Workers Press no. 784

workers press

SIR JOHN WOOS

THE UNION CHIEFS

BY IAN YEATS

NATIONAL Industrial Relati Sir John Donaldson, yesterday to let unions know he would He refused to grant an interim injunction restraining the Amalgamated Union of Engineering Workers from calling out all its members at the Expanded Metal Com- pany's factory, Hartlepool.

The union has been seeking to call out all engineers at the 480-strong plant in support of who have been on 19 welders strike for 13 weeks. The went to court company yesterday claiming the AUEW and three of its Hartlepool officials committing an were practice' as industrial 'unfair defined by the Industrial Re- lations Act. In refusing the company's application Donaldson said he very much regretted the AUEW had not seen fit to attend.

This court is zealous in safe- guarding the right of workers to strike after due notice. Our decision illustrates this.'

Earlier he had said: "The pity of it is that the AUEW does not wish to attend these pro- ceedings and it is therefore not possible for us to exercise our conciliatory jurisdiction.'

As we had cause to point out in last Saturday's Workers Press, Donaldson has changed his tune considerably in the past week joint rail since the threat of a and docks crisis has emerged.

He delayed a decision on further contempts of court com- mitted by dockers at Liverpool and Hull, and now he starts to give amicable advice to the

AUEW.

is the Donaldson of Where yesterday? The Donaldson who said of the earlier boycott of the Transport and by the court General Workers' Union: •We cannot over-emphasise the gravity of the union's conduct.

and If it continues a further complaint is made, the court will have to consider whether a fine still the appropriate remedy.

is he suggested, The alternative, *all the assets was to sequester of the union'. On another occasion when the T&GWU failed to show up he said its behaviour was "almost without precedent. Their written court represented reply to the a 'complete failure to understand the position, he said. Yesterday, however, there was not a sign of this stiffness.

It can only be concluded that Donaldson's new-found 'sensitive' approach is a 'come-on' to the unions to register under the Act.

provides the Tory It also government with the opportunity to further isolate the three rail unions. Welders at Expanded Metal went on strike on February 28 after one of them had been dis- missed for working to rule in support of their claim for parity with fitters at the plant.

INCORPORATING THE NEWSLET'

DAILY ORGAN OF THE CENTRAL

| Relations Court president, sterday bent over backwards would treat them fairly. The stoppage was made official on March 20 and today as a result of pressure from the union the fitters are expected either to give seven day's notice of strike action or to down tools in sup- port of the welders. Summing up, Sir John Donald- son said it was a technical point whether a strike the company had known about since February 28 could be called unfair.

Only if the welders' strike was unfair could the AUEW be told to refrain from calling out fitters in contravention of Section 97 of the Industrial Relations Act which ruled unfair any action taken in support of another un- fair action. Donaldson added that the AUEW could not be held to be inducing the fitters to break their contracts of employment with the company since these were not legally binding. In a helpful tip to the union he said: 'However, the union would be wise to consider whether the welders' strike should go on without notice and whether the fitters should be called out on strike without notice. 'We would like to make it very clear to the union that while we have a discretion in relation to the actions they have taken or may take in relation to compensation we may take a very different view.'

The company's deputy manag- ing director, Mr R. D. Scott, said in evidence that the stop- page had cost the firm between they £30,000 and £40,000 and were seeking to recover this to- gether with costs of the present action from the AUEW. He warned that the company might be forced to shut down within six weeks if the fitters joined the strike. were seeking an The firm interim injunction against the AUEW, the union's district secre- tary, Mr F. O. Richmond, chair- man Mr R. Barnfather, welders' shop steward, Mr A. S. Smith and the G&MWU who have in- structed their members not to do welders' work. Neither union officials nor counsel appeared at the Court.

But the union sent a message 'we have only this morn- saying, ing received papers in connection with the case but in accordance with TUC policy we will not be attending'. Sir John Donaldson emphasized that it was entirely at the Court's discretion whether they granted interim injunction. In not an doing so he was clearly offering inducement to the union an appear at the NIRC. He ruled that the Court meet again in 10 days time—on June 21—to review the case and take fresh directions. He said the company were entitled to apply again today for an order restraining the AUEW from calling out the fitters at the plant but he doubted, on the evidence if the court would change its view: INCORPORATING THE NEWSLETTER • TUESDAY, JUNE 6, 1972 • No. 784 • 4p DAILY ORGAN OF THE CENTRAL COMMITTEE OF THE SOCIALIST LABOUR LEAGUE DUFFell Now, tell me, in your own words' Pay success claimed for PO PRESIDENT of the Post Office Engineering Union, Stan Rosser, yesterday told delegates at the union's annual con- ference in Blackpool that the union had been reasonably successful in pay negotiations over a considerable number of years. settlements, but rather by Later this week, the delegates, to sur- recognize and representing the union's 120.000 the different limita- members, will vote on whether tons and obstacles when emerge average pay time to time and being accept au

