character, important party reforms.
and accepted by the party conference. as an should all be curbed.
bosses rather than politics. will structures government.
THE MEETING of the national press worth remarking.
unveiled abandoning the government's anti-union proposals.
problem 21007 пОГ proposals or not.
the intention of fighting against them.
Prior attacks are essentially policies Duffy, Jackson and pursuing for years.
Prior's laws, more of its executive and amalgamation of branches.
Corumulce sas THERE IS a curious battle taking place inside the Labour Party. It is a fight to see who can line up the block votes of the unions in order to push through (or not as the case may be) a number of The National Executive Committee of the party has authorised a re-discussion on the thorny issue of mandatory reselection of MPs, and there is a real possibility that it will be At the same time, new proposals for electing the leader of the party will also be discussed. This has become Tony Benn's personal campaign. He has concurrently attacked the Prime Minister's powers of patronage and has argued that these That reforms in the Labour Party are long overdue is beyond doubi. That they will solve the central question confronting the party, namely what political line it should pursue, is very unlikely. One could be forgiven for believing that the struggle taking place is for positions argue that the debates and the constitution constitute a major diversion when the workers' movement is beginning to feel the first effects of the Tory Surely the central political campaign which should be waged by the Labour Party is against TUC's inflation Employment Policy and Organisation VOLAS Committee last week did not make the headlines. But for every trade unionist it was an occasion It was at this meeting that the leadership of the plans millions. fight against Ever since these were announced, the TUC General Council has had a Prior's proposed laws. This difficulty was never over whether to oppose the Despite talk to the contrary, the General Council has never had any How could they? The laws of on pickets and strikers, secret ballots and all the rest the same the Bers hace Chapple, others peci in fact, are little proposals different in content to the Concordat which the TUC leadership offered to the Labour government. The problem for the General Council, however, is that while they are prepared to accept Prior's proposals, their members are This has already been a vintage year for defeats of union executives at their conferences. In the UPW, Tom Jackson and the rest of the postal workers' executive were censured for their handling of the last pay claim. The GMWU conference voted for a £65 minimum wage against the policy In the electricians' union, Frank Chapple suffered his most significant the defeat for more than a decade with a condemnation of the policy of closure The NUPE conference voted against Alar Fisher for militant action on pay bed.
The engineering union's national been forced into al least token action on the national pay At the TGWU conference, a the social and economic policies of the present government? necessity, involve industrial action sooner or later. And this is the test for all would-be leaders of the Labour left.
cry to be taken uip by the right-wing of the labour movement will be: 'Undemocratic'. government', etc., etc. arguments needs to be carefully thought out.
better to extend his vision somewhat to incorporate some of the democratic demands of the Chartists such as that for annual parliaments.
by next June this could well be multiplied.
going to be raised every day is the following: What are the real alternatives to the crisis? There is a burning need solutions. Now that the Tories haye come out in their true colours and are threatening trade union rights, blacks, a fully worked-out socialist counterblast is needed.
Party conference. Socialists active in the Labour Party must ensure that this does not happen. motion calling for automatic cost of living increases to compensate for was deteated by only This year's conferences shown the most militant mood among veces for veda - a mood waicr is likely to be reinforced as tens of thousands of militants, and possibly of workers, • find struggles to protect living standards, seryles. and jobs directly threatened by the Tory attacks.
In this situation it is clear to even the most right-wing TUC leaders that they cannot openly support Prior's proposals. Their problem is to find a way of appearing to counter government's union bashing.
The TUC Employment Policy and Organisation Committee revealed the plan that has been formulated. It was leaked to the press even before the committee meeting that it had been 'discovered' that the Prior proposals were much more serious than commonly thought:
fact, was claimed, would almost totally eliminate the right to strike by making workers legally responsible for losses comodine The Policy and Organisation Committee volconsu recommena continuation of the talks with the government and to make this issue the centre piece of their campaign It was let out that the mood of the committee had been 'very about this dire threat.
Immediately the government, led on this issue by "reasonable?
Prior, rushed to take up the matter.
According to the Financial Times, official insisted last night that could demonstrate far-reaching consequences follow this change (in the law), the government was open to persuasion.
The meaning this rigmarol is not hard to fathom doubt the Tory government would like to totally ban the righi to strike. But both they and the TUC know that is imposible in the present situation.
campaign would, .of At the first signs of working class action the Tories and the 'This elected The answer to such Tony Benn would, in that respect, have done of democracy If Labour has a lead of 6 per cent today, then More importantly, the question which is for socialist and deporting There is a real danger that politics will be relegated to the back seat at the next Labour OFFICIAL have their the the The aim of Prior's proposals was accurately described Economist magazine: 'A libertarian flourish, an optimistic feint, then a stab at the guts. That is the measure of the British reforms of trade-union law. "The key changes the government wants to make concern picketing.' crushing struggle and pushing trade unionists more firmly under the control of the bureaucrats, Jim abolishing the right to strike, that is the Tory goal at present. It is that real which intention of fighting against The TUC leadership will launch a verbal and press campaign would 'threat to the right to strike'. government will not involved and the TUC will claim it has gained major through its 'fight'. Meanwhile the real through That is how the General Council by the government's proposed secolical contrary, militant union strongest not the aim of totally no and File on the The 'clarify' that this is concession Prior struggle. serious will give the appearance of fighting Prior while in fact trying to there is no serious struggle against his laws. Anyone who relies on the will of the TUC to fight these proposals is in fact already letting them become law.
This doesn't mean that the TUC should be let off the hook. On the there needs to be the possible fight to demanc that the TÜC and union leadership end talks with the government and action to stop all Prior's proposals becoming law. . Bul no reliance can be placed on the TUC This is why the Code of Practice campaign launched from the Rank "Defend our Unions conference is important. It is smal compared to the size of the trade unions or the forces at the disposal of Len Murray and Co But it is a real policy for fighting and not for abandoning that It has the most forces around it committed to that fight. I should be supported and built by every militant and socialist.