developments in W. Germany can sense.
plans were afoot to launch a massive industrial complex around the energy source, was ruled out both because of the rise in OPEC prices of Instead, Germany - Switzerland lear energy which was seen as both doomed to closure The Tories' 'venture' into the they matter? The Tories' disregard for them can be seen from the fact right to strike.
Unfortunately, far from challento court.
in the TUC who backed him up to The TUC's spineless position -power as a major factor in promotthat was thrown up.
Such attitudes have an almost reactors are allowed to go on turn • ing there will be a continual menace from radiation leaks.... nuclear 'waste ....fires and, worst of all, 'melt-downs'. Talk of improving safety precautions is nonShort-Sighted Not only do nuclear reactors threaten lives but they also are a threat to jobs, despite the claims by the TUC to the contrary. One job in the Nuclear Energy Industry costs £1 million in investment as compared to as little as £150,000 for a similar job in coal or electricity. Moreover, the building of these stations - as the one planned for Torness - means cutting out thousands more jobs in coal and electricity stations which will be Not content with seeing thousands of jobs go to the wall, TUC leaders also seem prepared to let hard-won trade union rights be whittled away as well. Workers employed in nuclear power stations can be denied all protection under the Health and Safety Act. They can be denied the right to Free Speech under the Official Secrets Act and - most serious of all -they can be denied the elementary It is little known, for example, that when the Windscale workers struck in 1978, the then Energy Secretary Tony Benn threatened to break the picket lines with police and to take the strike leaders International The implications of the expansion of nuclear energy has already mobilised wide-spread opposition in countries from the USA - where over 125,000 demonstrated at the Harrisberg 'incident' - to Japan & W. Germany. In the last two countries, the governments were temporarily forced to halt their programmes by the deep opposition These mobilisations have opened up the potential of a major international movement on the scale of the anti-Vietnam war demonstrations of the late 1960s. The call for a Day of Protest on June 2nd-3rd was the first step on this path.
Unfortunately, however, the movement in Britain has not taken The June 2-3rd International Day of Protest against Nuclear Power brought out thousands of demonstrators in W. Europe, Japan, the USA and Canada. The numerous rallies were the first internationally co-ordinated anti-nuclear actions ever held.
Among the biggest protests were a rally of over 25,000 in Gasselts, Holland, against government plans to store nuclear waste near the town. A rally of 15,000 was held in Plogoff, France, against the Giscard regime's plans to build reactors in Brittainy, and over, 15,000 turned out at Shoreham, New York.
Other large actions were held at Kalkat, West Germany (8,000); Doel, Belgium (10,000); Graban, Switzerland (4,000).
The response to the call in many parts ofthe world shows the potential for Juture efforts to make the fight against nuclear power an international one.
off in the same dynamic way as in many other countries, around the world....Much smaller demonstrations - like the one at Torness last May - have carried far less impact. This has largely been due to the apathy of the labour leaders or to their active support for the Tories suicidal nuclear ambitions under the illusion that they will stimulate growth and jobs.
Campaign What is needed in the coming period is a major campaign against the Tory nuclear programme in the labour movement. Opposition already exists, at a minimal level, in certain unions. The Yorkshire area of the NUM has already come out against the nuclear energy strategy and offered an alternative based on coal production. Branches of ASTMS have raised the issue at annual conference and NALGO posed an amendment to the TUC Energy Report which called for a halt to nuclear expansion.
Such opposition has to be coordinated and carried into other unions & the Labour Party against those, such as Chappel of the ETU, who proclaim there is no alternative to nuclear power. Nuclear power, it has to be stressed, is a threat to life, jobs and democratic rights. There is easily enough coal to provide the basis for energy needs for hundreds of years yet, during which time research could be developed into alternative sources such as solar power.
It is not enough, however, just to pass resolutions calling on the Labour leaders to take a firm pos ition against the Tories' nuclear programme. What is needed is a mass opposition on the streets against Thatcher's plans to turn Britain into a nuclear time-bomb.
Trade union branches and Labour Party wards should affiliate to the Anti-Nuclear Campaign and take an active part in mobilising such actions. Nuclear power is not just a danger to workers in the energy industry. It is a danger to everyone in the country. * NO NUCLEAR POWER STATIONS * FOR AN ALTERNATIVE STRATEGY BASED ON COAL
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International Protest