Workers Press no. 768

workers press

T&GWU MAY ACT

AGAINST MILITANTS

Who they're blacking BLACKING is being supported by the national docks shop stewards' committee. A leaflet on the London docks sets out and blacked the firms says: *The companies mentioned are not to be worked under any circumstances.' The list is: LONDON: Hays Produce Com- Storage Dagenham pany, Kingdom Limited, United Cold Stores. Heatons

LIVERPOOL:

Trans- port (St Helens) Limited, Wharf, Craddock

BISHODS

Brothers.

HULL:

MAT

Transport, Panalpina. Springfield

MANCHESTER:

Warehousing Transport, Thomas Meadows. PRESTON: Containerway Road Ferry.

SOUTHAMPTON:

The stewards in this port are making inquiries

DUL

fully supporting the blacking above. the companies named Miners' pickets charged with riot

THIRTEEN

were sent for men trial at Dunfermline yesterday accused of rioting during the picketing at miners Longannet power station. Eleven miners. a draughtsman and a research student, including Steel, secretary and Graham the National Union azent Tor Mineworkers were remanced on £20 bail until June 6. The dock to Dold ere 13. Cohey was rebuilt to hold the 13 all pleaded not guilty. INCORPORATING THE NEWSLETTER • THURSDAY MAY 18, 1972• No 768 • 4p DAILY ORGAN OF THE CENTRAL COMMITTEE OF THE SOCIALIST LABOUR LEAGUE Dock officials hold summit meeting

TWO DIE AT SEAFORTH

BY STEPHEN JOHNS

THE

PUSH-BUTTON

grain and rescue trapped men terminal were taken to Walton Hospital.

vernools newiv. THE TRANSPORT and General opened Seaforth dock built to Divers were called in required the wreckage of the specifications of a high which part speed Workers' Union is to launch a cam- aimed its first victims yester- A man eram unloader The dead men were Wolfgang (34) of Henseleit Stonechat paign to get its docks members to lift Two men died after a gantr 33- collapsed throwing construction Gloucester, A venue and workers 120 ft in year-old Thomas Judd, their black on container traffic.

and Frome Park Road Stroud third workers man Gloucestershire who dived into me cock tou All the union's regional and docks secretaries will be Chaos during pupils' strike summoned to a summit meet- Transport House to- their morrow to work out approach to dockers. Their formula will be put to

I NO

mass meetings in every port in EXAMS c Britain as soon as possible.

The campaign is inspired by

OUT

TO the penalties threat further

MOTIONI

for the union Indus- could face in the National

THE

the TT1a Ke anons blacking does not end.

CANE

SCHOOLS

The officers will ask union to lift action the dockers until the against contamner arms notice for a national strike over the issue runs out in two weeks'

PRISONS

NOT

HEAD

Une. No In person

MORE

News of the summit talks was given in the NIRC yesterday by

DETENTIONS

Secretary of the 8w regional Shenton, Hull David He and the Hull docks secretary Briar were barker first officers the

(SAU

T&GWU

to appear in person perore me court They were answering charges unfair industrial practice arising out the blacking of (Northern). Limited, a Panalpina bractore-basee contamer mm third Walter For the time Cult dohas shop stewardst chairman Cunningham, the com- is named in the in wile junction, failed to appear.

Shenton said he had done all possibly could blacket he members to lift the When he was asked wov Stewards had been disciplined, he replied: I think the stewards shop as well as I do, equally know That i we Took acon indiveduals,e rather than im- that proved excaberbate would existed. lu it. It may that even at tae the of the when been investi- avenue has Thousands of London schoolchildren yesterday joined the one-day gated we may have to do this.

strike called by the Schools Action Union.

Some of them are seen But, said, for the present, he removing the above walking along Pall Mall. Their demands are quite plain, but stewards creden tials would only play into the the organization of the proposed marches through the West End and people of militants nanas who would disrupt the port.

disillusioned and confused.

left of the youth dissatisfied, many For story and another picture, see p. 12

• SEE LATE NEWS.

workers press

T&GWU MAY ACT

AGAINST MILITANTS

Who they're blacking BLACKING is being supported by the national docks shop stewards' committee. A leafiet on the London docks sets out and the blacked firms says: 'The companies mentioned are not to be worked under any circumstances.' The list is: LONDON: Hays Produce Com- Storage Dagenham Dally e Kingdom Limited, United Cold Stores. Trans-

LIVERPOOL:

Heatons port (St Helens) Limited, Wharf, Craddock Bishops Brothers.

HULL:

MAT

Transport, Panalpina.

MANCHESTER:

Springfield Warehousing Transport, Thomas Meadows. PRESTON: Containerway Road Ferry.

SOUTHAMPTON:

The this stewards port are making inquiries • lI fully supporting the blacking of the companies named above. Miners' pickets charged with riot THIRTEEN men were sent for trial at Dunfermline yesterday accused rioting during the strike picketing miners Longannet power station. Eleven miners. aarave san and a research student, including Steel, area secretary Granam National Unior arent or Mineworkers, were remance• on £20 bail until June 6. The dock at Dunfermline court the 13. rebuilt to hold was all pleaded not guilty. INCORPORATING THE NEWSLETTER • THURSDAY MAY 18, 1972 • No 768 • 4p DAILY ORGAN OF THE CENTRAL COMMITTEE OF THE SOCIALIST LABOUR LEAGUE Dock officials hold summit meeting

TWO DIE AT SEAFORTH

BY STEPHEN JOHNS

THE

PUSH-BUTTON

grain and rescue trapped men terminal Liverpool's newly- were taken to Waton Hospital.

THE TRANSPORT and General opened Seaforth dock built to Divers were called in search the wreckage of the specifications required by of high whịch was Hayned is fist vitins yestei.

Workers' Union is to launch a cam- ense died men were Wolfgang (34) Stonechal Henseleit paign to get its docks members to lift Iwo men died after a gantm collapsed throwing construction Gloucestel, a vente workers 120 ft in year-old Thomas Judd, their black on container traffic.

and Frome Park Road, Stroud, man workers third who dived into the cock to try union's regional All the and docks secretaries will be Chaos during pupils' strike summoned to a summit meet- Transport House to- ing at their morrow work out TO approach to dockers. Their formula will be put to

INO

mass meetings in every port in

AMS

Britain as soon as possible.

The campaign inspired by

OUT

TO the threat of further penalties

CATION

for the union contempt National Indus- could face in the t1121 Kelanons blacking does not end.

CANE

SCHOOLS®

The officers will ask union lift their action dockers the to until the contame s for a national strike over the issue runs out in two weeks'

PRISONS

NOT

HEAD

Lilic.. No In person

MORE

News of the summit talks was given in the NIRC yesterday by Shenton, Hull

DETENTIONS

David regiona secretary of the T&GWU He and the Hull docks Brian secretary were зілткет the first officers the

"SAY

T&GWU

to appear in person peore die court. They answering charges welc unfair industrial practice arising out of the blacking Panalpina (Northern) Limited, a bractor•- vasec third Walter time ror Cunningham, inghas shop stewards chairman the Hull com- named in the in• junction, failed to appear.

had done all Shenton said he possibly could to k. When he black. members to litt the he was askea why stewards had not been disciplined, he replied: the stewards shot Thank do, know as well as I equally that 1 we 100k rived als rather than 1M- proved situation that excaberbate excel Would it. It may be That even dr l the end of the road when been investi- has every avenue Thousands of London schoolchildren yesterday joined the one-day gated we may have to do this.

strike called by the Schools Action Union. Some of them are seen But, said, for the present, he removing the stewards creden. above walking along Pall Mall. Their demands are quite plain, but would only play into the tials the organization of the proposed marches through the West End people militants and hands who would disrupt the port.

dissatisfied, disillusioned and confused.

left many of the youth For story and another picture, see p. 12.

• SEE LATE NEWS.

ratifies Eastern pacts No one piece of hard evidence in San Jose trial PAGE 2 Workers Press, Thursday May 18, 1972

AROUND THE WORLD

Bavarian Christian Social Union, led THE West German Bundestag (lower A similar treaty with Poland was house parliament) yesterday later ratified by the same_number of right-winger Pranz loset Strauss votes, with 17 against. the opposed approved konn's concilation treaty with the Soviet Union after a three- After lengthy discussions with mem- treaties the grounds that they of Germany and political crisis which threatened bers of his Christian Democratic Partv ratify division week the opposition leader Rainer Barzel urged the Social- make permanent the post-war transfer to bring down ruling Democrat-Free Democrat coalition.

on ot German territorv to Polano and the opposinion mrs A total of 248 deputies in the 196- treaty vote.

USSR.

Earlier he had tried to commit the member voted for The treaties are a key element in the house a parlia- Christian to vote for Soviet government's preparation for a nentary Bill ratifving the pact.

CUlL cluded in August 1970, with ten voting treaties-Brandt's European security conference. Moscow which were modified earlier this month with obvious anxiety had watched cleared the way for the as a result of opposition pressure.

while three-week parliamentary Ine deadlock kept the Bill in suspense.

But he ran into opposition from the passage into law. A drawing of Angela Davis in court by Jim Webber-Exclusive to Workers Press PRISONERS in Brazilian jails THE DEFENCE in the Angela

BY A FOREIGN CORRESPONDENT

the are still carined Middle Ages, according frame-up Davis trial has California's rightist official Justice Ministry on Thursdav -but is almost cer-

MCDOLL

demanded the dismissal OI published in Rio de Janeiro.

tain to order the case to proceed governor Ronald Reagan is seek- murder, kidnap and conspiracy defence case will then open The report described the prison declared and is expected to last about one charges against her and example, month. Sentence c declared that she has been sub- Davis could mean life imprison- unusual penalty. succeeds, lt be 'prisoners are chained at night to possibility for Angela Davis could be sent to ment without ¡ected to the 'terror and agony' sombre the gas chamber by the court.

report of a useless prosecution.

details hair-raising

WILH

and confirms that prisoners beside Angela Davis stood exploited as a 'market to main- attorney Leo Branton in the San tain an 'intensive drug traffic'.

Tuesday as he

COLLE

bv a commission of Free red demandea ner acquittal because inspectors on orders 'none of the essential elements Minister Alfredo Buzaid, Justice

LIBERATION

forces four other strikes made of conspiracy has been proven'.

