Italian Third pay strike hits Yorkshire buses for day tortured

morning. feet.

Once again, a left-wing group has been able to exploit brilliantly the dependence of such regimes on foreign imperialist powers.

The release of the 40 political prisoners has also exposed the Brazilian torturers before the whole But the central task of Latin American revolutionaries remains to bé carried through - the building of genuine Marxist parties based on the urban working class and supported by the poor peasants in the countryside.

•Strategy Guerrilla tactics and heroism without an international revolutionary strategy and programme will never defeat imperialism and its puppet regimes. Report paves way for speed-up drive "the Socialist, Cocatie union mployees will strike nex londay while the others for hers whose merlations ministers concerned.

new contract have broken down, will go national strike this Satur daSchoolteachers will boycolloweng the reusal of ine examination marking government goyee munds to spendrionat reform and salaries Preti, Minister of Finance pleaded 'conditions of ex ceptional difficulty? which obliged the government to turn down teachers' request chain reaction in the public sector should make the government finances even more recariou • and through to the economic crisis which responsibilit carry already almost unavoidable'.

Negotiations

The negotiations on the coalitions to be formed after the recent regional elections are still going The Socialists must cide whether to form centre-left majorities with the Christian Democrats Social Democrats and Republicans in all the regions where it is possible, or to join with the Communist Party in Tuscany and Umbria, where the two left-wing parties together could hold office.

If they did so, they could also join the coalition in Emilia, where the Communists and the left-wing Socialists (PSIUP) have an absolute majority.

The other parties of the centre-left are now intent on isolating the Communist Pany do a bet here whipped their figures firmly into line.

Heckled

Donat Cattin, Christian Democratic Minister of Labour and one of the figures whom posrallo, of political cot- Stalinists held loudly heckled when he addressed a mass meeting trade union delegates and shop stewards in Turin at the weekend.

His audience was incensed that his sympathy towards the working class, so much in evidence during the mass strikes of last year, had given way to an assistene pre conditioni vity: reforms.

As one of his hecklers put 'Which is your real face? Thumper the the youre The the "hot showing us now?' sive' reputation been rapidly consumed-but the more important question is the role of the Stalinists who painted his 'left' face in the first place.

It goes on to :

QUESTION contentions that the company's wages were low. Rates at Pilkington, the report claims, compare very favourably with similar industries in the area.

URGE the rank-and-file committee to accept 'the positive duties of the critic' in the G&MWU. 'It is their duty as much as their right, says the report, *to play a full part in the at se Helens of the union SPUR the company into pressing ahead urgently with its review of wages, productivity and resources.

On the last point, it is unlikely that the company needs much encouragement.

There are already indications that Pilkington's want to squeeze the maximum out of this review-which personnel director David Pilkington said recently would link capital and Attempts to spread the strike are to continue. Delegates intend to approach other depots.

Union officials have opposed the strike, and one regional official has written to all depots condemning the action as unofficial.

Most men feel that the biggest obstacle to spreading the strike has been the attitude of thé full-time officials at some of the other depots where the men have not had the opportunity to decide one way or the other on support for Leeds and Bradford.

OFFER

The management have offered a consolidated wage of £20 with one-man-operated (OMO) bonus, but for this, all spreadover payments, urban bonus, extra pay for early and late starts, extra pay for Sunday and timé-and-a-half overtime working are scrapped.

The consolidated rates have been accepted by a number of companies:

Midland Red:

Basic £21 9s 4c 13s Monday to Friday 14s 8d weekend Yorkshire Traction :

Basic £18 10s 12s 8d plus 25s on Sunday Overtime 1 Basic sage :

Overtime 12s W Yorkshire 18 5s (without OMO, Overtime 125 omparing the lowest con lidated rate without OMI E18 5s) with the present rate vithout OMO (£15 2s) this Spears to give an increase of However the following exmple shows this to be inorrect.

