THE LUCAS PLAN AND THE LUCAS AEROSPACE COMBINE SHOP STEWARDS’ COMMITTEE WEBSITE
WELCOME TO OUR WEBSITE!
Over the last four decades and
more since the launch of the Lucas Plan in 1976, acres of print and miles of
film have been produced to discuss the Plan and the issues raised within it.
The discussion continues, as the issues raised in the Plan are even more
pertinent today, and far more urgent, particularly given our environmental
problems and the dominance of the arms trade.
Prompted by the conference, organised by the New
Lucas Plan Group and held in Birmingham on 26th November 2016 to celebrate the
fortieth anniversary of the launch of the Plan, we (former Combine members)
decided to put some of our own material and memories on line. We felt that a
site established by former Combine members was long overdue. New material will
be added over time, some previously unpublished, some buried for years. We will
be happy to receive material on the Plan and Combine which may be new or lost
to us. Additionally the website is to commemorate the Combine's achievements in
the 1970s and to encourage similar "bottom up" initiatives from
workers and communities now and in the future. The Combine’s Plan
demonstrated that an alternative ‘bottom up’ approach to the use of technology
that answers social needs, is more cost effective to the taxpayer and creates
more jobs for a given amount of public expenditure.
Hopefully, those who access this site, will be able to apply a similar approach
when faced with the same problems as the Lucas workers all those years ago. We
believe our process is applicable to most situations. If the information on
this website helps workers or community activists provide an answer to the
problems they face, it will have achieved a major objective.
This website is dedicated to the Lucas Aerospace workforce and their supporters
- without their socially useful productive ideas, the Combine Shop Stewards'
Committee would not have been able to draw up the their alternative Plan.
For the record, the original title of the Lucas Plan, as it is now known is: ‘Corporate Plan: a contingency strategy as
a positive alternative to recession and redundancies’
Click here for the original Corporate Plan Document
The content of the website has been compiled by former
Combine members Phil Asquith, John Routley and Brian Salisbury, with the support
of Mike Cooney, Bob Dodd and Ron Mills and the inspiration of Mike Cooley,
Ernie Scarbrow and Danny Conroy.. If there are any other surviving members of
the Combine out there please get in touch via the Contact Us tab.
We will be
delighted to hear from you.