'these for besieged town of An says off huge outside the Loucaca rehahilitation are real schools for After seven weeks, during exnlosions at a South Vietnamese the training, and professionaliza- which 100 witnesses were heard ammunition dump the out- In Moscow, however, the of criminals. tion and 200 exhibits produced, the skirts of Pleiku. Soviet leaders preparing are particularly state rested its case on Monday. enthusiastic welcome lack B52 bombers flew Rio and the Matto Grosso, And can US The prosecution has produced no imperialism Tender 20 e minimal hygienic conditions, the eight strikes against targets making an effort to ensure that nara evidence to link tae co-year jails, the around Kontum on Tuesday and some In old black Communist Party President Nixon's visit next week

LCDOLL

sayo. to the courthouse gun- nriconers cone into correr

WILL

member The explosions lasted off smoothly, SeVeral goes 'only when it rains'. which hours and destroyed thousands The Communist Party Dalue news the does not others governor yesterday including George Jackson's Liberation rounds of howitzer shells 'Pravda' devoted possess a register of the inmates brother Jonathan, died forces also attacked its editorial to 'peaceful giving their August 1970. sentence, with the US, airfield Kontum, sayıng the co-existence crime and the date they are of central provincial capital now was "possible and desirable' to be released. The prosecution had proven a of North Vietnamese though the surrounded by not expense crowded Brazil's •risons dIc case deals! Jonald and National Liberation forces.

with political prisoners jailed by Branton said, but the military There have 'against Davis the only of allegations persistent thing that

DECL

torture and she is a warm, articulate numan ment of detainees. being, who has love and com- passion-yes for George Jackson for all and DR Luigi Calabresi, head of the the investigation into the bomb. especially for black people whom Milan police political bureau, was The she represents so well'. bank in December One shot dead yesterday in a city strike record added that the had of mee he arrested on suspicio: heard not one word of any dis the anarchist street. "fell' cussion about a plan to do any- Giuseppe r and collapsed. ore died passing criminal' and the state had A JAPANESE seamen's strike death from a window while under and collapsed. on interrogation Milan police second month- -was kept Angela Davis in prison at . its

HOW

his way to hospital, police said. needless v weeks nion They mounted an immediate of becoming longest ever, sufficient evidence to convict.

one WAs only manhunt to find the assassins. of weakening Arnason is expected to number of inconvenient witnesses with sign by Judge who disappeared in the course of either side. defence Calabresi responsible for was rule THE UPWARD surge in the price of gold continued drama- tically yesterday with a rew cord one-day increase of $2.25 on the London market, taking the price to $57.50 an ounce.

In Zurich the situation was the same. Frantic buying pushed the price up in 50 and it finished at cent steps $56.50-$57.50 at midday. The upward trend gathered momentum at the beginning week. of the Gold has now risen $13.50 this year. A recent survey by the Con- solidated Gold Fields mining which predicted that group, the price could go to sos an ounce by 1980, has given sup- port to the speculation in the metal. GEORGE WALLACE, the wounded racialist governor of Alabama, won a big vic- tory in the Democratic primary elections of two northern states yesterday.

In industrial MICHIGAN he won close on 50 per cent of the vote, easily beating his two main Senators McGovern and and Humphrey. In MARYLAND, with 90 per cent of the returns in, he topped the poll with 40 per cent of the Humphrey trailed second place with 26 per cent and McGovern took only 22 percent.

To win this position, particu- larly in Michigan, Wallace must have gained votes from many thousands of working-class voters. The results show a dangerous swing to the right behind the Alabama governor, whose cam- paign is backed by every fascist and racialist in the US. Wallace's victories in the pri- maries are part of the process of break-up of the two-party system under the impact of world economic crisis and reces- sion. They demonstrate that the Democratic Party, which has traditionally enjoyed the support of the reformist labour leaders, is irrevocably divided and that the old-style discredited capitalist politicians, can no longer pull votes from the working class and the middle class. Wallace is aided by the union leaders' retreat in the face of policy. On Nixon's wage-freeze the eve of the latest primaries, dock union chiefs backed down the Pay Board rather than to fight government-imposed wage-cut. their refusal to fight for an independent Labour Above Party based on the trade unions to the Demo- the workers cratic Party machine and fuels the frustration and anger ex- in the big vote for pressed Wallace. Calabresi's investigations. The crime is widely believed to have been committed by extreme right- wing terrorists with whom is known to have Calabresi sympathized. Before he was assassinated the police chief was involved in a court action against the left- wing magazine 'Lotta Continua' which had accused him of causing Pinelli's death.

TORY EMPLOYMENT Sec millan went out of his way y about the Industrial Relatio ciliatory remarks were linker He told businessmen at a l relations conference at London's F 'I am convinced that the Act would be working much better-and to the advantage of individual unions and their members — if trade unions would register and so put themselves in a position to take advantage of the legisla- tion. It is my aim to encourage trade unions to register as quickly as possible, if only because I believe the greater and authority which status registration gives trade unions will help to galvanize man- agement. And it is management which, above all, needs galvanizing ' Macmillan chose deliberately to play the reformist belief on held by many right wingers on the TUC that. bad management rather than recession the was of root many of the country's problems. He said: 'What we need in , industrial relations in Britain is a new dynamic which a construc- tive trade union movement can it by jolting management give out of the inertia which negative trade unionism encourages.'

Only: last Monday the

TUC

sent a circular to its 140 affiliated unions criticizing inefficient firms and called for a policy of rationalization and better allocation of investment and manpower. Macmillan said yesterday: I want trade unions to abandon their defensive posture. Instead I want them to join in a • co- operative effort with management and with government to create a and much more humane new industrial society. 'Let's talk constructively about something instead building of negatively about destroying things. 'Let's work positively for better training; a better flow of informa- tion; better communication, the development of bargaining rights on a wider scale; more equitable pay systems; better grievance and disputes procedures; greater the individual security for worker: more comprehensive, more comprehensible and more effective collective agreements which stick. to believe that once I refuse the trade union movement has got used to this legislation, it will not go out and use the law to

ALL TRADES UNIONS

ALLIANCE

MEETINGS

Fight the Tories' 'fair rents' Bill WANDSWORTH: Thursday May 18, 8 p.m. Selkirk Hotel, Sel- kirk Rd, Tooting Broadway.

NORTH KENT: Tuesday May SOGAT House, 23, 8 p.m. Essex Rd, Dartford. DAGENHAM: Tuesday May 23, 8 p.m. Co-op Hall, Fanshawe Avenue, Barking. CLAPHAM: Tuesday May 23, 8 p.m. Small Hall, Clapham Manor Baths, Clapham Manor St, SW4. WEST LONDON: Tuesday May 23, 8 p.m. "Prince Albert", Wharfedale Rd, off York Way, Kings Cross. SOUTHALL: Thursday May 25, 8 p.m. Parkway Rooms (Rent office). Racecourse Estate, Northolt (next to swimming pool). NORTH LONDON: Thursday May 25, 8 p.m. 'Bricklayer's Arms', Tottenham High Rd (nr White Hart Lane) CROYDON: Thursday May 25, 8 p.m. Ruskin House, Coombe LUTON: Thursday May 25, p.m. St John Ambulance Hall, Lea Rd. SOUTH EAST LONDON: Thurs- day May 25, 8 p.m. Deptford Engineers' Club (opposite New Cross Station). ACTON: Monday May 29, 8 p.m. Co-op Hall, High Rd.

EAST LONDON: Tuesday May 30, 8 p.m. 'Aberfeldy', Aber- feldy St, E.14. NT Secretary Maurice Mac- way yesterday to calm fears Relations Act, but his con- e linked to a sharp warning.

at a 'Financial Times' industrial ndon's Hilton Hotel:

SAYS EMPLOYMENT

SECRETARY MACMILLAN

the advantage of its millions of members. I believe we shall see a creative trade union movement merely living within not the thriving on its use of the law as Industrial Relations but a catalyst for the very reforms it has long been in business to secure. "The British trade union move- ment has an honourable tradition of respect for the law. It also has in the long run a very keen appreciation where advantage-and more particularly the advantage of its members- li's. •Ii is therefore very much my conviction that a coming to terms with the new framework of legislation is more a question of when than if.' Macmillan made it clear that he appreciated the difficulties trade union • leaders were facing as a result of the working of the Act. 'No one should underestimate the heartsearching that it requires of the trade union movement. No one should fail to recognize that trade unions being are asked to make complete reappraisal of their role in an industrial society.' While going out of his way to paint union leaders a shining vision of the corporatist future under the Act, he warned that new conciliation and arbitration procedures currently under dis- cussion between the TUC, the CBI and the Prime Minister must not be seen as some kind of sub- stitute for the Act. He said: 'I think it important to say at this stage that it would Pickets at the gates of Benford Machiner

MANAGEMENT

of Benford Concrete Machinery in Warwick is attempting to witch-hunt the factory's convenor by blaming him for the week-long strike of its 350 workers. In the company magazine 'News and Views' they devoted 12 pages to their side of the dis- pute and include a photograph of the convenor, Mr Duffy, with the information that he comes from Ireland. The company account of the strike is being treated contemp- tuously by strikers, who claim 100 per cent shut-down.of the factory. Ray Newel, a leading AUEW steward in the plant, said: 'We put in a claim for £6 Rt Hon Maurice be a curious , commentary on a government which had sought to activate the community interest in industrial affairs through the Industrial Relations Act to anaesthetize it with a new system of conciliation that takes account only of the needs of the pro- tagonists — regardless of wider consequences. He said the central problem, even more acute than industrial relations, was the need to deal with 'the consumptive disease of inflation'. 'Our overriding objective must be to overcome inflation—rising prices. We need a collective effort on the part of government, management and trade unions to eradicate it.' But inflation be cannot eradicated. Like recession, it is a Machinery. ¡venor across-the-board increase on March demanded • 24. We overhaul of the piecework system because of the wide differentials in earnings and also demanded payment for shop stewards' functions. 'We didn't get an answer, so we banned overtime. The com- pany refused to negotiate until we lifted the ban' But when the ban was lifted the company turned all the workers' demands down flat at a works conference and asked that the conference be adjourned for two weeks. In spite of AUEW official Frank Chater's suggestion that the men agree to this proposal, the the firm seven men gave days' strike notice. Workers Press, Thursday May 18, 1972 PAGE 3 RAIL TRADE unionists holding their annual conference at Wey- mouth, Dorset, are un- able to discuss their current wages struggle because of the legal mice Manne armoury of the Indust- rial Relations Act. Delegates attending the con- ference of the Transport Salaried Staffs' Association are now asking for a ruling from Lord Denning, Master of the Rolls, whether on the current pay dispute can without fear be discussed contempt of of court. The 500 delegates at the con- been warned ference have by their officials several on occasions this week that the matter is sub judice while the ballot appeal continues. Many delegates believe that the legal threat being used by the TSSA executive is simply a device to prevent discussion the the on way wages issue has been fought by the union. It is entirely ludicrous that union delegates at their annual meet- discuss and take ing cannot decisions questions which on effect the vitally standard of of the contradictory symptom future their living and of of the working world capitalist because of legal membership economy. intimidation. What Macmillan is really tell- The of the

TSSA

experience ing the is that the is further evidence ent- conference ployers and the Tory that the Act designed to ment intend do everything strip the democratic away weather that necessary to rights of trade unions. recession. Rank-and-file trade unionists defend He knows that the TUC is who these want to moving. towards playing the hard-won rights can intervene corporatist game demanding a recall of the and is making by it as easy as possible for them.