ITOR

of 7.8 per change cent an orrer Wel flexible enough within the Tory government's emonasis on to expion tae and which does not pay norm situation to the full.' with opening speech in which even berinto keep pace In an cost of living increases.

he mentioned the nownere even The "success, said Rosser, 'has naustrial Ke atons Act une not been achieved by sticking to Industrial Court, he said that the 'disappointed' that no union was nald Last methods of dealing with our progress had been made on

PAPERBACKS CENTRE

28 Charlotte St London W1

IMPORTANT

FEATURE SERIES

Starts tomorrow Cliff Slaughter tomorrow commences an important series of articles beginning with Why a Labour government?' THURSDAY: Capitulation to bureaucracy FRIDAY: Centrism and the working class SATURDAY: International Marxist Group (IM G) writes off the working class MONDAY: Centrism and the crisis of reformism TUESDAY: The political independence of the work- ing class Make sure you follow each day's instalment of this theoretical series. shorter working week since the last conference. They were disappointed be- cause they believed they had 'made a contribution to produc- tivity that deserves some shorten- ing of hours. Rosser warned that although new technology in telecommuni- cations presented many oppor- tunities it also opened pitfalls.

'Man', he said, 'risks becoming a number and • an easy prey to surveillance so control of this vast industry of information and its transmission is a crucial prob- lem for us."

NOW

OPEN

workers press

SIR JOHN WOOS

THE UNION CHIEFS

BY IAN YEATS

NATIONAL Industrial Relati Sir John Donaldson, yesterday to let unions know he would He refused to grant an interim injunction restraining the Amalgamated Union of Engineering Workers from calling out all its members at the Expanded Metal Com- pany's factory, Hartlepool.

The union has been seeking to call out all engineers at the 480-strong plant in support of who have been on 19 welders strike for 13 weeks. The company went to court yesterday claiming the AUEW three of its Hartlepool and committing officials were an 'unfair industrial practice' as defined by the Industrial Re- lations Act. In refusing the company's said he application Donaldson very much regretted the AUEW had not seen fit to attend.

'This court is zealous in safe- guarding the right of workers after due notice. Our to strike decision illustrates this' Earlier he had said: 'The pity of it is that the AUEW does not wish to attend these pro- ceedings and it is therefore not possible for us to exercise our conciliatory jurisdiction.'

As we had cause to point out in last Saturday's Workers Press, Donaldson has changed his tune considerably in the . past week since the threat of a joint rail and docks crisis has emerged.

He delayed a decision on further contempts of court com- mitted by dockers at Liverpool and Hull, and now he starts to give amicable advice to the

AUEW:

is the Donaldson of Where yesterday? The Donaldson who said of the earlier boycott of the Transport and by the court General Workers' Union: 'We cannot over-emphasise the the union's conduct. gravity of If it continues and a further complaint is made, the court will have to consider whether a fine still the appropriate remedy?

The alternative, he suggested, "all the assets was to sequester of the union' On another occasion when the T&GWU failed to show up he said its behaviour was 'almost without precedent'. Their written the court represented reply to a 'complete failure to understand the position, he said. Yesterday, however, there was not a sign of this stiffness.

It can only be concluded that Donaldson's new-found 'sensitive' approach is a 'come-on' to the unions to register under the Act.

It also provides the Tory government with the opportunity to further isolate the three rail unions. Welders at Expanded Metal went on strike on February 28 after one of them had been dis- missed for working to rule in support of their claim for parity with fitters at the plant.

INCORPORATING THE NEWSLET'

DAILY ORGAN OF THE CENTRAL

• Relations Court president, sterday bent over backwards would treat them fairly. The stoppage was made official on March 20 and today as a result of pressure from the union the fitters are expected either to give seven day's notice of strike action or to down tools in sup- port of the welders. Summing up, Sir John Donald- son said it was a technical point whether a strike the company had known about since February 28 could be called unfair.

