CARR, THE MAN FROM SECURICOR LAUNCHES ANTI-UNION ACT

The Tory government today brings the remaining sections of the Industrial Relations Act into force. They outlaw closed shops, sympathy strikes and action in support of other trade unionists.

The law on picketing changes, with it being 'unfair' to picket a scab's home. An enshrined right not to belong to a trade union is also brought into effect.

An attack is also launched on working-class newspapers. Clause 97 makes it an unfair industrial action to take action in support of an unfair industrial practice. It is generally agreed that this clause could cover articles in newspapers supporting so-called unfair strikes.

The other provisions of the Act are, of course, well known to trade unionists. The right to strike is demolished, unofficial actions barred, cooling-off periods imposed, secret ballots pushed through and the right to freely combine taken away with only organizations recognized by the state being given the status of unions.

So the repressive apparatus created by the Act will then be in a position to begin its frontal assault on the trade union movement in Britain. In Peter Paterson's book 'An employer's guide to the Industrial Relations Act' he rightly emphasizes the nature of the changes wrought by the 'Like all revolutions-for the measure is without doubt revolutionary-the Industrial Relations Act in its present form has not happened overnight, however startled those chiefly affected may appear.' (p. 13.)

Paterson is right. There is a revolution in full swing, a counter-revolution aiming to take the working class back to the Combination • Acts of 1799 and 1800 which illegalized trade unionism.

The Pitt government period, in dreaded fear KILL THE BILL growing working class since damages following a strike, the independent nature of their the French revolution, took action at the first signs of organizations and so on, has workers combining together. It been repealed or severely curwas not until 1825 that the tailed. Take, for example, 1906, laws were repealed.

The Industrial Relations Act Trades Disputes Act aims to take us back along that which is completely repealed. same road. Faced with a re- This Act reversed the Taff surgent working class and in Vale decision of 1901 in which their deepest economic crisis, a railway union had to pay the Tory government has had out considerable damages to attack the bastion of following a strike. resistance—the organized trade The aim of this article is to union movement. indicate how the Tories will Trade union leaders have proceed to use the Act and said, in an effort to divert the the unique nature of the struggle against the measure institutions they have created. and against the Tories, that the As the perceptive Paterson Act is too complex to work says: 'One of the sharpest and will collapse in on itself. differences between "In Place Whether from naivety or of Strife" and Tory proposals not, these 'leaders' fail to see was seen from the date of the the real intentions of the Tory Consultative Document in government. The Act is com- October 1970 was the intention plicated precisely because it is to rely very much less in the intended to destroy all power vested in the state and previously existing rights. Ab- much more on the operation solutely every possible loop of a network of institutions hole is matched with another for the conduct and operation provision closing the door. of industrial relations.' (p. 19.)

Every previous Act confer- What are these institutions? ring certain rights on trade Who runs them? Who starts unions, such as immunity from the proceedings? On what basis The cornardone i is a verdict reached? How can workers be sent to jail under their auspices? These are some of the questions we have to answer to see how the Tories will initially proceed on their main strategy of trying to destroy trade unionism Britain.

The cornerstone of the legislation is the National Industrial Relations Court.

It is an entirely new creation and has the status of the High Court or in legal parlance a Superior Court of Record. It is the first such independent court to be created ad hoc since the Court of Equity was established by statute in the latter part of the l8th century.

But it is the first court in British history to be able to sit where it likes and when it likes. For example, there is no separate court for Scotland. The NIRC is a fully-mobile weapon.

Certain unique features make the court a devastating instrument in the hands of the ruling class.

1. There is NO APPEAL on questions of fact. It is the ultimate court of first instance. Only on questions of the interpretation of the law Court of the Appeal Ind further to the House of Lords.

2. The members of the court are not lawyers, except for the chairman Instead, appointed for three years (re. 1, Robert Carr newable) by the Queen who follows the recommendations of the Employment Secretary, Robert Carr and the Lord Chancellor, Quintin Hogg.

Although these men have no legal qualifications they become JUDGES in the fullest sense of the word. That is to say they have the status and privileges of judges in, for example, contempt of court questions.

Three judges from the High Court have been nominated and have accepted positions in the NIRC. Their function is as chairmen and advisers on questions of law.

The majority of the bench is always made up oi the 'experts' who will sit in numbers of not less than two and not more than four. Decisions are reached on a majority basis.

3. Normal RULES OF EVIDENCE used in the High Court DO NOT APPLY in the NIRC. The underlying principle in rules of evidence is that nothing can be introduced as evidence which cannot be proved. For example, so the story goes, there was a case in which the judge asked what point eas that the same judge game of was. The had played for a university cricket team.

The idea behind such a move is to facilitate the introduction by the judges and witnesses of so-called 'experiences, making the NIRC a very flexible court in decision-reaching.

The court will deliver Left: February 21, 1971, Trade Square against the Industrial Relations Bill. Above: The Act makes closed shops, and sympathy strikes Illegal and opens the door to arrests and jalling of trade unionists Involved In actions to defend their basic ments on several of the so-called 'unfair industrial practices' which are mentioned throughout the Industrial Relations Act. In general, the NIRC will deal with cases other than those relating to an individual.

Some idea of the range and power of the NIRC can be gained from looking at the 32 application forms available to an employer who wants start an action against a union.

They deal with the ending of the closed shop and its replacement by the so-called agency shop; the power to impose a procedure agreement on an industry or part of an industry considered to have a bad industrial relations record; applications to strike unions off the Registrar's list because their rules don't conform to his wishes; applications from employers alleging breach of contract by, for example, unofficial strikes, action against sympathy strikes, declared picketers, strikes 'national emergencies by the Tory government, the ordering of a cooling-off period of 60 days in such. cases and the implementation of a ballot. CONTINUED TOMORROW

Alan = -