TUC

the retreat. of to stop But while holding wide the the trade union leaders. door Such a congress of collaboration, he has would also have made and it very plain that the to prepare the political Tories do intend industrial conditions force not to be to Heath deflected from their this hated aims and govertment out of office. that if the unions choose not to Only by ending their the of the Tories co-operate only alternative reign can is pick of the Act be obliterated from up the gauntlet class war the the books. government has thrown down. COLNBROOK and Poyle branch the Union of Amalgamated Engineering Workers has passed resolution asking the union's to recall the executive council National Committee to reconsider their position on plant-bargain- ing. The resolution plant- says bargaining is splitting the union and demands a nationwide fight on the engineers' claim for a £6- a-week rise, a 35-hour week and extra holidays.

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186a Clapham High Street, London SW4 7UG.

PAGE 4 Workers Press, Thursday May 18 "The Sunday Times' has a repi liberal and even possibly a 'lef a study of the paper's edito provides a very different pict YEATS examines the politics One month after the June 1970 General Elec. tion, "The Sunday Times' delight at the Tory vic- tory was on the wane. market had The stock slumped, the balance of pay- was hovering over the ments red, the pound had tallen to its lowest point for some time and troops were poised to go into the docks. Growth without inflation was "The Sunday Times' battle cry-not unnaturally since is the sole means of recouping value and safeguarding profits.

The paper's advice to the Tories on the eve of their first big industrial dispute was un- compromising. To give in to the dockers, it said on July 19, a . catastrophic 'would set pattern for wage settlements under the new government'.

the 18 On August as economy deteriorated and the Tories remained inactive 'The Sunday Times' rallied: "Two months after the elec- promise of tion the Tory muscular dynamism remains, puzzlingly, but almost com- pletely, unrevealed.' on what now And was regarded as the central issue- wages: 'We believe that a govern- ment policy for incomes and governmental role in some determining them are an essen- accompaniment to any tial policy for sustained and con- trolled growth.' On September 6 the govern- ment was still unmoved and "The Sunday Times' weighed in: Let government com- mence': It is essential to the gov- ernment's reputation'-not to mention the prosperity of the bourgeoisie — 'that it should some interim measures take strikes and wage against inflation. 'A must be made stand against gigantic claims...

(and) the cabinet must examine the deterrents against strike action. should make PAYE It arrangements less rebate favourable to strikers than they now are and should study the range of social security payments and sickness benefit fiddles which cushion the striker who has any foresight.'

If the milk of human kind- through the ness still ran feature pages, it had clearly dried up in the leader column.

The big stick was brought out again on September 27: 'Mr Feather and his colleagues have grown too accustomed to governmental retreat.' By October Il, when the Tories were showing some signs of resisting the dustmen's pay claim "The Sunday Times' chortled: lay May 18, 1072 is a reputation as a progressive, ly a 'left' publication. However 's editorials since April 1970 ent picture. In this series IAN politics of "The Sunday Times'.

"The Industrial Relations Bill is certain to become law.

This is one government which the unions won't terrorize into submission. 'Rather than negative and dumb hostility, the TUC and leaders should the big union show some sensitivity to Mr Carr's offer to talk.' "The Sunday Times' attitude to the dustmen's strike was subtle in terms of its reader- ship. It did not oppose the claim—a fact which may have the familiar contributed to confusion about the paper's liberality. • it said: 'No one can Instead feel anything but rage for the shop worker on £16, the muni- cipal worker on £14, the pensioner.' And added: 'All these dis- putes and stoppages have done nothing for the poor. The rich pilots, car workers, printers, dockers have got richer.'

was a formula to be This repeated in December when the power workers struck and were crucified by just about everybody. The idea was that large in- creases should be resisted and redistributed to the poor. By the miners' strike even this hint of humanitarianism was to disappear. After seeing the size of Sir Jack Scamp's award to the "The Sunday Times' dustmen stamped its foot. The settle- ment was a betrayal of all hopes in the government. Next time Heath must stand firm.

By December 8 the trade union leaders were beginning agitation against their feeble Industrial Relations Bill the and 'The Sunday Times' saw it as a challenge to the very foun- dations of bourgeois society.

- ..the strike being organ- ized on December 8 against the Industrial Relations Bill is a shameless attempt by one section of society to upset by force the unambiguous verdict of the majority. "The undermining of this (democratic) process which is now being attempted is there- fore peculiarly ugly.' Consistent with their wage- redistribution theory, the paper saw it as 'unforunate' that the Tories had chosen the power workers to make their stand on inflation because of the men's record of responsibility and productivity. But just before Christmas when airline staff worked to rule The Sunday Times' called it 'vicious'.

December 20: 'It falls to the airline management to resist firmly, if necessary by exacting maximum penalty from the people who refuse to work properly.'

OEU

P

'FADING

Post workers during the 1971 strike whi Despite all previous anxiety for the low paid, by February 1971 this exposed was as strictly vintage 1970. February 21: 'After weeks of indifference most strange people are at last seized of the fact that the postal strike has grown very nasty' As cash arrived at UPW headquarters from transport, engineering and rail workers the paper said: It is becoming more not less.

intense and it has now been played at the front of the total war in which the unions see themselves engaged as against the government.' In March the Ford strike precipitated a stern lecture on the need for secret ballots to make sure union leaders really had the support they claimed.

By April 1971, 'The Sunday Times' despairing. On was April 11 it said: "The govern- approach to incomes ment's policy is palpably collapsing' There had been two recent settlements with car workers.

'Just as significant as the size of the rises offered by Vauxhall and British-Leyland is the fact that they have been offered They are inflationary in themselves. They poison the atmosphere of restraint which the government has tried to create' After persistent exhortations to the Tories to free them- selves from Treasury conserva- tism and go for growth, on June 20, after '12 months of the new Tories', , 'The Sunday Times' discovered happily: "Two great revolutions have been begun - the Industrial Relations Bill and the Common Market.' Despite these 'hopeful' signs, a month later industry was contracting and slump was on every economist's lips. In view "The •Times' „Sunday of this said of the collapse of Upper • Clyde Shipbuilders: 'In economic terms the strike which for 'The Sunday Times' grow to decision. to contract shipbuild- ing on the Upper Clyde cannot be criticized. Music Heath's ears, it to went on: 'It is better that the brute realities of shipbuilding should be recognized and not permitted to foster false hopes among another generation of Glaswegians' As to the 'human tragedy': ...the government must show more involvement with the Clydesiders than Mr Davies managed last week.' They did. Heath visited them. But the plans to 'butcher' the yards continued.

By January 1972, as the industrial barometer turned more and more decisively to- ward slump, The Sunday Times' business interest was well to the fore. January 9: 'An excessive award to the miners, apart from once imperilling the Coal more Board's position, will be the pretext for more inflationary demands elsewhere' And then, on February 13, the most brutal anti-working class statement since the red Tories came to power.

'The price of submission [to the miners] would be a sharp reversal of the limited success against spiralling wages and prices. 'Unions have simply not willing been to make the sacrifices which are entailed if for some workers other workers are to get better treatment. 'In the absence of such agreement it remains uncon- vincing to defend as "special" a case which is in fact based on brute force. It would be an even more damaging and insidious pros- Pect (to submit) than the imminent national stoppage of industry? Every possible effort was to be made to get the miners to accept the recommendations of the Wilberforce inquiry. 'But if they do not there should be no question where the public interest lies.

'The government cannot rew to be 'very nasty' permit the industrial hierarchy be reordered and the to economy to be re- national ordered by 280,000 men. ...the government is here as in few other situations the citizens only defence against force. 'Whether through inflation, which destroys his wealth, or through intimidation, which destroys his freedom, the citi- zen will be the real victim if their the miners get what uncompromisingly leaders demand.' is the Who, one wonders, citizen with all this wealth and freedom? Surely only the bourgeoisie. The lead that day also noted: •Another lesson is that picket- ing law and practice needs much clearer definition than it receives in the Industrial Rela- tions Act if intimidation is not to become a recurrent weapon of industrial action.' A week later gloom was at boot level in the Gray's Irin Rd and 'The Sunday Times' attacked the award to the miners as 'disastrous'. It returned to its long-held belief that only a prices and incomes policy, operated with the co-operation of the Con- federation of British Industries and the TUC could now stave off imminent disaster. With hearts hardened by the miners' 'victory and the sharply-deteriorating economic situation on March 5 returning to the plight of British ship- building the paper said: 'We must face the fact that a point could come where there.

are just not enough working taxpayers left to pay the sub- sidies involved.' Humanitarian to the last, the lead concluded: It is no kindness to leave [men] building over-expensive, outdated ships for which there is no further demand.'

CONTINUED TOMORROW

BY OUR SPANISH CORRESPOND

The Spanish Communist Party has committed it- self to support for Spain's entry into the Common Market by claiming that certain sectors of the big bourgeoisie are in favour of democratic reforms in Spain as a preparation for entry. This treacherous acceptance of the capitalist reorganization working against the European class is fully in line with Moscow's acceptance of the economic the reality Market, and the rapid develop- ment of trade between Spain and the Stalinist bureaucracies of Eastern Europe. Stalinists The seek an alliance with the most reac- tionary political and monopol- istic forces in Europe against the revolutionary development of the working class which is fighting to maintain living standards and independent organization threatened by the world-wide economic crisis.

In July the Spanish Foreign Minister, Lopez Bravo, will visit London for talks with Sir Alec Douglas-Home. Bravo, the main Spanish architect of the détente with Moscow, will not have as the central topic for discussion the status Gibraltar but the opening up Spain to investment by of British monopolists.

LABOUR

A recent survey by the Tory 'Economist' pointed out the strike-bound advantages to British capital of Franco's fascist state, and quite ex- plicitly the meaning of the 'European dream' of capital: 'Spain could become a pro- ductive base for many of the big multi-national companies in Europe ... it offers rela- • cheap tively labour, very liberal attitude to foreign in- vestors and comparative free- dom from strikes.' It is interesting to note the pro-Europeans in Spain whom Stalinism and British Tories share as mutual friends. Lopez Rodo, Minister for Development, made a major statement of fascist policy on Europe in the Cortes, the pup- pet parliament Madrid, when introducing the Bill for the Third National Develop- ment Plan. Rodó prefaced his speech with praise for fascist ideolo- gist José Antonio, whose great plan for 'the reconciliation of the individual and the com- munity' was the inspiration of 'the heroic mobilization of the generation of 1936'. He then proceeded to a bitter attack on the Marxist thesis that 'consciousness de- velops from matter': 'Our philosophy recognizes the free- dom of man as the decisive factor in history' He made it quite clear that no freedom should be allowed

ESPONDENT

socialism: Far for Marxist from giving it facilities for propaganda and organization, the defence of freedom cannot be rhetorical, but active, in order to silence those who to- day clamour for freedom in order to submit us tomorrow to oppression.' Rodó called for a gradual movement into the European Common Market. Spain was economically already and mentally a part of Europe.

