Date: 11 Mar 1997 00:23:35 -0600
Subject: Re: (en) Profit and Loss


        Reply to:   RE>(en) Profit and Loss

Sorry, but the full name of your student must be included on subject line in
order to forward your message.  This message was not printed and distributed.
 Thank you.  Delta Dorm, MCAE

--------------------------------------
Date: 3/10/97 6:05 PM
To: Spider  Mail
From: aut-op-sy-AT-jefferson.village.Vi
Subject: (en) Profit and Loss
From: <lingvoj-AT-lds.co.uk>
Reply-To: <a-infos-d-AT-tao.ca>
Date: Fri, 28 Feb 1997 20.41 GMT


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FREEDOM PRESS INTERNATIONAL
84b, Whitechapel High St.,
London E1 7QX UK
(sample edition of FREEDOM on request from London)
----------------------------------

PROFIT AND LOSS

Entrepreneurs take risks, we are told, and the reward for that is
profit. Those risks can of course be limited to the company, but 'the
company' can be a difficult entity to pin down because, when it
comes to paying debts, responsibility seems to lie anywhere than
with the entrepreneurs. This is the genius behind the idea of limited
liability. Bankruptcies are two-a-penny, and their knock-on effects
trail misery for many, but they can also be a tidy little earner for
some - and I don't mean the lawyers. This depends, however, on
having a nice flexible work-force ill-equipped to protect their own
interests. Some bosses take too big a risk with their workers,
however, as in this recent example.
  Seventy textile workers at Tudorgold Ltd, Sterling House, 67
Lawrence Road, Tottenham, London N 15, started an occupation of
their factory on 24th January in response to manager' s failure to
pay their wages for the past month - a total of about f40,000. The
workers, of many nationalities but mostly Turks and Kurds speaking
little or no English, have experienced more than they can take of
being pushed around working up to an eighty-hour week for less
than f2.50 per hour machining women's fashion jackets which retail
at up to f200 in high street stores.
  The workers declared they would remain in occupation of the
factory until all the wages owed to them were paid in full. Tudorgold
promptly declared itself bankrupt. In the seedy back-streets of
sweatshop Britain, it pays to play it close to your chest. All the
workers knew about Tudorgold is that the boss is George Hanna
with two others known as Alan and Angelo, then there's Angelo's
son, and Warren who may or may not own the machines operated
by the workers. These people have been spinning a web of deceit
no-one knows who is responsible for what or where to find anyone.
Angelo's son even blamed Hanna for making off with the company'
s bank balance, but Hanna, also known to be a director of
McHanna Holdings Ltd, made a reappearance and promised "I will
make sure that you're paid" - a promise the workers managed to
tape-record.
  Meanwhile pressure is being exerted. When I visited the factory on
Sunday 3rd February, Warren, a large, heavy man, was also
visiting and complaining very forcefully that the workers were
sabotaging the machines. This strongly suggests a pretext for some
imminent legal action. Already writs have been threatened and it
was expected that the bosses would try to exclude the workers from
the workshops so the machines could be removed to a new
location. A security firm has been hired by the bosses to 'keep an
eye on things' even though the workers have made it clear that it is
not in their interests to damage the machines from which they earn
a living.
  The workers have received messages of support from workers
>from Hillingdon Hospital, Liverpool Dockers and the Magnet factory
in Darlington. They are receiving the active support of the local
textile branch of the TGWU which is run by irnmigrant textile
workers. Support in the union is unlikely to go beyond branch level
and any support from elsewhere would be welcomed.
  An early victory with important implications was scored. When
Kacy Ltd, the company for which Tudorgold was a sub-contractor,
came to collect a finished order, the workers got them to pay
f11,000 for it, thus cutting out the middle-men. It would probably
only take a few days to work off what the workers are owed if they
put the factory to their own use. Imagine what could happen if we
could go beyond strikes and occupations and turn these productive
facilities to social use. The role of bosses is certainly superfluous.
since they don't have any risks to take.
  For further information and messages of support contact: Tekin
Kartal (secretary, NE London Textile Workers Branch, Transport &
General Workers Union) at 8-10 Stamford Hill, London N16.


FREEDOM PRESS INTERNATIONAL
http://www.tao.ca/~freedom


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Date: Tue, 11 Mar 1997 08:22:19 +1000
From: sjwright-AT-vaxc.cc.monash.edu.au (Steve Wright)
Subject: (en) Profit and Loss
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