Only if the welders' strike was unfair could the AUEW be told to refrain from calling out fitters of Section 97 in contravention of the Industrial Relations Act action which fair action. Donaldson added that the AUEW could not be held to be inducing the fitters to break their contracts of employment with the since these were not company legally binding. In a helpful tip to the union he said: However, the union would be wise to consider whether the welders' strike should go on without notice and whether the fitters should be called out on strike without notice. 'We would like to make it to the union that clear very while we have a discretion in relation to the actions they take in have taken or may relation to compensation we may take a very different view.'

The company's deputy manag- Mr R. D. Scott, ing director, said in evidence that the stop- page had cost the firm between £30,000 and £40,000 and they were seeking to recover this to- gether with costs of the present action from the AUEW. He warned that the company might be forced to shut down within six weeks if the fitters joined the strike. The firm were seeking an interim injunction against the AUEW, the union's district secre- tary, Mr F. O. Richmond, chair- man Mr R. Barnfather, welders' Mr A. S. Smith shop steward, and the G&WU who have in- structed their members not to do welders' work. Neither union officials nor counsel appeared at the Court.

But the union sent a message 'we have only this morn- saying, ing received papers in connection with the case but in accordance with TUC policy we will not be attending'. Sir John Donaldson emphasized that it was entirely at the Court's discretion whether they granted interim injunction. In not an doing so he was clearly offering the union an inducement to appear at the NIRC. He ruled that the Court meet again in 10 days time—on June 21—to review the case and take fresh directions. He said the company were entitled to apply again today for an order restraining the AUEW from calling out the fitters at the plant but he doubted, on the evidence if the court would change its view: EWSLETTER • TUESDAY, JUNE 6, 1972 • No. 784 • 4p

ENTRAL COMMITTEE OF THE SOCIALIST LABOUR LEAGUE

'Now, tell me, in your own words' PRESIDENT of the Post Office Engineering Union, Stan Rosser, yesterday told delegates at the union's annual con- ference in Blackpool that the union had been 'reasonably successful in pay negotiations over a considerable number of years'. settlements, but rather by being Later this week, the delegates, willing to recognize and to sur- the union's 120,000 representing different limita- mounting the will vote members, on whether tions and obstacles which emerge to accept an average pay offer from time time and being to of 7.8 per cent-an offer well change flexible enough to within the Tory government's emphasis or tactics to exploit the norm and which does not pay situation to the full.' even begin to keep pace with In an opening speech in which cost of living increases.

he nowhere mentioned the evel Industrial Relations The 'success', said Rosser, 'has Act or the Industrial Court, he said.

that the not been achieved by sticking to union was 'disappointed' that no any hard and fast, tactics or of had been made methods dealing with our progress on 28 Charlotte St London W1

IMPORTANT

FEATURE SERIES

Starts tomorrow Cliff Slaughter tomorrow commences an important series of articles beginning with Why a Labour government?' THURSDAY: Capitulation to bureaucracy FRIDAY: Centrism and the working class SATURDAY: International Marxist Group (IMG) writes off the working class MONDAY: Centrism and the crisis of reformism TUESDAY: The political independence of the work- ing class Make sure you follow each day's instalment of this theoretical series. shorter working week since the last conference. They • were disappointed be- they believed they had cause 'made a contribution to produc- tivity that deserves some shorten- ing of hours'. Rosser warned that although new technology in telecommuni- cations presented many oppor- tunities it also opened pitfalls. 'Man', he said, 'risks becoming a number and an easy prey to surveillance so control of this vast industry of information and its transmission is a crucial prob- lem for us.'