His speech ended with series of promises which would be received with contempt by Spanish workers, though they in the might be welcomed pages of 'Pravda': It is com- forting to think that by 1980 all Spanish families will have a telephone, television, and a house, and eight out of ten will have a car. 'Illiteracy will havedis- appeared and the university will be open to all those with the necessary intellectual apti- tudes.' Another pro - European favourite of the Stalinists is Gil Robles. He was the leader of the fascist CEDA before the Civil War. After trips to Ger- many and Italy, he modelled work the political of his organization on that of Ger- and Italian fascism. He man now enjoys the open support of the Spanish Communist Party for European policies and his call for greater power to the regions within Spain.

a recent speech to the Christian Association of Em- ployers, Robles quoted Hitler against excessive nationalism. He praised Schumann and Adenauer as supporters of a Christian democratic and Europe. Vil GIl Hobles: Quoting Hitler Central Bank director Al- fonso Escamez, told a meeting of shareholders on May 6 the 'for a ech bank should_prepare future called Europe. Escamez outlined the need for a greater mobilization of banks in Spain in order to with the European cope market. Another main respon- sibility would be the develop- ment of solid international economic relations and co- operation with multi-national companies who looked to Spain as a good base for their investment in Europe. The Central Bank. had already formalized an agree- ment for co-operation with the José Antonio Primo de Rivera, fascist Id nent, Rodo, in his recent speech on fas firm Metallgesell- German schaft' for the development of a mining project in Aznal- collar. To complete this spectrum of Spanish pro-Market men is General Diaz-Alegria, a lead- ing general in the Spanish army. Described by the 'Economist' as 'very humane and a convinced European', he warned 'one thing that that might induce the army to attempt "a Greek solution" after Franco would be a wave of political strikes or a sustained campaign of urban terrorism' So those sections of the bourgeoisie in favour of Spain's entry into the Common Market are quite clear on the need to suppress the working class. They are also conscious that it is the illegality of trade unions and the low wages paid out to Spanish workers which makes Spain so attractive for investment by international capital. Spanish Stalinists support these plans by saying they will open the way for the growth of real Spanish capitalism. They know that this is impos- sible, making it the basis for calling on Spanish workers not to prepare for civil war and the socialist revolution as to the plans of the answer monopolists but to work for with the progressive harmony bourgeoisie. While the diplomatic nego- tiations for Spain's entry into the Common Market continue, investment in Spain by Euro- pean monopolies is proceeding very rapidly. The Italian car giant, Fiat, its Seat has plans to make plant in Barcelona its produc- tion base for the European and Latin American market. The Barcelona plant already has ex- clusive rights for the produc- tion of the Fiat 600 model.

Fiat hopes to make Seat the sixth largest car producer in Europe by 1975 with a £95m investment programme. At the Seat shareholders general meeting in Madrid on April 25, the company's presi- dent, Juan Sanchez-Cortes y Davila, revealed that in line with its long-term strategy for export that in 1971, the com- pany increased its exports by 49.3 per cent over the 1970 figures. Seventy-seven per cent of these exports were sold to countries in the Common Market and EFTA groups. In 1970 the company made a gross profit of about £4tm and paid out a 12 per cent Workers Prees, fascist Ideologist of the 1930s who is praised t ach on fascist pollcy toward Europe.

tax-ree dividend to share- holders. The growth of Seat is a re- markable piece of profiteering by the Catholic Church. As is well known, a substantial slice of Fiat profits goes into the Vatican's coffers. Seat is expanding by kind permission of the Opus Dei Franco's government. • in men Opus Dei member Lopez Rodó lives in an Opus community in Madrid, whilst the Opus leader Escriva sends out directives to Madrid from his busy retreat in Rome. Chrysler and Citroen, Renault have also big expan- sion programmes under way in Spain. Seat, with 24,000 employees, remains the largest firm Spain, it is based on foreign capital. Some years ago, the Madrid 'El Pueblo' evening newspaper organ of the fascist vertical unions, ran a competition 'De- the first really Spanish sign car!' This car and independent economic development Spain remain—and will remain for ever-dreams of the Spanish petty - bourgeoisie, dreams which determine policies of Spanish Stalinism!

One of the main monopolies leading the race into Spain is that backer of the Tory ParIn the Rio Tinto Company. 1971, its main activity in Spain in the Union Explosives Rio Tinto (ERT), has been a merg- ing of companies, rationaliza- tion of production and expan- sion. Its labour , force of 13,500 produced 35 per cent more than in 1970, spanning over a wide range of products from explosives to plastics. The ERT group continued its mopping up of the plastics industry in Spain by adding two more companies to the seven already taken over.

ERT took the initiative in the development of the petro- chemical complex in Tarra- gona. An important element in this complex is the Sociedad Anonima Explosivos Total Aquitaine (SAETA). Sixty-six per cent of the capital came from the ERT and the rest belonged to the French firm Aquitaine Total Organico. The object of this investment is the manufacture of polyethylene by a process patented by the ent French company. ara Prose, Thuraday May 18, 1972 PAGE 5 praised by Spain's Minister for Develop- the Another project for Tarragona complex is the Rio Mit Company. in which ERT will have 60 per cent of the investment, the Mitsui Petro- chemical Industries Ltd 32 per cent and Mitsui and Company 8 per cent. Alongside this project for the manufacture of the basic materials for synthetic fibres is an agreement for the build- ing of a factory jointly with the Canadian company, Poly.

sar. Profits from petrol are also the great ambition of Rio Tinto in Spain. Having entered this field by taking over the Rio Gulf de Petroleos Com- pany, in which it owns 60 per cent of the capital, ERi was chosen by the Spanish govern- ment as the private company to invest in the refinery to be built in Tarragona. Babcock Wilcox is and international mono- another poly which has taken the lead in investing in Spain. In eight years, trade by their Spanish section has quadrupled, with production based Bilbao factories. Babcock have created in a modern plant a centre for manufacturing tubular steel products, electrical and diesel engines. Two hundred electric diesel engines have already been exported. It is probable that the recent Yugoslavia large order from for rolling-stock will be sup- plied by Babcock's and also the millions of pounds to be invested by the Tory govern- ment in railways material in Spain could very easily find its way into the coffers of Babcock and Wilcox. Britain's entry into the Common 1 Market can only accelerate the movement of British capital in Spain.

The Stalinist bureaucracy is fully behind these moves. The breaking of the Asturian miners' strike by the Polish Stalinists was part of their effort to create a 'new Europe'.

The British and Spanish in Communist Parties have both refused to condemn such actions from the standpoint of principle; for these Stalinists certain 'economic realities' are more important than socialist principle. Now that the Spanish Com- munist Party is in favour of the Market, one must ask British CP Secretary John Gollan and his King St com- pany why they do not condemn this acceptance of the plans of the monopolists.

PAGE 6 Workers Prezs, Thursday May 18, 1972 In 1945 the British work- ing class gave the Attlee government an over- mandate whelming to carry out socialist policies at home and abroad. Instead, social democracy conspired with world Stalinism to give capitalism a breathing re-establish its grip space lo on its Asian colonies. In Asia an upsurge of the liberation movements had forced British imperialism to grant nominal independence to and the indian nationalist - bourgeois recutes were installed to secure capi- talist investments and property.

This was not possible, how- ever, in Vietnam. This country had been submerged in the empire ruled Indo-Chinese the French. Since 1883 the Vietnamese people had suffered poverty and great exploitation at the hands of their colonial masters but World War II de- cisively altered the situation. When the Japanese overran the country the French colons They put up: no resistance. collaborated with the invaders just Vichy welcomed the German fascists in the French arriving In Vletnam, Armed Japanese guards homeland. October 4, 1945. Vietnamese resistance against Chinese would be Though the Vietminh were dictator, the Japanese invasion was put in control of Saigon and a good responsible for the North.

down ruthlessly by the French.

1945 September the In Cochin part countryside, one uprising ure French determined British army consisting largely China in the south, 6,000 Viet- were of they 26,000 Indian and Gurkha namese were killed or wounded regain control of what considered their colony. soldiers, under the direct com- and thousands imprisoned. mand of Major-General Douglas Vietminh, sided the British imperialism D. Gracey, moved into South an alliance of several nationalist with the French. decisively Vietnam. Com- movements, led by the They were afraid that any The Vietnamese seidenot wese Party under Ho Chi munist Vietnamese

COCOONUTS

nervous. They not trust Minh, that carried out any nationalism would have a pro- the British... and with good resistance struggle. It was the found effect on the people reason. Americans who recognized Malaya. Burma and under Acting them as a valuable ally against Yalta conference,

CASINCOR

At the from Moscow, which wanted Roosevelt suggested the Japanese and smuggled in President peaceful co-eistence with the interference with lar he Vietmiss of are se that Indo-China might be ruled Vietminh were so Churchill suc- trusteeship. Allies, the Communist Party- cessful that after the collapse hirmly opposed this. led Vietminh Committee wel- army at the of the lapanese "The British didn't like it, the British. They end of the they were Roosevelt war, wrote later. appealed to the people not strong enough up might bust their Empire, set up provoked into anti-British in if the Indo-Chinese provisional government because demonstrations. Vietminh Saigon known as the work together and to were Committee. eventually l indepen- The Allied High Command, dence the Burmese might do decided that the the same thing.' nowever, British army, Mount- Eventually under agreement was would Vietnam batten, enter reached, without, Vietnamese course, the to disarm surrendered consultin ord the Others, however, particularly feared a Japanese troops, their Mountbatten's the Trotskyists, sell- people. allance repatriation and bring East Asia out to the French and refused South Command Allied prisoners of No- would be responsible for South to give up the arms they had thing was decided, however, at Vietnam up to the 16th parallel.

acquired during the fighting that stage about the future of The In Americans, alliance against the Japanese. Kai-shek, Vietnam. with Chiang the attempt to show good will to the British, the Vietminh attacked, killed and arrested large numbers of Trotskyists.

This made little impression on British imperialism. Gracey's first move was to demand the handing over of all Vietnamese arms. He then took over all vital installations, such as the station, airfield, the power banks, police stations, and so on. The Vietminh Committee was concerned, but still deter- mined to co-operate. Despite demonstra- this, spontaneous tions dia take place. Gracey's next move caused even more disquiet. Far from disarming the Japanese, the British began to organize them into armed police force, an using them to maintain law and order against the Vietnamese.

Protected by British, Indian and Japanese rifle butts, which were used liberally against any- showing any opposition, one the French colons who had been keeping off the streets for fear of Vietnamese reprisals, began to gain confidence. Life for the French began to re- semble the carefree party it had been before the war. They demanded that Gracey allow them to re-arm so they could prepare to remove the from Vietminh Committee power. The Vietminh protested as British rule became more and more openly pro-French. Dur- ing the war, they pointed out, it was they, not the French colons, who had helped the Allies win the war. Gracey refused to listen. He would not even talk to them.

'I was welcomed on arrival by the Vietminh,' he boasted later .. and I promptly kicked them out The Vietminh organized strike of Saigon market traders in protest against British con- nivance with their former rulers. In retaliation, Gracey ordered the closing down of the Vietminh press. •the But still clinging to peaceful policy co-existence urged on them by Stalin, the Vietminh offered to allow the British to censor their papers.

