The press this week is full of the 'tough' line supposedly being taken by trade union leaders in the negotiations with the Government on the Budget deal. Jack Jones's call for a 35hour week, the bringing forward of pension increases, and rejection of a 3 per cent wage limit was headline news.
But the real manoeuvres behind the headlines have come out in new revelations from the Treasury. Although officially the TUC is being offered a 3 per cent increase, evidence to the House of Commons Expenditure Committee showed that all the calculations of the Government have been done on the basis of a 5 per cent deal. This is, 'by accident', just the figure which the TUC is supposed to be discussing.
This reveals clearly the deals which are going on behind the scenes. The recent Sunday Times exposures have shown that even under the Tories trade union leaders, including Joe Gormley, secretly met Cabinet figures to decide on an acceptable" pay figure. With this Government, the Treasury revelations make it quite clear that all the outlines of the Pickets out in force at Rover Solihull during the recent dispute Even worse, by not openly opposing the £6 limit the CP leadership concentrated on advancing entirely sectoral and divisive demands, isolating the toolmakers from the rest of Leyland's workCs. Dy placme al te Cente or ten argument me nece to aerena arreren tials, they only prepare the way for a different form of wage cutting. Living standards will still be cut, but the union officials will be given just enough room plan have been worked out in advance. The TUC is merely going through an elaborate fraud to try to convince the working class that it has in the end gained 'concessions' from the Government.
There must be no confusion in the labour movement as to what a 5 per cent increase would mean. dropped by 6 per cent under the present £6 limit. With inflation running at well over 10 per cent, a 5 per cent limit would mean savage cuts in the standard of living for the second year running. Coupled with social expenditure cuts and dole queues of over 1¼ million, it adds up to the most sustained anti-working class attack since the 1931 Ramsey MacDonald Government.
The response of the Labour and trade union lefts is pathetic. commented: This Budget must be one of the most reactionary ever produced by a Labour Chancellor.' But every single Tribunite MP then went on to vote for this 'most reactionary' Budget. Not one called for the TUC Congress to throw out the whole thing. CDH IB9L to policies of wage restraint and the attempts of BLMC management to implement Ryder, they also reveal very sharply the crisis of perspective and political leadership in the labour movement. Fragmented struggles will not deter the Labour government or mie umor ourcaucats trom pursung wage restramt. Living standards have already Tribune last week rightly ers control of line speeds and manning levels to lead the way for the fight for the nationalisation of the motor industry under workers control A small step in this direction has been taken by militants working under the auspices of the Institute for Workers Control to draw up a workers inquiry and report on the motor industry. Only through the successful development of Meanwhile Jack Jones, the father of the £6 limit, went last Thursday for a private meeting with Callaghan. Scanlon prepared to push the Budget deal through the AUEW by settling on a plan to use the National Committee to mandate AEU representatives, where the right has a majority, to vote for pay controls in the full AUEW conference - where the right and left are more evenly balanced.
In this framework it can be seen that Jack Jones's call for a 35-hour week is simply hot air. Such a demand is of course vitally important for the working class in the fight against unemployment. But it will never be achieved by capitulating to the Government on wages. The only way anything will be achieved is through struggle, and Jones proposes no way to fight for a shorter working week any more than he proposes to defend living standards.
Jack Jones's speeches are merely intended to divert attention away from the wage-cutting deal he has cooked up with Healey. The way forward is through a struggle to reject wage controls, demand automatic cost of living increases to compensate for inflation. demand ON the complete reversal of the cuts, and tackle unemployment through a programme of nationalisation and public works on a scale to ensure the right to work. The first step in that struggle is to work for a massive day of action on 26 May. The next step is to throw out the 5 per cent or any other Budget deal at the special TUC Congress in June. All those who refuse to support that are merely leading the working class to defeat.
Fortunately the fight back against wage controls is getting under way. Despite the defeats, the strikes in British Leyland were the first serious shots against the £6 limit.
Attempting to persuade Jones and Healey is useless, but provided militants organise a fight leading up to the special TUC, it is still possible to defeat the manoeuvres of Callaghan, Jones, Scanlon and the supporters of the Government's policies. This is a vital part of the struggle to build a class struggle opposition in the labour movement.