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Victor Feather ended his speech to pensioners rally. ing at the Central Halls, Westminster, last Wed. nesday on what he clearly believed was a triumph: ant note.

Trade unionists, he shouted at the conclusion of a speech which had got faster and faster as the heckling got worse, would 'stand their corner in meeting the cost' of higher pensions.

Understandably the applause for this proposal was mingled with shocked and strangled cries of 'no, no' Feather's screwed up eyes darted beams of hatred at the hundreds of young trade unionists who had turned the finale of the TUC's 'great' and 'historic' campaign for higher pensions into a political battlefield.

He was, after all, only telling them what his friend Anthony Barber had told him on Wednesday afternoon: 'If the pensioners want more you will have to pay for it with higher contributions of as much as £1.60 a week.' For good measure the Tory Chancellor had added that Feather should realize the pensioners' plight was by no means unrelated to 'other sections of the community trying to "grab" more than their share'.

Feather told the audience that his meeting with Barber had been 'disappointing' adding hastily and off the cuff: 'But don't take it to heart. It only means we shall have to have more of this' (waving his arm round the rally).

But the young trade unionists and some of the pensioners did take it to heart. 'Strike, strike, General Strike', they shouted. 'Industrial action' and 'they are not taking it out of our pay'.

T&GWU stewards rushed about the hall like harassed firemen in a burning forest struggling vainly to identify the hecklers with a view to silencing them.

Sensing a need for militancy, Feather again departed from his prepared speech to shout: '1 defy anyone to live on the present pension.' He rushed on to unveil his second major plan for helping the old: 'Much as it goes against the grain, I appeal to them to claim supplementary benefits,' he said.

'I bet you don't live on it', shouted an anonymous voice, possibly with the foreknowledge that until recently Feather had been taking £500 a year from the 'Daily Mirror' in addition to his salary.

The Tory £10 hand-out would be a welcome help to get a little extra for Christmas or some warm winter underwear, he continued, barely audible above cries of 'You're joking' and '3 pence a day'?

Everyone knew that present pensions were not adequate for subsistence, but the lories had said no to all the TUC's suggestions, said Feather.

'You're telling us' roared the reply from the floor. 'What are you going to do about it? Change the government. We want action now.' Into this charged atmosphere National Association of Local Government Officers (NALGO) chief Walter Anderson rose uncertainly to his feet to deliver a speech which all but put NATSOPA leader Richard Briginshaw to sleep and drove sections of the audience to a slow hand clap and shouts of 'sit down'. "This is really unfair', moaned the chairman, Transport and General Workers' Union secretary Jack Jones, who urged stewards to throw out the troublemakers, punctuated with shouts from a pensioner that 'this is the first time we've had the young people behind us. us jones closed the meeting:

meeting.

He said nothing different from anyone else, but perhaps with an eye to the BBC cameras making a documentary of a day in his life, he remembered to wave his fists and bang the table.

Jones began speaking (cheers and whistles): 'Many industrial workers have left their work to join us.' (Cheers and applause.) 'Further action will be taken • until we get what we want.' (Cheers.) 'The 10 per cent who own 75 per cent of the wealth of this country must be made to pay.' (Cheers.)

The time had come, he said, when all Labour MPs must put down a motion in the House of Commons demanding higher pensions. "There are enough Tories to back it to get it through, he added.

But while he and Feather signed autographs and the pensioners filed out to the buses and taxis paid for by the trade unions, one woman PER WEEK | PER WEEK Left: 'Daily Mirror' Pensioner Viclor Feather and Jones on the platform of the Central Hall meeting singing 'Keep Right on to the End of the Road'. Top and Bottom right: Some of the pensioners who showed they were more concerned about action than their demagogic leaders. said: "Taik, talk, talk, It's all talk. With a bit of practice even I could get up there and say that. What we want is action.

The TUC estimated that 18,000 pensioners from all over Britain had turned out with their banners on a cold winter's day to fight against conditions in which they are underfed, underclothed and underheated in their homes.

The union chiefs telling them they were 'heroes' was definitely _not what they had come to London to hear.

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