But to The press no avail. remained firmly closed. On September 21 Gracey issued a proclamation stating his intention to maintain law and order'. It was a deliberate provocation. In it he warned 'all wrong- looters and doers, especially aboteurs of public and private roperty, and those also carry.

ing out similar criminal activi- ties, that they will be sum- marily shot. It also stated: • No demonstrations or pro- cessions will be permitted.

• No public meetings will take place. • No arms of any description sticks, including staves, bamboo spears, etc., will be carried except by British and Allied troops, and such other forces and police which have been specially authorized by me. • The curfew already imposed on my orders by the Japan- authorities between ese 21.30 and 05.30 in Saigon and Cholon will be con- tinued and strictly enforced.

With no press and no pos- sibility of holding any meet- ings or demonstrations, and with all the arms concentrated in the hands of the British army and their new Japanese had allies, the Vietminh no means of answering this attack.

had been The Trotskyists right. The sell-out they feared was about to take place. Gracey began to hand over guns to the French colons and on September 22 the British took over Saigon jail, disarmed the Vietnamese staff and re- armed the French prisoners who had been held as Japanese collaborators. The following day, with British permission, the French struck against the Vietminh Committee. They stormed its headquarters in Saigon Town Hall. An American reporter who witnessed the scene described how 'sentries were shot down.

Occupants of the building were either killed or taken prisoner.

Records were seized and scat- tered. Scores of Annamites [Vietnamese] were trussed up and marched off. Foreign eye- witnesses that morning saw blood flow, saw bound men beaten. They French saw colonial culture being restored to Saigon'. The French colons went mad in their desire for revenge.

Armed mobs rampaged through the streets beating, shooting and arresting any Vietnamese they could get their hands on.

The Vietminh, who had been patiently trying, to negotiate with the British for weeks, were now driven into a corner and forced to fight. Frightened of the con- sequences, Gracey tried to put stop to further excesses.

Attempts were made to disarm some of the colons. Armed Japanese units were sent out enraged deal with the to Vietnamese people. But it was too late. Saigon was at war and guerrilla forces were organizing in the countryside.

The 'maintenance of law and order' now meant openly what it had secretly meant all along —the suppression of the Viet- namese workers and peasants so they could be handed back to the brutal exploitation of French colonialism in an effort to stem the tide of anti- imperialist struggles through- out Asia. Heavy fighting took place throughout the south. Viet- namese guerrillas were dealt with without mercy. Thousands of peasants were rounded up or killed. Many of the tactics used by the Americans today were started under the British army —the wholesale rounding up of villagers, destruction of villages suspected of harbouring guer- rillas, indiscriminate shooting of unarmed men, women and children. Operational Instruction No.

issued 220 British and to Indian troops stated: 'We may find it difficult to distinguish friend from foe...

"nibbling" of beware at opposition. Always use the maximum force available to •ensure wiping out any hostiles we may meet. If one uses too much, no harm is done. It one a force, and too small uses it has to be extricated, we will suffer casualties and encourage the enemy' And later: If when following up a report no enemy is met with, suspects must be brought in from the area concerned. They are probably the hostiles re- who have ported, for the moment become friendly vil- lagers.' And so the battle for Viet- namese liberation entered a new stage. After fighting for their freedom against French and then against the Japanese, the workers and peasants of Vietnam were now once again having to fight the French, who were supported with utmost brutality by the Workers Prose, There British army under orders from a Labour government. Defeated Japanese troops were forced to take up arms again, this time to defend their former enemies from the Viet- namese. Japanese soldiers were put in the front line and suffered more casualties than Indians and all the British, French put together. Attlee's war minister, the Rt Hon J. J. Lawson, on visit to Singapore, stated that 'British obligations to her allies will not involve fighting for the French against the people of Indo-China', but a few days later Mountbatten received in- structions from the British Chief of Staff that he was to 'use British-Indian troops to give assistance to the French throughout the interior It has been suggested that the Labour government did not know everything that was be- ing done there and that Gracey often acted off his own bat.

This may be partly true. But at no time did the government disown what he did or attempt him from to remove his position. When questions were raised in the House of Commons, they sidestepped by were Cabinet Ministers. Assurances were given that British troops were not being used to put down popular movements Indo-China or to help re-instate the French. By March 1946 the last of the British and Indian troops had left Vietnam and the

1972 PAGE 7

orkors Prose, Thursday May Left: handing over to the French -General Gracey, British armed forces commander greets French General Leclerc. Above : Armistice Day Parade, 1945 British armoured cars on the Rue Catinat, Saigon. French were in full command again. For their splendid work there, all ranks involved in Vietnam were awarded the General Services Medal. 'We have done our best for the French,' Gracey said. 'It is up to them to carry on.' They did. And the Viet- namese workers and peasants were involved in a war which was to lead to the rout of the French at Dien Bien Phu, and now close to the defeat of American imperialism. But direct responsibility for the rivers of blood which have flowed in Vietnam lies with British social democracy.

Just as the post-war Labour government held back the struggle of British workers for socialism and opened the door for the return of this most reactionary Tory government, so in Vietnam they paved the way for the massive French, and later American intervention which has cost millions of lives.

The working class must ensure that they • are never allowed to carry out such be- trayals again. Much of the information in this article was drawn from "The British in Vietnam-How the 25- year war began, by George Rosie, Panther (1970) 85. (40p).

PAGE 8 Workers Press, Thursday May 18 Pages from Railway History 1 Part seven Since 1948 and with additional boosts in 1954 and 1961, the history of British railways has been one of modernization, in- creased productivity and redundancies. And the history of the leadership of the National Union of Railwaymen (NUR) has been one of 'emphatic pro- test' which failed completely successive govern- to alter ments' intentions. The pattern for the future was set less than a month after the post-war Labour govern- ment took the railways into public ownership — studiously ıgnoring widespread demands for workers' control. The government stressed that there would be no wage rises except in cases where it could clearly be shown that productivity was increased or sections of the industry were undermanned. The plan was to try to limit inflationary price rises by the Tory tactic of well-known clamping down on wages. This was not likely to be acceptable to men who, at the outbreak of war in 1939, had launched a nation-wide wave of unofficial strikes for more pay and who, a decade later, were considerably worse off.

Sure enough, in the summer of 1948 they asked the Labour government for a 10s.-a-week rise-they were offered 3s.

A whole year later a special

NUR

general meeting called for a work-to-rule in support of the 10s rise but was persuaded by the leaders to call it off in return for government a promise of an inquiry. The NUR leaders accepted, inquiry's under protest, the recommendations, only to be faced , immediately with another demand from the rank and file--this time for a £5-a- week rise coupled with yet another call for a work-to-rule.

General secretary Jim Fig- gins urged delegates at a second special general meeting in 1948 to think again. He told them: 'Such a policy would considerably undermine whatever little chance they had of economic recovery and political independence' He also warned that the railwaymen must do nothing to harm the chances of the Labour Party at the next General Election-then only a year away. with their Disillusioned leaders' milk-and-water poli- cies, men began drifting away the union from and the industry. Paltry • wage increases were conceded to the remainder, but by 1950 the popular demand was for a 10-per-cent pay rise for all grades. While the railwaymen and big sections of the working class were demanding pay rises to meet escalating living costs helping the the TUC was bourgeoisie out of its post-war difficulty with a policy of voluntary wage-restraint.

historian Philip Bag-

NUR

by the late well notes that summer [of 1950] economic conditions had improved and lay May 18, 1972 listory 1839-1972 by lan Yeats.

the TUC had conceded the need for greater flexibility on wage movements' As we started by saying, the logic of reformism required the unions to retreat whenever the enemy advanced. Now favourable economic conditions were enabling the capitalists to be marginally more generous (under pres- sure) and the trade union leaders discovered the courage to ask for more. The Tory government offered less than half the 10 : de- cent the men were manding and even this, the Inquiry Guillebaud 1951 stressed, was regarded 'as an advance mortgage on or economies to be effected in the future. Not even the NUR leaders could accept this bare-faced promise of certain future sack- ings and the executive com- mittee rejected the inquiry by 19 votes to one. The rank and file left no doubt how they felt and un- strikes broke out at official Liverpool and Manchester.

The confrontation was, un- surprisingly, avoided. The NUR leaders accepted 77 per cent at first glance, without strings. They had asked for 10 per cent. But they also accepted a document headed separate 'Measures for Increased Eff- ciency' which recognized: "The imperative need for the possible co-operation fullest with the railway executive in the elimination of waste of in increasing manpower, efficiency and improving pro- within the railway ductivity industry? The NUR leaders agreed to a joint committee to look into be what economies might accepting, and effected-thus even helping, in the rationali- zation to which their members had been bitterly opposed.

One factor more than any other tied the hands of both immediate post - war the governments in granting the wage rises the railwaymen were demanding in the years on compensation stock. Throughout the period the railways notched up a profit of £165m; but the old rail demanded £176m— owners result: loss. The Tories were not the men to stand losses for very long if it could be avoided. massive modernization launched in programme was which included the 1954 switch from steam to diesel trains, electrification, extension Lord Beeching In 1963 1963: announcement of the Beeching of power signalling, centraliza- tion of traffic control and even mechanization of office the equipment—-nearly all of it labour saving. A year later the NUR welcomed the propos- leaders als, which by 1971 had been the basis for sacking about 66 per cent of the 1948 work- force. While workshops and depots closed right, left and centre and thousands of men were sacked, Begwell notes that: 'In the 1950s the executive committee of the NUR had a well-deserved reputation for its moderation and sense of responsibility! A whole new era of 'sense of responsibility was opened up in 1961 when Tory hatchet- man Dr Robert Beeching took over control of the railways which he had been told to make pay—at any cost. In May 1955 rank-and-file against closures, pressure sackings and derisory pay rises looked like forcing the NUR leaders to call a national strike.

The men wanted a 15-per- cent increase, but the govern- ment was not playing ball and a state of emergency was de- clared in preparation for the fight. At the last minute the strike was called off in return for a promise of further negotiations which eventually yielded in- creases of between 2s 6d and 6s 6d. Over the years the NUR leaders had become renowned for their brinkmanship, for carrying their fight to the last possible ditch and then, almost invariably, agreeing to an in- quiry when it looked as if they could not win without Beeching plans for productivity In creases an crossing the frontier of reformism. Throughout Beeching's ruth-

NUR

less programme the leaders ultimately gave in on every important issue. They did not prevent • Speed up. The axing of guards' vans over which in the late 1960s there were long and bitter un- official strikes. • The use of non-union labour at the new freightliner termi- nals. • Widespread closure of depots, yards and workshops and massive sackings. Huge productivity conces- sions by no means matched pay rises and in 1968 British Rail's labour Len overseer Neal noted jubilantly that they entirely covered the cost of increases. Unofficial strikes against the NUR leaders' policies of co- operation, which almost always surrender, led outright to broke out in 1962, 1964, 1967 and 1969 and official strikes were called off in favour of the now famous negotiations formula in 1960, 1963 and 1966. Sidney Greene was asked to take disciplinary action against the wave of unofficial strikes in 1969. Instead of rebuffing the suggestion he replied: What disciplinary action can you take? They are de- fying both the • management and the union.' In 1972 Sir Sidney whipped his members into line with the orders of the Tory National Industrial Relations Court and voted against the recall of the TUC Congress to discuss the working of the Act. In 1969 he said angrily: "The reases and redundancles on British Rail recent demonstrations aimed at putting pressure on the union were quite unnecessary and unjustified.' But the men thought differ- accused their ently. They leaders of doing nothing for them, of giving too much for too little and of selling them out. In the same year Greene's own salary was increased by 30 per cent to £5,000 a year.

from Amid familiar pleas NUR leaders to 'work nor- mally pending negotiations' the of unofficial strikes wave spilled over. into 1970. appeared in the Headlines 'Rail unions capitalist press fight to avoid strike' Meanwhile passenger guards, drivers, signalmen, shopmen and platform staff periodically stopped work either for more pay or, more typically, against technical changes to encourage productivity and sackings.

