-UTOS With such a 'defence" of the present High votes illusion of "freedom of choice in the way Decisions made in this way will be acted upon, whereas the ballot, referenda emerge. Impossible It is no accident that such a debate New evidence of the suppression of trade union rights at the The press conference took place as the results of new T & GWU elections for posts on the General Executive, Regional Committee and National Committee were being annonced. According to editor John Lister, a circular signed by 'left' T & G regional secretary Brian Mathers has been issued to workers in the Cowley plant saying that any questioning of the validity of the ballot would result in T & G members being arraigned on charges ol bringing the union into disrepute.
A news brief issued by Socialist Press explained how the re-balloting for the posts had come about:
*At the beginning of January two out of the three major T & GWU branches in the Oxford District called for an enquiry into these elections as soon as the over all results were declared. In the third, une branch wnose ngures were being questioned, a substantial number of people began asking what had produced the high votes for right-wing candidates (from the Oxford District) and calling on the branch (5/60 T & GWU) to declare publicly its own returns. This was refused - and hence from this branch the details of the case began to Socialist Press claims that examination of the tigures demands 'that the Cowley Body plant turned out nearly 6,000 votes for the Oxford District slate. This is impossible. There were only two ballot boxes, in canteens away trom the shop floor, and only a handful of people, a few hundred, voted.
Knowing they had no answers, the Body Plant leadership refused to divulge the branch voting figures when requested to do so, despite the fact that T & GWU Tule is onures mem to ceciare ue kegion s committee on recelvin; the complaints decided to hold a preliminary investigation. The "investigation consisted simply of calling the two Body Plant scrutineers (who are two out of four of the branch officers, while a third is a candidate!) to an interview at Regional Office. NOBODY ELSE FROM THE PLANTS - - NO BODY WHO HAD LODGED A COM PLAINT - WAS INTERVIEWED!
"As a result of this "investigation", the Regional Committee decided that a •minot recomea mameemene macaker place, and that the ballot would have to be re-run. This was to enable them still to avoid declaring the result in the Body Plant.
"The "infringement" was the destruction of the ballot papers after one month instead of the three months asked for ir a circular from the Regional Committee. ¿ims oi mis means mat me evidence of the ballot was destroyed after complaints and caus for an enquiry nad been lodged.' The Socialist Press brief goes on to explain the significance it attaches to these events What does it mean, if, just by calling such an election null and void, and running a re-ballot, the bureaucracy can evade calls for an enquiry into such an obviously duD ous cecon. Campaign John Lister, concluding the press conference, called for a broad and general campaign around these issues throughout the unions, taking up the question of workers derocracy, opening the procedure of ballots to the inspection of rank and file members - and beginning a campaign to end ballot voting itself, which has been exposed recently as the ideal forum for intervention by the capitalist mass media If the allegations made by Socalist Press can be substantiated, there is a burning need to use this example to show the whole working class the extent to which the trade union bureaucracy will go in order to prevent a fight back by their membership against the vicious attacks on their living standards and democratic rights.
The position of Red Weekly on union democracy is absolutely clear for election of all full-time posts by show of hands at union branch meetings held in working hours The fight to replace the bankrupt leadership of the working class throughout the whole labour movement has to be accompanied by a campaign to ensure the fullest workers democracy in the mass organisations of the working class
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Cowley car plant was given at a press conference in London last week, where the editor of Socialist Press (paper of the Workers Socialist League) appealed to the rest of the left press to take up a campaign for workers democracy in the trade