'At last, at last, the miners fight'

'WE ARE convinced 1 the coalfields ready to is worth it?

With these historic words, Ron Saint from Tonyrefail in S Wales became the first miner in Britain to demand that the union fight for He made the declaration at a packed and excited delegates conference at Porthcawl in May this year when he moved a resolution on wages for Coedely lodge.

The Welsh area accepted it and it was passed nationally by nine votes with the opposition • of the national executive at the Isle of Man in July.

Now, almost six months after that Porthcawl meeting, French workers occupy plants IN THE increasingly bitter struggles facing French workers, two sections have occupied their places of work to back claims for better wages and conditions.

At the 'Nouvelles Galleries' department store in SAINT ETIENNE, where workers have struck repeatedly in the past six weeks, but management still refuse even to meet them, workers have occupied the administration offices since Tuesday.

struggle for a vege increase.

Split attempt

Their decision follows man to minority vor established sint workers the same jobs occupation organizing claim. strike on November 13re to increase, reedom and Mine more nave iron allowing a stike by maintenance men Overtime ban MARSEILLES dockers Sunday and night addition on wages including earlier retirement, hey are now faced with the at there is an army on iding the cause Coedely lodge secretary Ron ght prom S Wales miners are on the brink of their first official stoppage since the general strike.

For Ron Saint, Coedely lodge secretary, this is the triumphant culmination years of struggle and agitation.

'At last, at last, he says, 'the miners are going to fight.' Verdict I talked to Ron hours after Wednesday's Porthcawl meeting where delegate after delegate reported from the S Wales pits-the verdict was overwhelming—the men were behind the strike call.

Miners in the Coedely pits clear threat of redundancy.

Essentially, the employers and the government have united in an attempt to do away with the system of 'dockers' cards', which provides a guaranteed fall-back wage to all port workers.

After the war the government was driven to take the docks out of the full control of the private employers, and the National Dock Workers' Guarantee Board was set up in 1947.

The Board is responsible for allocating dockers to work cargoes tor private employers * paying them out of a poo if there is no work.

But now the employers are seeking to weaken the guarantees.

At BAYONNE private em. ployers have already used unregistered labour to work cargoes. Saint seen after Wednesday's Porthcawl conference.

stand to gain nothing from the strike, they are piece workers-pick and shovel men -and like miners in 14 other S Wales pits will not be affected by any increase in basic rates.

But despite this, Coedely pit was one of the first out on Monday-'to give a lead and to show that we are prepared to fight for the whole of the miners', says Ron.

I heard Sir John Eden, Secretary of State at the Ministry of Technology, on the television. He said the miners were an example to other workers in the way they conducted their affairs.

It made me sick to hear this from a Tory Ministerbut I hope we are going to disappoint him now because the mood has changed.

'Last October's unofficial strike was decisive.

'We went round then trying to get men out. Many did strike with us, but others said "Put in for f5 and then we will be out". This stuck in my mind. You could sense the will to fight if only we had the issue.

Radical

'So I drew the motion and it went through.

'But it was hard to believe standing at Porthcaw] today and hearing pit atter pit declare for action. The change is radical; the miners will fight!

'But I can understand this change. When we were getting them out on last year's strike, man after man said that wages was the issue.

It gives them something to go for, not like pit closures— strikes on these are a bit defensive — I say answer the pit closure threat with this kind of aggressive action. These are the tactics to use.

I believe the leadership have been shoved all alongeven our own in Wales which is probably the most militant of the lot.

"Their recommendation of the extra 10s that Robens offered after the ballot was a lamn disgrace-to say it wa: legrading then, to say accept it at the same time is ridiculous.

Political

"The strike will be a political battle. Anyone can see this.

"The wages issue will unite the miners. They want that money and coming 'together for it in one mass they will meet the government.

I will tell you, on an issue like this we . could force the government out of office. But then we don't want any return of the Wilsons—we want an alternative that will base itself on real socialist principles and have the courage to say "Right, this is what we are going to do".

"The miners will be prepared to face up to the government. I really feel a new mood amongst them-less of all that history and demoralization.

'Anyway there is a new mood abroad in a lot of workers. They've seen the Tories mean business, we've seen the social cuts, the rent rises and the union laws.

"The movement must be developed and we can start with the miners.

'Now the Welsh action will give a tremendous boost to the men in Yorkshire and Scotland who want to fight.

*Their leaderships have been trying to get them back, wearing them out with delaying tactics.

'But we will be going up there in teams to get the lads —we will make it a national strike' Timing the heartbeats THE IDEAS pursued by some time-and-motion consultants that a worker's rate of working should be set according to how much physical and mental energy he can generate are once more examined in the current issue of the Institute of Work-Study Practitioners' journal. of the Agricultural Engineers' BY BERNARD FRANKS Institute, into examines previous research setting work schedules from experiments on energy expenditure. Monitoring heart beats, it is found, provides the best overall assessment of physical stress'.

In one system the upper limit for working is claimed to be reached when the pulse rate is 30 beats a minute above the resting pulse rate.

This 'resting pulse rate' is measured when the body is at rest in the working posture.

Second system

A second system measures how long it takes after work has ceased before the pulse returns to resting level.

This apparently does not mean that every foreman is to be issued with a stethoscope and instructions to listen in during meal breaks.

The article explains that while the pulse can be taken in the normal way from the wrist, reliable measurement cost up to £500 compared with the f5 to £20 for a stopwatch and board. The article adds that:

for wide application he use of these physiologica measuresments directly is likely to be unacceptable on conomic grounds unless sufficient data are forthcoming to show that improvements in performance resulting from physiological studies can justify the additional cost.

Advantages

However, it is concluded hat some advantages over conventional timing would occur, for example:

being recorded automatically The suggestion also made, that computer analysis might save time, indicates that the next step after tele-controlthe system which links every machine in a factory to a computer-might be the proposal that each operative is directly linked up in the same way so that his or her every This is not as far-fetched as seen me du to say technical complications (some have actually been tried out in other countries), but to fears of workers' reactions.

Certainly, many employers will hope that the Tories Industrial Relations Bill, which brings the law directly onto the shop floor to act on behalf of the management, will pave the way for their unrestricted right to introduce any methods they think fit.

The time-and-motion men I ranks have seen capitulating under the least pressure during the Jordanian crisis. . . .

These persons should be severely punished, for they are working against the interests of the revolution and the people This no doubt refers to Abou Iyyad and Farouk Kaddoumi, next in line of command to Yassir Arafat.

They are known to have called for an agreement with Hussein during the September civil war.

. No doubt Arafat and others would like to divert the pressure from below for political changes solely against the 'incompetence' of individuals. advise managements to examine the new 'energy" systems and the article in the Work-Study journal concludes:

No recognition 'In the present economic climate, when pressure exerted to relate wage increases to productivity, it is surprising that management does not show some recognition to new methods that should provide a more quantitative and valid assessment of such situations.' As with all systems aimed at intensifying exploitation today, the first step of consultants is to try and blind the shop stewards with Workers in industry must keep a sharp look-out for any back-door introduction of these systems on the lying claim that they benefit the worker.