Massive NE walk-out

MASSIVE one-day .walk-out by 40,000 council rkers brought town hall services to a stand-still in : NORTH-EAST yesterday.

Swindonsit-in strikers TODAY in SWINDON 7,000 engineering workers will hold a two hour sit-in in the town's factories—including the railway • workshops —in support of the council government and their workers' claim.

Others will lobby at 10 a.m. outside the civil offices and then • march through the town to Farringdon Road park for a mass reasonable meeting with council In LEEDS voluntary labour which has been maintaining essential services was brought out yesterday by the General and Municipal Workers' Union:

The union had been supplying three men to clear refuse from the city's hospitals and one. on 24hour stand-by at Knostrop sewage works.

Charlie Knowles, secretary slanting branch in Leeds, told the Workers Press that his men were determined to fight for the claim in full. 'I never draw £12. This government is out to shoot down workers' standards.

• Hooks ate They say they not union-bashing, but we know they are?

The strike was extended in eight GREATER LONDON areas yesterday, 15 SE council areas and ten i has be c northern areas and Garforth, Yorks, council became the latest authority to pay the 55s demand.

and nosin cam About 2,000 council workers marched through the streets of Newcastle upon Tyne in support of their claim.

Later they cheered Labour MP Ted Leadbetter when he said: 'Who started this strike? The answer is the Tory government. This strike can end once Ted Heath says so.' Chairman of the Stockton No 1 branch of the General Municipal Workers, Ted Harvey, said he was in favour of a total stoppage.

"The rolling strike strategy is no good. The teachers found this out last year. We want a total stoppage' THE Communist Party on a national policy of the mobilization of the the Tory government a This is proved by events at Wednesday's Croydon Trades Council meeting following those at the previous day's Edinburgh Trades Council meeting (reported in yesterday's Workers Press).

At the Croydon meeting a USDAW shop workers' delegate moved a motion condemning the TUC General Council 'for not immediately organizing massive opposition to the Tory anti-union laws.

'Retreat in the face of the Tory offensive,' it read, 'is an act of treachery to the whole working class.' The resolution called for a one-day strike against unemployment and the anti-union laws.

It ended by demanding a fight now to defend the right 5 promise cupation' time ban imposed earlier.

If there was no agreement in the negotiations, he declared, then there would be a total stoppage on Monday.

Highway workers, park attendants and road sweepers stopped work in St Helens yesterday morning to support the refuse collectors, already on unofficial strike, and sewage workers who are out officially. through almost unhindered:

'All we want to do is defeat the laws—getting rid of the Tories and talk about socialism and nationalization are not relevant at the moment all that comes later.' Echoing TUC general secretary Victor Feather, he added: 'We must educate workers to fight the laws.' This Stalinist had to resort to the slander of accusing the mover of quoting 'small and insignificant trades councils' actionike a point for strike The meeting was not impressed and the resolution carried overwhelmingly.

ing class in general has both actions of retriend the Westminster, is pushing them tor all it is worth and-at the ame time-is carefully pre aring for the decisive battle it knows its plans will inevitably provoke.

The labour and trade union movement must make preparations in an equally thoroughgoing and ruthless manner.

WEATHER But one Begin pend wil and occur over E Scotland.

• England and N Wales will be nostly cloudy. There will be some bright or sunny, intervals as first, to develop inland in the afternoon.

The Muthernds, ngland will cene loudy but mainly dry, with som bright or sunny intervals. Tem peratures near normal.

Jutlook for Saturday and Sunday Insettled with rain at times in al areas. Temperatures near normal. pare the necessary legal precedents for jailing trade unionists at a later date.

This has a sinister parallel in Britain with the jailing of the Cambridge students under the 'riotous assembly' section of Common Law.

Not surprisingly, the prosecutor has asked for one to three years jail for Geismar.

Strike rally

banned THE ARGENTINE government yesterday banned a rally planned by the General Labour Confederation (CGT) during today's ten-hour general strike.

The government claimed that the union was taking orders from exiled president Juan Peron.

Today's strike was called last month to press wage demands and protest against the government's economic policies.

It follows a 24-hour stayat-home strike on October 9 which virtually brought the country to a standstill.