'NOOSE' TALKS WILL GO ON WILSON ACCEPTS TORY PAY PLAN

TOP LEADERS of Britain's big unions sat at the Labour Party conference yesterday as warned: 'Your talks with the Tories are a the trade union movement?

They and the Party's National Executive Committee piously backed a resolution which 'rejects absolutely' the Tory plan for a f2 limit on wage increases... but which allows the 'noose' talks to go on.

Like or TUchection the for state regulation wages in princine while haggling overs secondiple waise haling secondary issues.

Preston on Wednesday the only thing separating the union chiefs from Heath seemed to be just £1.38 wine amount. they think wages should rise over and above Heath's f2.

At the end of yesterday's lengthy conference debate on economic policy in Blackpool the unions and Labour leaders endorsed a series of demands which leave the working class absolutely defenceless against the greatest crisis it has ever faced (for report of the debate, see below).

This is the situation facing Britain's trade unionists and Labour Party members:

• HARD-CORE unemployment last month stood at 817,0003.6 per cent of the working population. This month it will be up again.

With investment at its lowest level since the Tory government came to office, the long-term prospect is much grimmer even excluding a major collapse in the economy prior to Common Market entry.

This will certainly send the jobless figures leaping upwards. The Tories have already opened the door to a massive export of capital into Europe.

And a shock report out today from the Employers Federation says rhat says that even though 370,000 jobs were axed from the industry between January 1971 and June 1972, the industry is still in decline (see page four story, 'Job cuts fail to tame workers'). • PRICES are again rocketing upwards at an increasing rate. Big employers like BritishLeyland have told the Confederation of British Industry that they cannot withhold their price increases any further.

when the CBI pricerestraint policy ends next month, the rate of price increases will speed up sharply from the 6.6per-cent-per-year rate it had reached in August.

Common Market entry-with its 10 per cent increase in prices as a result of Value-Added Tax alone-will send them leaping up even further.

Despite the cowardice of its leaders on both the prices front and in the struggle against this week's brutal increase in rents, the working class is fighting back with increasing vigour.

Yesterday's EEF report bemoans the fact that although impassive they were noose for 30 unemployed engineers are now chasing each available job in the industry, wages are still rising at an annual rate of 10 per cent.

*And™ on housing estates throughout the country the courageous struggle of housewives' flying squads against the Tories' Housing Finance Act testifies to the continued determination to struggle.

But the Labour and union chiefs leave this determination leaderless and try to break it.

Wednesday's TUC proposal at Preston that Heath's £2 offer should be increased to £3.38 is a sham and a betrayal. It says clearly to the Tories: We are prepared to negotiate.' And the Tories know that if union leaders are prepared to negotiate they are prepared to cut their demands, perhaps to 75p.

At the same time the fall TURN TO BACK PAGE Two union chiefs demand General Election DENIS HEALEY, Labour's Shadow Chancellor of the Exchequer, yesterday urged the TUC to continue at all costs its talks with the Tory govern'We've got him [Heath] on the run, now let's keep him on the run. We've got to keep on trying to make him reverse his policies.' Speaking on behalf of the National Executive Committee, Healey was replying to a threehour debate on economic questions.

He made clear that a future Labour government would introduce a prices and incomes policy, but attempted to convince conference that the policy would operate in a more socialist environment.

During the debate two trade union leaders, Clive Jenkins, general secretary of the white-collar ASTMS, and Ray Buckton the general secretary of the rail locomen's union both attacked talks with the A the Tories and called for a General Election.

Their remarks were in sharp contrast to . Healey's statement that 'we don't want to be unfair to these proposals'.

On a card vote conference narrowly passed a resolution from the Transport Salaried Staffs Association calling on the NEC tọ collaborate with the TUC to formulate a prices and incomes policy. Manchester tenants to picket centre Manchester flying squ lads', made rents office set up to 'safeguard" see page 12.

Voting was 3,398,000 for the resolution and 2,633,000 against.

The resolution moved by the TSSA's general secretary Percy Coldrick was backed by the NEC.

But on a show of hands conference also passed a resolution moved by the National Union of Public Employees which stated that 'it is not possible to have an incomes policy even in a mixed market economy which does not have harmful effects on the working class'.

Clive Jenkins said he wanted to challenge the whole concept of the Heath plan.

I want to think the unthinkable and say the unsayable. A policy of prices and incomes in capitalist society is a mythical beast.' He also urged delegates to beware of a future Labour gorernment being committed 'to this kind of economic illiteracy'.

The ASTMS resolution asked conference to 'reject absolutely' the f2 wage curb 'because the effect of this Will be to penalize the workers in order to benefit those who get their living without working for it'.

It called on Heath to withdraw his proposal 'and if not withdrawn should be strongly opposed by the party' Jenkins said up mainly ol ĐAIMO , are to te rent collectors. For full story from Stephen Johns, our man on the spot, ent collecto r full lory fro FROM ALEX MITCHELL IN BLACKPOOL associate itself with the proposals.

'We should have no deals to bail out this government. Why should we throw them a lifeline? Any lifeline thrown to them would be a noose for us.

'We need now a General Election. No deal with the Tories. Let's get them out and put our programme in.' Brian Stanley moved a Post Ofice Engineering Union resolution deploring the government's policy of discriminating against workers in the public sector.

Seconding the POEU resolution Buckton said that it was the conference's duty to 'make very very clear to Mr Heath that we have had enough'. 'He described inflation as a cancer in society and said that 'Doctor' Feather had been brought in 'but to remove the cancer we must bring in the surgeons-have a General Election.

'We are very suspicious that the Tories will rat on any agreement that they'll make with our colleagues on the TUC.' For this reason Buckton said he had written to Feather last Friday calling on him to withdraw from the talks 'before they sell us down the river' Norman Stagg of the Union of Post Office Workers was the only their picketing to a corpor en Johns, our man on the delegate in the morning-long debate who discussed the ASTMS resolution. He said his union felt bound to express some reservations.

He attacked the resolution because it rejected absolutely talks which were currently in progress.

'No trade union can refuse to discuss or negotiate with the government of the day on matters so important as this. It is a self-denial of the right to state our alternatives.' Both the POEU and ASTMS resolutions were passed on show of hands. Conference also approved the following resolutions: • An engineers' union call for a code ot practice on multi-national companies. • The introduction of a wealth tax. • The introduction of legislation to end speculation and asset stripping. • A resolution from the clerical union APEX to campaign nationally for full employment retirement age, in the working through the lowering of the retirement more holidays • A Swansea West CLP resolution demanding that a future Labour government repeal ValueAdded Tax.

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