Thornycroft peace'

DOCKS shop stewards from London, Liverpool, Hull and Manchester met in Birmingham on Saturday Under discussion at the poorly-attended meeting was the future of the blacking and picketing campaign started by the national port stewards' committee earlier this year.

The LIVERPOOL • men have lifted the black on their biggest target, Heatons. Transport (St He and stripping or containers. Heens lio. athoudn of containers by Heatons has still not been resolved.

HULL stewards say there is a basis for discussion with the firm that took them to the National Industrial Relations Court, Panalpina (Northern) Ltd. But they say the firm's present proposals on container handling are not acceptable.

In LONDON the Vestey family's Midland Cold Storage depot has sacked 27 of its 51 workers rather than concede the demands of dockers' pickets for jobs there. Group expels pro-rent rise NINE councillors who tried to reverse Bedworth council's "fair rent' non-implementation policy have been expelled from the Labour group.

The executive committee of the group, which control the urban council near Coventry, endorsed the recommendation on Friday night.

Until October 23, when the nine will be allowed to state their case, the will be independent members of the council.

Only recently the nine angered the majority by calling a special council meeting to try and force the implementation of the rent Rail job cuts-workers must THE JOBS CRISIS facing ra summed up by a British Rail offic Press: "The question is whether be cut by a half or a third.' Senior officials of the Department of the Environment have completed a 6l-page 'Blue Book' setting out their proposals to drastically carve up services. Now British Rail Board is drawing up its counter-proposals.

But both plans have one thing in common-they both mean huge redundancies and lines closures. On top of the 26,000 redundancies at present being discussed with the unions, the new proposals will mean an additional 25,000 jobs lost.

The documents reflect the new Tory doctrine in relation to the railways-they want to smash the present rail system, leaving only the Inter-City routes and commuter services around the major industrial cities. And the Tories want the private road hauliers to take a greater share of the freight business.

The 'Blue Book' is a chilling analysis of the financial decline of the rail industry. Completed in June this year--during the rail pay dispute — the report seeks to show that only massive cuts can make British Rail financially viable.

There have been two major financial reorganizations in the industry-in 1962 and 1967— and on both occasions huge debts were written off.

On coming to power the Tories made clear they were not prepared to write-off such large debts nor to continue the policy of subsidies. This view found an eloquent spokesman in the fixed up at York last week, which delays the hiving-off to the Eaton Corporation until January 1 and a promise that Leyland would supply enough work to keep the 750 men employed no Only eight men voted in favour of accepting the offer, for another three years.

The feeling among stop the hive-off to real improvement on square one.

Leaders of the occupation committee are standing absolutely firm in their basic demand for the whole £5m deal to be 'unscrambled'.

They were also angry yesterday that details of the York proposals negotiated with national union officials should have been leaked to the Press immediately, despite an agreement that nothing would be said until a mass meeting at Thornycroft originally planned for Wednesday.

A statement by the joint occupation committee said discussions would now continue at local level. Meanwhile they were Labourites increases. It was only defeated by 13 votes to eight, with one abstention, when the Liberals unexpectedly voted with Labour.

Six of the nine are members of the council's policy-making management committee.

Tomorrow the council will debate a resolution to remove them from these positions.

The nine include the former clerk to the council and the council chairman.

ilway workers was al who told Workers our rail service will SPECIAL REPOF person John Peyton, the Minister ( i Transport and a member of the right-wing Monday Club.

Peyton and his ministerial supremo, Environment Secretary Peter Walker. Ordered the dustry when it became clear that British Rail was entering a period of unprecedented losses. It is understood the loss this year will amount to £40m and by 1976 it may reach £100m.

(In 1971 British Rail in fact made an operating profit of £30.2m. This was eaten up by a crippling f45.6m interest burden.)

The main recommendation the department's 'Blue Book' is that the present rail network of 11,600 miles should be cut to 7.000—a cut of 40 per cent. The planners add that an even smaller system of 3,800 miles should not be ruled out and with heavy-handed arrogance they demand that British Rail should prepare studies based on this figure.

The Tory attack is calculated to give the privately-owned road transport a far greater share of freight haulage.

About 62 million tons of British Rail's 196 million ton freight business will be switched to the roads creating a huge bonanza for the road hauliers.