They had been given a 5t- per-cent pay rise in 1969, but with NUR membership at its lowest since 1913, in 1970 they asked their leaders to negoti- ate a giant 25-per-cent, strings- free increase. A railway wall newspaper appeared called 'The Railway Underground' and among other more abusive things mentioned it complained of a 'total lack of any lead by our so-called leaders' Greene said he was 'con- vinced the paper was part of an ultra-left campaign to pro- voke strikes and unrest among members'. Only members of the Labour Party are allowed to stand for the NUR executivethus ex- cluding communists. In March 1970 Greene, now

Sir Sidney Greene: at pains to emphasi record as realizing that on without increases in producti- vity fares would have to go up, accepted an 8-per-cent rise with 3-per-cent more six months later. Less than two months after- wards 50,000 London railway- called for national men a strike in support of a 25-30 per cent pay rise. An unofficial national strike was threatened by militants and rather than lose complete control of the situation the NUR leaders agreed to negoti- ate on the 25-per-cent claim.

The promise had the desired effect of calming the bulk of the members and temporarily isolating the militants and in July 1971 the NUR leaders felt able to accept an 8.5 per cent pay rise. Throughout 1971, as prices soared and living standards. plummeted in the hands of the most reactionary Tory govern- since Baldwin, the ment frustration of railwaymen at their leaders' inactivity bubbled angrily. The spate of unofficial strikes tailed off, partly because there was a lull in fur- ther modernization and sack- In ings on the railwayssoon to be renewed-and partly while workers watched to see how the new government would implement its declared aim of smashing the so-called wages spiral. In 1971 the new Rail Board chief and Labourite Richard Marsh made the shape of things to come un- mistakably clear when he said that his job was to run a business not a social service'.

By the end of the year-as good as his word-it was Sir Sidney Greene: at pains to emphasize that the unlons were obeying were to he Ashford and the 8-11 per accepted in the rank and absorbed by in the cost two pav rise wages norm Saturday were Alex Jarratt. adamant - they LU. leaders of unions bowed the land' on order The enemy threw bureaucracy, tions Act The leaders • unlone were obeying the 6,500 clerical jobs axed and thre kshops at Barrasie d Swindon closed. 0 workers. he end of the year '97Y Cell amid lational strike from file, had been inflationary rises , together with the inions, ASLEF and for a 16-per-cent Tory double the (until was Or

SONNES

15, 1972, they a ll per cent by rank and file were minimum was the only thing prepared to listen o-rule and go-slow on April 16 three rail to the law the resumption of esponse t Nation: was once again and the reformists again retreating decision to use the railwaymen the ies for disobedience entire trade union from the lu( to a reversa y of non-co-opera- he Industrial Rela- of their rank-and-file into confusion. eying the law to the letter It took two days to get angry and rebellious drivers on Southern Region and in the Scotland back to work and there was talk of a breakaway union. The leaders of the three rail unions recognized that they dare not ignore the obvious militancy of their rank and It had its counterpart in other key sections of the work- class-the miners, the ing engineers and the dockers.

As the hours ticked away to the expiry of the 14-day cool- ing off period at midnight on May 8, it became clear that the railway unions felt unable to settle for less than their mem- bers were demanding. NUR leader Sir Sidney Greene, closely followed by.

Ray Buckton of ASLEF, was forced to tell the Tories that he could not agree to less than £20 a week to be paid from May I. None of this meant that the reformists had changed their spots. Sir Sidney was at pains emphasize Monday on . night-when the 14-day order expired—that the unions were obeying the law to the letter.

It was in fact the familiar game of pushing the govern- ment to the legal limit. We would like to thank the National Union of Railway- men who kindly loaned the historical photographs used in this series of articles.

Workers Press, Herman Roberts, described as country's in- 'doyen of the dustrial correspondents', has He's finally taken the plunge.

left his berth on the 'Birming- ham Post' to become a mem- ber of the National Industrial Relations Court. Sitting alongside Court president Sir John Donaldson, ah John of the NIRC now fine and Roberts can imprison trade unionists along with the best of them. Ruverts is an active mem- ber of the National Union of Journalists and was head of the industrial correspondents' group. Reporting his move to the the Daily Telegraph'

NIRC,

industrial correspondent wrote: 'A principal reason for his acceptance of membership of the Court, I understand, was with disenchantment recent decision of the annual conference of the NUI to de- register under the Industrial Relations Act despite a large ballot vote by members to register' Roberts thus becomes the first rank-and-file trade union member of the Court. Which says something about the NUJ and journalists on the capitalist press. A health official was lectur- ing on the dangers of drugs at California university. To impress his students on the grimness of drug-taking he handed around a loaded hypo- dermic and a marijuana cigar- ette. He was immediately arrested by one of the students who turned out to be a reserve..

policeman and charged with possession. ers Press, Thursday May 18, 1972 PAGE 9 Norman Mikardo, brother of Ian, on behalf of the standing orders committee of the recent Association of Scientific, Tech- Staffs' nical and Managerial conference tried unsuccessfully to rule out of order an emer- gency motion calling for a com- plete boycott of the National Industrial Relations Court.

He said: It is the practice of Standing Orders Committee to rule out of order those motions which if carried would put conference in conflict with law? The resolution might be taken as conspiracy . .. A vicar in Newham, East joined the 'fight London, has against moral pollution'. He is the Rev Geoffrey Raggett of St Paul's, who is busy circulating a petition to be presented to the Prime Minister later this year. The petition is organized by Mary • Whitehouse's National Viewers' and Listeners' Associ- ation and has the support of the Festival of Light movement.

'If you are concerned about standards of decency in our national lite today, please be that your signature 1S sure included,' says Raggett. decency in There no national life today, particularly But I in the Tory Party. suspect the vicar wouldn't go along with that. Mary Whitehouse FOOTNOTE: Ray McKeeganey, an East End businessman, says many people in Newham are to the occult and turning witchcraft as a means of solv- ing their personal problems.

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Fighting the Tories' Rent Bill 'Rebel' Labour councillor Vic Cordwell looks at a new housing development which could demand {12-a-week rent.

Labour must refuse to be tool PAGE 10 Workers Press, Thuraday May 18, 1972

BY PHILIP WADE

Our Housing Correspondent IN MANY parts of the country tenants are now coming face to face with the right wing in the Labour- controlled town halls who plan to implement the Tory "fair rents Bill.

just ten days ago angry tenants besieged Islington Town Hall in North London when the council-which is 100-per-cent Labour, apart from six Tory aldermen—held a regular meeting.

But the right wing-which had previously swung the Labour group 34-20 in favour of implementation—refused to take motions on the Bill from the minority group, ruling them out of order. This week I spoke to two leaders continuing the fight against the Tories. Harry They are Weston, chairman of Islington Council Tenants and Private Tenants' Action Group and secre- tary Vic Cordwell, who is also a Labour coun- cillor, now threatened with expulsion. 'The reasons the council given for have implementing are just not on, said Mr Weston.

'I think they are nothing more than a smoke- screen to get off the hook.

The main reason for going ahead is their fear of being surcharged by the government. 'All those councillors who have capitulated before the Bill is even Rebel' Labour coun law have played no part in stop- into force.' ping it coming Mr Weston showed me a leaf- let published by Islington Labour Party urging all tenants to vote Labour in the 1971 council elec- tions. Point three on a statement Tory standards oposit so-ca thed Tory standards the so-called "fair rent" levels'. knock back wages. Anyone who 'It's no good will be forced opposing it in goes out to work words if you take no action when on to a rebate. And extra money the time Opposition he will mean a reduction comes. ( has earns be downright refusal-not in the rebate. to "The Tories accuse the working capitulation. "They should refuse to be the class of dictating and holding the tool of the government, the rent country to But they collectors. becoming dictators law they all did this, with the the Tories would be in a difficult they make. If all this goes position. unchallenged "There is no doubt this Bill is the working class will be finished.

will disunited the follow-up to the Industrial It be that it Relations Act-the two go hand- won't be a force to be feared in in-hand. It is a further attempt to elections or anywhere. The dally paper that leads the fight against the Tories. :20.28 for 12 months (312 Issues) {10.14 for 6 months (156 Issues) £5.07 for 3 months (78 issues) If you want to take Workers Press twice a week the rates are: £1.56 for 3 months (24 issues).

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Name Address our councillor Vic Cordwell looks at a new h "The attitude of the Labour council is killing any chance of a Labour government. Because if tenants think their behaviour is what to expect from another Labour government they won't go out and vote. 'This is not preparing the people for fight. Islington a tenants are feeling vicious and bitter about the majority of the Labour for councillors their action. When I listen to those with we their weak councillors excuses I feel betrayed. "And out of all this what I think is most shameful is that there has been no directive from the top in the Labour Party to say: don't implement the Bill.

If a, Labour government is returned they must repeal the Bill, bring down rents and fetch in some control. But all I've heard in the past from them is promises and no action. In 1965 they brought in a Rent Act which is nothing more or less than the "fair rents" Bill we see today, It's time for Vic Feather and his colleagues to wake up and line up. As tenants' associations we can only go so far. It is time for leadership move instead of being afraid of threats of the Industrial Relations Act and imprisonment. with the 'It's a showdown trade unions and the Tories won't change their mind and drop any- thing. We have to say all out no work for a week. And and then we could get them to go to the country again, said Mr Weston. Vic Cordwell has been a Labour councillor for two years now and represents the Canon- bury ward of Islington. The coun- cil majority is now threatening him and other opponents of the Bill with expulsion from the Labour group. "There is nothing any council can do to soften or change it if it becomes law. When our coun- cil says you can soften the blow by implementation they're wrong.

'I've been fighting for non- implementation and have got 22 councillors on my side. As far tenants are concerned-and as I've talked to leaders of the associations-they are against the Bill. 'We've had a number of resolu- saying tions from them don't implement. And the three Con- stituency Labour Parties in Isling- ton say the same thing. 'Our leadership doesn't take notice of their feelings. They say they will hold consultations and This arrange some meetings. means going right into July and it could be too late by then.

