on the back foot and prevented enforced redundancy for 10 years.
Over forty years later, renewed interest in the Combine’s Alternative Plan resulted in:
A conference, organised by the New Lucas Plan Group (click here), in 2016’ to mark the 40th anniversary of the launch of the Plan to apply the same philosophy to a modern day setting.
A documentary “The Plan – that came from the bottom up” (click here) involving former Combine shop stewards was made by Steve Sprung a labour movement activist and film maker.
The trade union UNITE considering the Combine’s Alternative Plan as a model for their members to adopt in their 2021 Environmental Report.
‘That is why in this Environment Quarterly we have focussed in detail on the Lucas Aerospace Combine Alternative Corporate Strategy. It is a template today for our reps to study and digest if we are to fashion the future” Jim Mowatt UNITE Director of Education’
John Routley a former Combine shop steward contributed to a COP26 UNITE Conference in Glasgow in 2021 . For video “COP26: Organising for a fair hospitality city” Click Here. With this in mind we have as former Combine shop stewards contributed to the ongoing debate on how to tackle the Climate Crisis.
A former Combine Chairman interviewed (click here) by Lowkey, the internationally famous Rapper and Peace Activist:
Brian Salisbury one of the brilliant minds behind the Lucas Plan of 1979, you are unlikely to have of heard of him or the Lucas Plan because within it are the seeds of a radically different society…. Until recently it seemed the powerful had successfully written him, his colleagues and the alternative their plan represented out of the history books …… this (plan) included products that rely on renewable energy such as wind turbines – products that are now in common use” – Lowkey Also there is part of a wide ranging interview conducted by Lowkey with Roger Waters (internationally known solo music performer and past member of Pink Floyd) regarding the Combine’s Alternative Plan. Click here to watch the interview.
Meanwhile Lucas Aerospace and its parent company Lucas Industries, which in the 1980s employed 90,000 people, are no longer in existence.
As a result of the interest created by the Combine’s 1976 Alternative Plan and its relevance given to the Climate Crisis, we as former Combine shop stewards have for the first time produced our own website. In the following pages the website provides details of the history of our Combine, the Alternative Plan, related issues and post 2016 initiatives.
Many of the products identified in the Combine’s Alternative Plan back in the 70s address the environmental issues now being experienced with the emphasis being to replace fossil fuels with renewables. Amongst those suggested were Heat Pumps, Solar Cells, Wind Turbines and Electric and Hybrid propulsion units.
With this in mind as former Combine shop stewards we have contributed to the ongoing debate on how to tackle the Climate Crisis by putting forward the following proposal:
AN ALTERNATIVE PLAN
Using resources and technology that is people centred and respects the environment by Brian Salisbury, January 2022, former Lucas Aerospace Combine Chairman.
ABSTRACT:- For the complete paper click here
The following statement was compiled by former Lucas Aerospace Combine shop stewards. We are proposing that an Alternative Plan for the UK is developed by a combination of peace and environmental groups and trade unionists that has socially useful production at its core, is people-centred and in tune with the environment. We put forward this proposal based on the belief that the above groups are opposed to the Government using technology to manufacture armaments that threaten life at home and abroad. We realise that such an initiative will require the organisations involved to step up their current campaigning work by combining together; then develop and promote a vision of a future U.K. which would include the necessary measures to address the climate crisis.
We believe that the considerable experience and expertise that exist in the above groups and the trade unions, qualifies them to produce such a plan.
Most if not all of the groups referred to are aware of and support the Lucas Aerospace workers efforts in the 1970’s to oppose job loss by developing an alternative corporate plan, which not only proposed their company manufacturing socially useful and environmentally sustainable products but identified the process of how the plan was developed, with workers, the community and academics collaborating. This resulted in championing a worker/consumer led alternative industrial culture; not only proposing alternative products but less alienating ways of producing them that empowered designers, engineers and shop floor workers.
It advocated a circular economy that encouraged re-cycling and repair and long- term sustainability in everything rather than the short-term throw away culture that a system built on continual growth and private profit breeds.
We are of the opinion that the proposed plan for the U.K. should be based on the same principles.
The statement’s aim is to highlight the government’s lack of urgency in tackling the climate crisis and its policy of pursuing confrontation with nations rather than cooperation, resulting in the ever increasing manufacture and export of armaments. It highlights the financial and human cost of the Arms Industry (2&3) and the means by which Transition (4) can take place allowing the workers to switch to socially useful production.
Reference is made to the Government’s inadequate response to the Climate Crisis (5&6) and the failure of COP26 (7) to deliver – whilst Pandemics (9) are best prevented rather than cured! It’s proposed that the Alternative Plan (8) has the Socially Useful (10) use of technology at its core and would be best developed in a Centre (11).
While emphasis is centred on the arms industry, the same philosophy can be equally applied to other sectors of the economy.
We consider that a Plan for the U.K. that tackles the climate crisis with peace and justice at its core is people centred and in tune with the environment, is in line with public opinion and therefore would get their support.
For the complete paper click here
