hosa. ANDREW WIARD My Ailean O Callaghan IF the Executive of the Post Office Engineering Union (POEU) expected an easy life at Conference following its successful sabotage of last year's struggle for the 35-hour week then it got a rude shock last week. on Conference teenin day the table" Insisted formulation of the pay claim to be Nahilled Dr the 126,000 strong union should he adopted. It seemed to promise (wo-stage amounting to 25 per cent by January A closer Jock revealed however that the sise of the first Instalment depended on the inclusion of existing pay supplements into the basic wage calculation and that prodectivity agreements accounted for a fall 5 per cent of the tota amount.
The second Instalment worse. lis calculation included a payment for restructuring regrading even though the POEU B supposed to be opposed completely to the Post Office's plaos for these Seeing these strings, the Lnion's delegates promptiy cut them adopied a two-stage 25 per cent claim on the basis of stundard of living not subject to deals about productivity, Moreover the committed to taking industrial action to achiere these demands if they are not immediately met by the Post Office management, Bryun Stanley, the POEU General Secretary will not find it so easy to sell out the membership occasion either. Despite a vigorous campaign by the tendency — called Mainstream' -which supports the Executive. despite a carefully orchestrated red scure against the Broad Left in the Union, it took a desperate munoeuvre was by the conference's chairperson to prevent # second delest and Executive: the Agreement' it negotiated with the Post Office and Fright to modernisation Lnion is non next nght wing 100.
among *Job Security •High marks for artistic interpretsoon, none tor cecamicur mer was how one delegale summed up the Executive during the debate on an agreement which, significantly, TYLE one promised in our deal made when the 35-hour week struggle was sid out. Just as the delegates saw through c Ecoles proar burge so many of them recognised the Jot Security Agreement" as a redundancy The point the 'top table will not have been slow to take is that the possibility of them trading off Jobs for higher wages was severely limited by votes at Conference.
The Union's membership cleariy expect 25 per cent without strings and they ure prepared for a fight for it If the Executive fails to cive th leadership whot they expect, then the signs are already there, particularly POEL'S younger mensbers, that they are prepared to look around for one that will.
Rank and File opposition meeting was just ooe sign the executive will meet One third of the delegates rejected the pay deal and victories were won in Support was piedged for nursery teachers and those in special educa fion taking industrial action to ger the conditions as in urdinary The present segregation of schools into Roman Catholic and non-Roman Catholic sectors was opposed, and by # carton sote a moton was rejected calling for more protection 10 gay teachers (in Scotland homosexuality Scortish teachers now accepl thal use of the belt has to stop and, while conference voted to seck alternative sanctions against school students, the Rank and File policy of ending belting and recognising the school studeots upion received a sympathetic re Socinlist Challenge 14 June 1979 puge 5