The Tories are giving these financial hand-outs to the road haulage industry against the advice of environmentalists and the men—who occupied on August 15 Eatons—was that the deal constituted previous offers and was, in fact, a return 'encouraged and fortified' by the support from the rest of BritishLeyland combine.

Particularly heartening was the stand of the men in the bus and truck division at Leyland, Lancs, who are planning to strike on Wednesday in support of the Thornycroft men and against intensive lay-offs now taking place.

Canteen women unite against TWO HUNDRED and fifty canteen workers from the five British-Leyland factories in the Oxford area have voted unanimously to continue their strike which is now in its third week.

The workers, members of the Transport and General and General and Municipal Unions, are employed by two canteen operators. They rejected the offer of £2.20 made in reply to their £6-a-week claim.

The employers have been unable to answer the very strong case submitted by the trade unions but it is clear they have been strengthened by the 'wageceiling' policies of the Tory government. answer now İ BY ALEX MITCHELL road-safety experts. These lobbies point out that the additional road traffic will have the following effects: • An increased danger of fatal road accidents on the motorways. • Deterioration in the condition of roadways with the resultant increase in costs for road repairs. • The slowing down of traffic on major roadways, thus causing a loss in man-production hours. • A sharp increase in noise and fume pollution.

The 'Blue Book' cynically dismisses these objections. Road accidents would go up 'slightly, but this should not be a stumbling block to pursuing the suggested strategies, the Book To the environmental lobby the planner says: 'In some situations local environmental disadvantages could be quite severe'but the report goes on virtually to tell the objectors to 'belt up' The reports and counterreports are now with Peyton. But there should be no confusion in any trade unionists' mind about the present state of play: whichever report is accepted massive cuts are on the way.

There is also the most dangerous illusion among some railwaymen that BR's chairman, ex-Labourite Richard Marsh, will be able to forestall the Tory attack.

This is rubbish. For various reasons of status there are a

HALF WAY

WE ARE now halfway thro October, but still have £54:

more to raise to reach half monthly target. Clearly, It's stops out from now on to our position up.

The increased attacks by Tories is the go-ahead employers everywnere to step up their onslaught against the working class. Sackings, closures, attacks on union rights face workers everywhere.

Entry into the Common Market will mean even greater measures being taken against the working class as the employers of Europe There is not a moment to lose.

Our paper is needed to fight back against these attacks and to lead the fight against this Tory government. All your support is needed therefore for our Fund this month. We know with a huge effort we can turn the situation around. So, raise all you can.

Post every donation immediately October Appeal Fund, 186a Clapham High St, London, SW4 7UG.

WEATHER: Dry weather is expected all areas. Northern Ireland and northern England, mist and fog will be fairly widespread at first, clearing during the morning with sunny periods later. Over south-east England and East Anglia some mist or fog is likely at first, clearing quickly with sunny periods later.

South-west England and Wales will have sunny periods. It will be rather warm in Northern Ireland, the Lake District and southern and central Scotland, with near normal temperatures elsewhere. number of BR executives • who are trying to preserve their empire from being too drastically pruned.

But railwaymen should take a lesson from what happened at British Steel. For months the Tory press and trade union bureaucrats painted BSC chairman Lord Melchett as a 'dove' fighting against the Tory Cabinet.

But when the crunch came, it was the Tory plan which came into effect and it was Melchett who was the overseer of massive closedowns in Scotland, the Midlands and Wales.

It is a shocking indictment of the present leaders of the railway unions that they are even now engaged in talks with British Rail over redundancy payments to some 26,000 While these get-togethers are in progress Marsh himself is secretly proposing to Peyton that the rail system be reduced to 8,200 miles--a cut of almost 30 per cent.

Trade unionists must reject all redundancies and draw up a policy of nationalization under workers' control of the whole road and rail industry and the banks which hold the interest stranglehold on BR's profits.

The fight for the preservation of jobs in the rail industry is a political fight. It means preparing the fight to force the Tory government to resign and the election of the Labour government pledged to socialist policies. Historical materialism Monday October 23 the revolutior October 30 PEEL HOTEL Boar Lane, 8 p.m.

Labour Leagur MEETING Assassinat of Trotsky Joseph Losey's film October CONWAY HALL RED LION SQUARE LONDON WC2JJ (Nearest tube Holborn)

Speaker : G. Healy (SLL national secretary Admission Office. Vorkers 186a Clapham High Printed by Plough Press Ltd. (TU), 180b Clapham High Street, London, SW4 7UG.