If the council was to imple- ment it we won't get elected again, that's for sure. In 1965 we put up the rents 25s. and tenants just didn't turn out and vote for us. They stayed at home. housing development which could Harry Weston, chairman of the Islingto association, speaking at a recent prot hall. 'Are the majority frightened of being surcharged? If, this is so, they should resign be re- placed by those who for tenants and others, will fight There are some 10,000 people on Islington's council house wait- ing list. Already the soaring cost of land has pushed rents on new buildings up to a phenomenal level. "The rents of flats over the there will be about £12 a week,' said Mr Cordwell, pointing out of the window to some new flats going up opposite. "The doesn't give the Bill homeless a chance. Whoever goes into a flat will have to go on a through the council housing will be undermined.

'This issue is just as important if not more important than the Industrial Relations Act.

Rents will go up • to such a point that everyone will need a rebate. Then all future wage agreements will mean a drop in rebate. So you will never be able to increase your standard of living. The unions have to play a great part in this fight because the Bill is linked up with the could demand {12-a-week rent.

le Islington council and private tenants' ecent protest meeting outside the town unions destruction of the trade and has far wider implications than many people think. I call all these moves of the Tories dictatorship. What's the point of having an elected coun- Cil if they can step in and take over local services just like that?

'The trade unions have to make their voices heard. There is some talk of a General Strike through- out the country. I do hope there is such a big upheaval and there is another General Election.

'When Labour is returned not only do they have to repeal the Housing Finance Bill, but they all rented have to take over accommodation. More money has to be put into council housing with bigger grants. 'Housing must be No. 1 priority. Decent housing is the foundation of everything. With- out it there's often vandalism and delinquency and all manner of social upheavals.' Then as a salutary note of warning Mr Cordwell said: 'We've had too many promises in the past from Wilson, Cross- man and Mellish. We'll have to keep a finger on their pulse all the time.'

Standard workers reject MDW -New fight to come

WORKERS

ALL

in the Standard-Triumph factories of Coventry have now over- whelmingly carried the shop stewards' recommendation SOUTH SHIELDS Trades that British-Leyland's latest Council has sent an emer- Measured-Day Work pro- gency resolution to the posals be rejected. Since this document seems to annual conference of trades be the company's final words on councils in Hastings next months and months of discussions between it and the stewards, the weekend. When remaining questions are: will the confrontation take place The resolution demands emergency congress of the TUC and how wil the existing reform- leadership of the Coventry ist to be convened on the Industrial factories this? If, react Relations Act. The decision to seems inevitable, a struggle takes send the resolution was taken what forms and content place, unanimously. will be given to it? Another resolution passed on These questions pertinent are Tuesday night stated: of 10,000 key because strike workers will slap 'In the light of the decision motor come of the National Union up against the Tory government of Sea- men to register under the In- dustrial Relations Act, the South Shields Trades Council expels the South Shields branch of that union from membership' COMMONS motion signed by 174 A letter has been sent to Labour MPs draws attention

TUC

general Victor secretary 'mounting anger' among farm Feather to asking why

NUS

sec- workers their wage Bill Hogarth over retary is retained structure and conditions.

member as of the general Agricultural while the NUS is under It mentions the council suspension. Trades council Jack secretary Grassby said: I hope that other trades councils will follow our 30 men at the British

ABOUT

lead and expel local branches Steel Corporation's Trafford Park of the NUS, together with the Manchester, be of other works, are to branches many trade sacked because of 'a shortage of who with this unions register rail- be orders'. The plant makes Act. In this a lead can way and has TÚC the way wheels and axles given the to resist been hit by the run-down on the the trade attacks on union movement.' railways. Diana Ross has her first TV spectacular on BBC-2 at 9.20.

BBC 1

9.20 Mr Benn. 9.38, 2.05 Schools.

12.55 Arall Fyd. 1.30 Joe. 1.45 News, 3.45 Working weather. Youth. with 4.10 Parsley. 4.15 Play School. 4.40 Jackanory. 4.55 Blue Peter. 5.20 Boss Cat. 5.44

ITV

Hector's 5.50 News, House. 10.20, 1.40 Schools. 1.10 Re- weather. member. 2.30 Good Afternoon.

6.00 NATIONWIDE.

3.00 Houseparty. 3.15 Jokers

6.45 WHERE IN THE WORLD.

Travel quiz. Wild. 3.45 Marcus Welby. 4.40

7.00 SPY TRAP.

The Execu- Nuts and Bones. 4.55 Secret tioner, episode 2. Squirrel. 5.20 Magpie. 5.50 News.

7.25 TOP OF THE POPS.

6.00 TODAY.

8.00 THE GOODIES.

6.35 CROSSROADS.

8.30 THE FRENCH. WAY. Add

7.00 FILM:

"JESSICA'.

Angie Penicillin, Stir Well. Dickinson, Maurice Chev- 9.00 NEWS, Weather. alier. American nurse and midwife arrives at Forza d'Agro and completely up

CAN'T

sets the life of that village.

9.00 LOVE THY NEIGHBOUR.

9.30 THIS WEEK.

that emerge.

10.00 NEWS.

10.35 24 HOURS.

10.30 CINEMA.

11.20 MISTRESS

OF

HARD.

11.00 SOMETHING TO SAY.

WICK. 5: The Shrewsbury Scandal.

12.00 ASPECTS OF FAITH.

WORLD

'THE

FIRST CHARGE

7.30 NEWSROOM, Weather. MACHETE'. The peasants'

8.00 EUROPA.

normally used machetes, for harvesting sugar, proved a powerful weapon in Cuba's struggle against

9.20 SHOW OF THE WEEK:

Spanish oppressors their in 1868. DIANA! Diana Ross in her

11.30 LATE NIGHT LINE UP.

first television spectacular.

FROM OUR OWN CORR

and its Industrial Relations Court.

The MDW document freezes existing piecework earnings and in some cases lowers them.

In the company's preamble it says: "The company said that its needs fundamental require changes, including the replacing of piecework by a flat-rate pay- containing system ment guarantees and an annual wage review. You [the stewards] did not agree. "The company then attempted to accommodate your views by suggesting as a compromise a banded incentive system in which pay would have been related to bands of performance. This again did not find favour.

'Your own proposals were that piecework should continue, but based on work-measurement and Wages Board's rejection of their claim for an £18, 40-hour, five- day week. Farm workers' output in recent years has risen by 6 per cent annually, it is pointed out.

The signatories call on Minister of Agriculture James to investigate Prior urgently and both the working con- stitution of the Board as a step 'securing a just towards conditions realistic award and comparable those of the to average skilled industrial worker'.

Nigel Stock plays Arthur Palmer and Dal "I Can't See My Little Willie'.

REGIONAL TV

cret CHANNEL: 10.20, 1.40 Schools.

4.05 Yak. 4.18 Puffin. 4.22 Skippy. 5.20 London. 6.00 News, weather. What's on where? 6.15 Farming news. 6.20 Sports. 6.35 7.00 Film: 'Gun- Crossroads. smoke'. 8.30 This is your life.

10.30 Maverick. 9.00 London. 11.20 News, weather. WESTWARD. As Channel except: 3.55 Gus Honeybun. 4.18 News.

6.00 Diary. 10.30 Report. 10.59 weather. 11.03 News, Theatre of stars. 11.55 Teach a man to fish. SOUTHERN: 2.30 Afternoon. 3.00 Afloat. 3.30 Bird's eye view. 4.00 Houseparty. 4.15 Sean Lepre- 4.30 Crossroads. 4.55 chaun. Richard Lionheart. 5.20 London.

6.00 Day by day. 7.00 Film: 'The Nutty Professor'. 9.00 London. 11.00 News. 11.10 Drive in. 11.40 Ceilidh. 12.10 Weather. As long as you live. ANGLIA: 2.30 London. 3.15 Ran- dall and Hopkirk. 4.05 News. 4.10 Jimmy Stewart. 4.40 Paulus. 4.55 Capt Scarlet. 5.20 London. 6.00 About Anglia. 6.20 Arena. 6.35 7.00 Film: ' Could Crossroads. Go on Singing'. 9.00 London.

Documentary. 11.05 10.30 Workers Press,

WN CORRESPONDENT

on a reduction in the proportion of the bonus in the total packet ... The company's con- clusion, based on tactual investig- ation, 1s that we must develop proposals for a flat rate payment based on work-measure- system ment if we are to secure our future ... Eddie McGarry, the T&GWU convenor at the main Canley the stewards plant, says pro- posals were to reverse the pro- of piecework bonus to portion basic rate payment which at the moment is roughly an 80 per cent piecework factor to •a 20 per cent basic rate factor.

This would still leave a piece- work element, although on a level. much reduced But the company has rejected this. 'They want the lot, says McGarry. This seems natural considering that the stewards were prepared to go such a long way to reduc- ing the piecework element.

As far as McGarry is con- cerned, the next stage will be to inform workers rejection of their docu company of ment and he expects the joint negotiating committee, consisting of the convenors, would meet the company again. But in fact the crunch is very near and in nearby Birmingham there is the mighty Longbridge complex also lined up by the British-Leyland parent company for the MDW axe. document is The company plain, brutal MDW without any trimmings! famous Those words of engineers' president Hugh or and Daphne Slater his wife, Mary, in tonigh Cinema. 11.35 Avengers. 12.30 Epilogue. ATV MIDLANDS: 3.10 Afternoon.

3.35 Horoscope. 3.45 Women.

Family affair. 4.40 Rupert Bear. 4.55 Secret Service. 5.20 London. 6.00 Today. 6.35 Cross- 'Shockproof'. roads. 7.00 Film: London. 11.00 Marcus life. 9.00 Welby.

ULSTER: 10.20

Schools. 4.30 Romper Room. 4.50 News. 4.55 5.20 London. Forest Rangers. 6.00 Reports. 6.15 Tommy. 6.35 Crossroads. 7.00 Dr Simon Locke.

7.30 Film: 'Frankle and Johnny'.

9.00 London. 11.00 What's it all about? 11.20 Avengers. YORKSHIRE: 11.00 Schools. 2.32 Afternoon. 3.00 Sound of ..

4.55 3.15 Department S. 4.10 News.

4.15 Crossroads. 4.40 Nuts and bones. 4.55 Bugs Bunny. 5.20 London. 6.00 Calendar, weather.

6.30 Shirley's world. 7.00 Cartoon.

time. 7.10 Six days. 9.00 London.

Yorksport. 11.05 Cinema. 11.35 Drive in. 12.35 Weather.

GRANADA: 11.00 Schools. 2.30 3.25 Yesterdays. 3.55 Saint. in action. 4.10 News. Camera Peyton Place. 4.40 Nuts and bones. 4.50 Make a wish. 5.15 6.00 Newsday, Police London. file. 6.25 | dream of Jeannie. 7.00 Vier ers Press, Thursday May 18, 1972 PAGE 11 Scanlon • 'Mutual agreement-or mutuality' do not appear.

The company states: 'Manning each levels will be set for direct and indirect section to correspond with different volumes of production... Full use will be made of all working hours; occupations and grading to be structured to encourage full use of manpower at standard per- formances; mobility and flexibility be accepted between to occupations, grades, shifts, and locations. 'Overtime to be codified and Traditional demarc- consistent. ations and customs and practices hindering full use of manpower discontinued. Clocking to arrangements to be reviewed ...