Hours worked

Sunday Monday Jordan army executing Arab guerrillas JORDAN ARMY units are arresting, torturing and executing Arab guerrilla fighters in Amman, said a spokesman for the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine yesterday.

sex i in a who 00g violation: the seople are now thought to lave died and 800 been wounded.

So the man tore pat he Jordan week's clashes, and was also * The sites tina in Tondan cas.

labour resources together by substituting fully-fledged job-evaluation system for the present bonus set-ups.

Rank-and-file committee members say that even loyalist G&MWU stewards have warned that the so-called 'direct system'-one of the two main pay schemes operating in St Helens—is likely to be scrapped.

And proposals announced at Pilkington's Birkenhead Fibreglass plant give a clue to what may lie behind this.

Instead of a bonus tied to the basic rate, linked to creasing in step and the unit basic, local management agreed with union representatives to scrap bonus pay and replace it with 'a set amount of money . .. agreed for a certain amount of production'.

Such a system - policed by the kind of strengthened G&MWU organization envisaged in the court of inquiry report - would provide the conditions for a big attack on wages and conditions throughout the Pilkington empire.

It must be firmly FOR during the last day stoppage with their demands plainly stated.

Tuesday . Wednes.

rest rest Thurs. Fri. Sat.

8 split 8 Total hours worked—40 Time-and-a-half Sunday-4 Time-and-a-quarter Saturday-2 Spreadover-1 7 hours paid = £17 12s 61 Irban bonus 5s 10c Late finish pay Is 6d Average loss of holiday bonus 5s Total = £18 4s 10d, i.e. 2d better off.

If only Monday to Friday is worked :

40 hours worked 1 hour spreadover 41 hours paid = £15 9s 6d urban bonus 5s 10d late finish pay Is 6d average loss of holiday bonus 5s Total £16 Is 10d, i.e. f2 3s 2d better off.* only be regarded as a truce between the guerrillas, backed by masses of Arab workers and peasants, and the Usfinanced Jordanian regime of King Hussein.

Resignations

The fighting calmed down only when Hussein agreed to the demands of the largest of the guerrilla groups, Al-Fatah, for resignations of military leaders alleged to be the main US agents.

However, the sacked men, Hussein's uncle and cousin, received messages from Hussein paying tribute their work.

The statements of Al-Fatah and its léader Arafat have all avoided any direct attack on Hussein. Instead, they have concentrated on blaming the conflict in Amman on to a US plot.

'Support'

Hussein himself has stressed how much he supports the Palestine liberation movement.

The Al-Fatah line has been echoed by Cairo radio, as well as by Moscow. Chinese comment on the Jordan situation has likewise omitted any reference to the King's role.

The attitude of Arafat and his allies in Cairo and Moscow underlines the danger of a deal being prepared in the Middle East, in which Nasser and the Soviet bureaucracy would guarantee the State of Israel against attack.

Reflection

This move would collide with the popular movement in the Arab world, of which the guérrilla struggle is a reflection.

It could therefore not be carried through without the collaboration of leaders like Arafat, who have come forward to lead the struggle against Zionist imperialism, but who refusé to raise the class issues involved.

BUS STOr 1€20 LAM at can 2d is thed in this that can be gained in consolidated agreement.

However very few 40-hour weeks are on Monday to Friday only.

LOST

For this questionable gain, all part overtime agreements, holiday bonus, spreadover, urban bonus and penalty payments are lost.

When overtime is worked the amount gained decreases until after 65 hours are worked and then a loss of up to f3 a week is incurred under new consolidated rates.

Under the Midland Red agreement drivers may be required to shunt, fuel and wash their own buses. Also part-time labour is to be allowed at weekends.

Leeds, Bradford and Harrogate depots of W Yorkshire have rejected the consolidated agreement.

CAMPAIGN

It remains for local areas either to accept productivity deals, i.e...extension of OMO, cost per mile bonus, or, fight for a straight increase in the basic wage, as Leeds and Bradford are doing. All busmen should join this campaign.

Reformist