SIR JOHN WOOS THE UNION CHIEFS

NATIONAL Industrial Relations Sir John Donaldson, yesterday bent over backwards to lot uninns Innw ha would treat them fairlv. LU ICE UNUNS AIUTY 16 TY He refused to grant an interim injunction restraining the Amalgamated Union of Engineering Workers from calling out all its members at the Expanded Metal Company's factory, Hartlepool.

The union has been seeking to call out all engineers at the 480-strong plant in support of 19 welders who have been on strike for 13 weeks.

The company went to court yesterday claiming the AUEW and three of its Hartlepool officials were committing an 'unfair industrial practice as defined by the Industrial Relations Act.

In refusing the company's application Donaldson said he very much regretted the AUEW had not seen fit to attend.

'This court is zealous in safeguarding the right workers strike after due notice. Our decision illustrates this.

Earlier he had said: "The pity of it is that the AUEW not wish to attend these proceedings and it is therefore not possible for us to exercise our conciliatory jurisdiction.' As we had cause to point out in last Saturday's Workers Press, Donaldson has changed his tune considerably in the past week since the threat of a joint rail and docks crisis has emerged.

He delayed a decision on further contempts of court committed by dockers at Liverpool and Hull, and now he starts to give amicable advice to the AUEW.

Where is the Donaldson of yesterday? The Donaldson who said of the earlier boycott of the court by the Transport and General Workers' Union:

'We cannot over-emphasise the gravity of the union's conduct. complaint is messe, the c fut wit have to consider whether a fine is still the appropriate remedy?

The alternative all the assets he suggested, was to sequester of the union'.

On another occasion when the T&GWU failed show up he said its behaviour was "almost without precedent'. Their written reply to the court represented a 'complete failure to understand the position', he said.

Yesterday, however, there was not a sign of this stiffness.

It can only be concluded that Donaldson's new-found 'sensitive' approach is a "come-on' to the unions to register under the Act.

It also provides the Tory government with the opportunity to further isolate the three rail unions.

Welders at Expanded Metal went on strike on February 28 after one of them had been dismissed for working to rule in support of their claim for parity with fitters at the plant.

The stoppage was made official on March 20 and today as a result of pressure from the union the fitters are expected either to give seven day's notice of strike action or to down tools in support of the welders.

Summing up, Sir John Donaldson said it was a technical point whether a strike the company had known about since February 28 could be called unfair.

Only if the welders' strike was unfair could the AUEW be told to refrain from calling out fitters in contravention of Section of the Industrial Relations Act which ruled unfair any action taken in support of another unfair action.

Donaldson added that the AUEW could not be held to be inducing the fitters to break their contracts of employment with the company since these were not legally binding.

In a helpful tip to the union he said: 'However, the union would be wise to consider whether the welders' strike should go without notice and whether the fitters should be called out on strike without notice.

'We would like to make it very clear to the union thai while we have a discretion in relation the actions they have taken or take relation to compensation we may take a very different view?

ing The company's deputy managsaid in evidence that the stoppage had cost the firm between £30,000 and £40,000 and they were seeking to recover this together with costs of the present action from the AUEW.

He warned that the company might be forced to shut down within six weeks if the fitters joined the strike.

The firm were seeking an interim injunction against the AUEW, the union's district secretary, Mr F. O. Richmond, chairman Mr R. Barnfather, welders' shop steward, Mr A. Smith and the G&MWU who have instructed their members not to do welders' work.

Neither union officials nor counsel appeared at the Court. But the union sent a message saying, 'we have only this morning received papers in connection with the case but in accordance with TUC policy we will not be attending'.

Sir John Donaldson emphasized that it was entirely at the Court's discretion whether they granted an interim injunction. not doing so he was clearly offering the union an inducement to appear at the NIRC.

He ruled that the Court meet again in 10 days time—on June 21-to review the case and take fresh directions.

He said the company were entitled to apply again today for an order restraining the AUEW from calling out the fitters at the plant but. he doubted, on the evidence if the court would change its view: PRESIDEI IT of the Post Office Engineering Union, Rosser, ye ference in successful of years'. PAPERBACKS CENTRE me, Pay success claimed for PO iterday told delegates at the union's annual conBlackpool that the union had been 'reasonably in pay negotiations Later this week, the delegates, representing the union's 120,000 members, will vote on whether to accept an average pay offer of 7.8 per cent-an offer well within the Tory government's pay norm and which does not even begin to keep pace with cost of living increases.

The 'success' , said Rosser, 'has not been achieved by sticking to any hard and fast tactics or methods of dealing with our 28 Charlotte St London W considerable number settlements, but rather by being willing to recognize and to surmounting the different limitations and obstacles which emerge from time to time and being flexible enough to change emphasis or tactics to exploit the situation to the full.' In an opening speech in which he nowhere even mentioned the Industrial Relations Act or the Industrial Court, he said that the union was 'disappointed' that no progress had been made on a Cliff comm series Make day's

IMPORTANT

FEATURE SERII Starts tomorrow Slaughter tomorrow ences an important of articles beginning 'Why a Labour government?' THURSDAY: Capitulation to bureaucracy FRIDAY: Centrism and the working class SATURDAY: International Marxist Group (IM G) writes off the working class MONDAY: and of reformism TUESDAY: The political independence of the workWing class sure you follow each instalment of this theoretical series shorter working week since last conference.

They were disappointed because they believed they had 'made a contribution to productivity that deserves some shortening of hours'.

Rosser warned that although new technology in telecommunications presented many opportunities it also opened pitfalls. 'Man', he said, 'risks becoming a number and an easy prey to surveillance so control of this vast industry of information and Its transmission is a crucial problem for us.' MON OPEN

A SECRET US Army report on the massacre accuses the two top generals Americal division of more than 40 acts of duct or omission in covering up the atrocity. AROUND-THE WORLD JOHN SPENCER My Lai misconANGELA DAVIS, cleared on Sunday conspiracy charges, said afterwards would have been no trial at all.

She had just been freed by an all-white jury who reached their not guilty verdict after 13 hours of deliberation. The trial lasted 13 weeks.

The prosecution had tried to prove through circumstantial evidence that 28-year-old Miss Davis had plotted the kidnapping of a judge in order to secure the release of George Jackson.

of murder, kidnap that the fairest The kidnapping in August 1970 led to the death of George Jackson's brother Jonathan, two prisoners and the judge, when the police opened fire.

The prosecution presented 95 witnesses and 201 exhibits in a futile attempt to prove that Miss Davis supplied the guns and planned the whole affair because of her love for George Jackson.

Asked why the prosecution