And if the workers accept this destruction of all the safeguards they have built up over years—the company will give one day's extra holiday, improved holiday payment and days ten lay-off pay provided there is no "industrial British- action Leyland' and that a lay off is not due to la state of emergency de- clared by the government'.

Standard workers must be for the prepared company to move swiftly and they can well impose this document as a new contract of employment. At the Radford factory Tom Healy, right-wing AUEW the finally recommending convenor, the vote for the company, non-acceptance of document, said that in the event of a confront- might have to workers ation, modify their objections to the document. That is already the formula capitulation for and must thrown out. in tonight's Play for Today on BBC-1, Sky's 7.30 the limit. Film: 'Columbo: Short Fuse'. 8.50 Car- toon. 9.00 London. 11.00 On the line. 11.30 Whiplash. TYNE TEES: 11.00, 1.40 Schools.

1.25 Enchanted house. 2.30 After- 3.00 Sound of ... 3.15 noon. Corwin. 4.10 Newsroom. 4.15 Crossroads. 4.40 Nuts and bones.

4.55 Rovers. 5.20 London. 6.00 Today. 6.30 Shirley's world. 7.00 Popeye. 7.10 Six daysCaprice.

9.00 London. 10.30: Sportstime.

11.00 Police call. 11.05 Cinema.

11.35 Drive in. 12.00 News. 12.15 Out of the darkness. SCOTTISH: 11.00, 1.40 Schools.

3.30 Once upon a time. 3.45 Once upon a time. 3.45 Cross- 4.55 Fire- roads. 4.10 Dateline. ball. 5.20 London. 6.00 Dateline.

NS. 6.15 Place of her own. 7.00 Film: 'The Best of Enemles'. 9.00 Short story. 9.30 London. 10.30 Love thy neighbour. 11.00 Late call.

Cinema. 11.35 Beagan 11.05 Gaighlig. GRAMPIAN: 11.00 Schools. 3.34 look. 3.45 News. 3.35 Job Women. 4.10 Julia. 4.40 Nuts and 4.55 Rumblie Jumblie. bones. 5.20 London. 6.00 News, weather.

6.05 Folk afore us. 6.35 Cross- roads. 7.00 Andy. 7.30 Film: "The Seven Faces of Dr Lao'. 8.55 Police news. 9.00 Lóndon. 11.00 Viewfinder. 11.30 Survival. 12.00

Clydebank pay and jobs still vague PAGE 12 Workers Press, Thursday May 11 CATERING staff in two of Kent University's four colleges staged a two-hour walk-out yesterday in protest against the proposed 189 redundancies and 10-per-cent price increases. by Determined picketing academics, caterers and students, effectively disrupted meals facili- ties in a third college. The actions were supported by of the university branches

NUPE,

G&MWU and the Kent students' union executive.

Fur- ther actions are envisaged.

BY SARAH HANNIGAN

CHAOS and confusion reigned at as pupils from schools throughout 1 one-day Schools Action Union strik ABOUT 250 members of the Transport and General Workers' Union occupied a Midlands fac- tory yesterday in support of a £10-a-week wage claim. Negotiations broke down when the Blackheath Stamping Com- Staffordshire, made pany, Since last derisory fl offer. Thursday the men have been staging a series of lightning walk- outs but without result. Maurice Works convenor Brown said that when the 6 a.m.

shift arrived the workers were told that work cards would not be issued on the instructions of senior management. The men replied to this lock- • chaining the gate and out by piling bins of work across the entrance. The firm makes drop forgings for the car industry. COURT Line, the shipping, ship- repairing and aviation group, has bid launched a £10m take-over for the Doxford and Sunderland shipbuilding firm. The group is offering 11 shares for every six Doxford, making the bid worth 330p a share.

managing Court's director John Young commented: 'We are convinced that with the backing provided by the government's regional develop- ment plan and the co-operation of the trade unions, we could make Doxford and Sunderland a very profitable business.'

LATENEWS

NEWS DESK

01-720 2000

CIRCULATION

01-622 7029 T&GWU in court, p.l. Hearing concluded. Judgement 10.30 today. ASSOCIATED Newspapers — the 'Daily Mail' and London 'Evening group - has formed a News' commercial radio company, Asso- ciated Independent Radio Ser- vices. The group said yesterday that the company's managing director be Philip would Birch, who formerly headed the pirate 'Radio London' station. AIR Services will handle all Associated Newspapers' radio interests in London and through- out the UK. lay May 18, 1972

VAGUE

DETAILS

were released of the yesterday Marathon Manufacturing deal to takeover the Clyde- bank yard at Upper Clyde Shipbuilders. Backed with Tory government capital, Marathon, a Texas-based company, intends to build oil rigs in the bankrupt shipyard.

The most striking aspect of the deal between Marathon and the unions is that it covers a four-year period, of the one longest labour agreements reached Britain for years. gned at Trafalgar Square yesterday ughout London gathered to join the ion strike and demonstration.

Police refused to let the youth into Trafalgar Square where they had intended to assemble for their march to Education London head- quarters at County Hall, West- minster. They were directed to County Hall and from there re-directed Trafalgar to Square. Pupils wandered round in groups, some trying to fight their way through police cordons. Scuffles ensued and two youth were detained.

SAU leaders then decided to march the remaining youth to Speakers' Corner, Hyde Park.

Meanwhile, several hundred pupils reassembled at County to invade the Hall and tried building. Police forced them in- to the streets and scuffles again broke out after at least one youth had been carried away by police and attempts were made to stop a police van leaving the area. When the remainder of the demonstration, about 600-strong, arrived at Hyde Park, Maoist SAU spokesman Simon Stayne told the marchers: 'We cannot now march to County Hall and most of you here don't want to march either.' He said that they had delivered an ultimatum to the Inner Lon- don Education Authority that if their demands were not met by they would reserve tomorrow, the right' to call 'days of dis- obedience' in the schools until their demands were met. Without any more explanation the youth were then told to 'go home. Almost all of the youth still remaining with the march at that point expressed extreme dissatis- faction with the way the march been organized and wan- dered about trying to find any remains of the contingents they arrived with in the morning.

had

WEATHER

EASTERN

coastal of areas England will be cloudy with some rain, especially in the south east. Western Scotland and Northern Ireland will be rather cloudy with local dirzzle. Eastern and Southern Scotland, western districts of England and also Wales will be mostly dry with sunny spells. Temperatures will be near normal in most districts, but it will be rather cool in East and South East England.

Outlook for Friday and Saturday: Changeable with showers and sunny spells, and near normal temperatures. Registered as a newspaper at the Post Office. Published by Workers Press, 186a Clapham Hish Street, London,

SW4 7UG.

(TU), Printed by Plough Press Ltd.

London. Hish Street, 180b Clapham

SWA 7UG.

BY OUR OWN

At a press conference yesterday neither Marathon representative Mr Eldon Nuss nor the Stalinist leaders of the shop stewards' co- ordinating committee gave any indication on wages. There was even less information on the size of the work force.

At the time of UCS's liquid- ation there were a year ago, 2,600 men at Clydebank. This number had dwindled to 2,100 during the so-called 'work-in'.

In the agreement now reached Marathon has agreed to employ 'as many as possible'. The number

DOWN

WITH

In London's West End yesterday-pupils BY 335 votes to three engineers Cleveland Drill's Twist at factory at Peterhead, 30 miles from Aberdeen, have rejected a management formula to end their month-old strike. The latest offer was a rise of £1.94 a week backdated to April, plus two days extra holiday. This offer was conditional on accept- ance of a secret ballot of all

MAY FUND

NOW £971.20

£778.80 to raise during the next 14 days—we are sure you will do it. So far it has been a great effort this month. Your response to our appeal gets better and better. It is a real barometer of the feeling building up inside the working class for defeating this Tory government. The use of the Industrial Relations Act Is only making trade unionists every- where even more determined.

So keep up this magnificent fight. The speed at which this government into action goes leaves us no room to be com- placent in any way. So collect as much as you can for our May Fund. Add something extra yourself If possible. Fight back In every way. Post all your dona- tlons immediately to : Appeal Fund Workers Press May 186a Clapham High St, London, SW4 7UG.

UR OWN REPORTER

of 2,000 is mentioned, but it is not stated when this target work force will be reached. Nor is there any indication oi he composition of this work What, for example, will happen to the men in the finishing trades? What can they contribute to oil rig construction? Nuss assured there reporters was no no-strike pledge in the agreement but went on: 'The contract we have agreed upon binds us and the unions to resolving any difficulties through democratic processes

DOWN

WITH

watc 1. L. E UP y-pupils with definite demands hourly-paid employees, prior to future strike action. Shops stewards' convenor Steve Thomson told the press that a £2.50 rise-£1.50 less than the original claim—would now be acceptable. But he said that the men were totally opposed to the secret ballot condition.

OFFICIAL WEEKL!

OF THE YOUNG S

The eight-page youth paper which leads the fight against the Tory government, for the right to work, in factories, schools on the dole and queues. Please send me 'Keep Left' for one ye I enclose £2.86 Name Address administrative procedures in order to avoid loss of earnings incon- to our employees and venience to the company. 'Extended conversations with union representatives and shop stewards have convinced us they will are honourable men who live up to their agreements, just as we are bound by ours.'

James Reid, chairman of the co-ordinating committee, has now to pilot the agreement through the co-ordinating committee, the shop stewards' committee and a meeting Clydebank of mass workers. REG GALE, chairman of the Police Federation, yesterday launched a full-blooded attack violence, vandalism and on hooliganism — but failed to mention the corruption in his own ranks. 'The violence has got to stop, he shouted. 'The kid gloves have got to come off. Any cause is an excuse violence. Law-breaking excusable if you hang the right label on it. 'Violence in crime produces monetary rewards and its own filth is justification for selling entertainment. No society can survive when it accepts these standards and no government or service can uphold the police level of a society unless ordinary public actively supports them.

'We must all join together and say, "This violence, this crime, this dirt, must stop-and stop it we will"! Gale, who was speaking at the Federation's annual conference at Eastbourne, called for the restora- tion of hanging. He was supported in this plea by the guest of honour, Reginald Maudling. He said the Tory government intended to strengthen the police 'in an age of increasing violence, both political and traditionally criminal'. He supported the policy of increasing the number of civilians in police forces and of strength- ening the special constabulary.

• A police officer was accused at Thames court yesterday demanding money with menaces from another man. PC Arwel Roberts (27) of Kennryl Road, Heath, Essex, Chadwell was remanded until June 21 on bail totalling £1,000. He was charged with demand- ing with menaces from Patrick David Lewis, between May 12 and May 16 by saying that Lewis would be falsely accused of a crime.

OF THE YOUNG SOCIALISTS

VOL. 21 NO 1 • PRICE 3P

Plenty of news, views and features at 3p a copy. Send to Keep Left, 186a Clapham High St, London, SW4 7UG. for one year