NOW

OPEN

GENERALS ACCUSED says Angela PAGE 2 Workers Press, Tuesday June 6,

AROUND THE WORLD

By JOHN SPENCER A SECRET US Army rep massacre accuses the two Americal division of more th duct or omission in covering u The report, drawn up by Lt-Gen William Peers, has been kept under lock and key since the internal army inquiry was completed two years ago. have been Exclusive extracts published by the New York Times'. They reveal that 'efforts to suppress and withhold inform- ation concerning the ... incident were made at every level in the Americal division'. reveal that They also second massacre, involving the killing of as many as 90 civilians, took place less than two miles from the hamlet of My Lai on the same morning-March 16, 1968. Maj-Gen Samuel Koster, then commander of the division, was cited in 27 specific acts of mis- conduct or omission and his chief Brig-Gen George Young deputy, accused of 16 specific was failures. Some of its basic findings are: • Gen Koster failed 'to insure investigation that a thorough and would be conducted, accepted at face value patently fraudulent reports from his subordinates. • Both commanders failed to inform others on the division staff of the complaints and alleg- ations about My Lai 4 and thus suppressed' *effectively inform- ation about it. Lower-level staff officers of the Americal division 'probably conspired' to make false reports about the activities at My Lai 4 in official and participated investigations that were little more than a pretence. • Scores of officers attached to the Americal division and to the nearby provincial advisory headquarters knew many details of the massacre as did many high-ranking Vietnamese officials whose reports were ignored.

The report singles out Lt-Col Frank Barker, head of the task committed the My force which Lai massacre, for special criticism.

Col Barker is now dead. Barker planned, It says ordered and actively directed WEST Gerinany's huge Ruhr- kohle coal combine is still fac- ing financial disaster despite enormous cash injections from state and private sources.

The company produces 80 per cent of West Germany's steel output. It was formed four years ago by merging the mining interests companies with of 24 German the aim of rationalizing produc- and slashing work- tion the force. Cut-backs in the steel industry, its main customer, have driven Ruhrkohle to the brink of bankruptcy. To stave off this fate, share- holders agreed earlier this year to renounce f27m in interest charges due to them • and made interest free loans of f32m to Ruhrkohle for the period up to 1975. At the same time, the Land and State governments agreed to inject more than £300m to keep the company on its feet. These moneys have only been enough to stave off the imme- diate threat of collapse, however, , the com- and people close to ay June 6, 1972 ny report on the My Lair generals of the • two top nore than 40 acts of miscon- vering up the atrocity. My Lai, March 16, 1968: the criminals : 'the execution of an unlawful operation against the inhabited hamlets which included destruc- tion of houses by burning, killing of livestock, and the destruction of crops and other foodstuffs and possibly the closure of wells'.

The report says several mem- bers of the platoon headed by Lt William Calley 'testified to having observed old Viet- an namese man being bayoneted to death by a member of the platoon and to having seen another man thrown alive into a well and sub- sequently killed with a hand- grenade'. The second platoon, according to the report, committed nearly as many murders as did Calley's.

Members of that platoon 'neither sought to take nor did they take prisoners,. suspects or any detainees while in My Lai 4'.

The report concludes that Lt hr- pany think far_more will be needed to keep Ruhrkohle going over the coming years. They estimate that Ruhrkohle will have to shed at least 25,000 of the 175,000 miners employed at present. PRESIDENT Tito of Yugo- slavia arrived in Moscow yes- terday for his first visit to the Soviet Union since the invasion of Czechoslovakia in August 1968. The visit is aimed at cementing criminals are still at large Calley's men had killed between 90 and 130 persons, the second platoon about 100 persons, with another 100 perhaps or more casualties resulting from actions of the third platoon and the heli- copter gunships. The Peers report demonstrates conclusively that My Lai was not an isolated incident but part of a deliberate and systematic policy pursued by the highest echelons of the US army. The only officer convicted for the massacre is Lt Calley, who has been released from detention on presidential orders despite a life sentence from a court-martial. The real criminals of My Lai are still in the White House and the Pentagon, and despite the Peers report they are still con- tinuing their atrocious war against the people of Vietnam. The continuing financial crisis must give rise to harsh attacks on the wages and conditions of the Ruhrkohle miners, many of whom will be thrown out of work to save the company from bankruptcy. between the reconciliation the Yugoslav and Soviet Stalinist bureaucracies, begun when Soviet visited leader Leonid Brezhnev Belgrade last September. During the trip, Tito will be presented with the Order of Lenin awarded him on the occasion of his 80th birthday a week ago. - In an interview broadcast on Moscow television, the Yugoslav president said the international situation was now improving; he believed the recent summit be- tween President Nixon and the Soviet leaders had yielded good results. Despite their differences, the ANGELA DAVIS, cleared on Sund conspiracy charges, said afterwar would have been no trial at all.

She had just been freed by an all-white jury who reached their not guilty verdict after 13 hours of deliberation. The trial lasted 13 weeks. The prosecution had tried to circumstantial through prove evidence that 28-year-ola Miss Davis had plotted the kidnapping of a judge in order to secure the release of George Jackson.

Student editor fined in Spain JUAN de Dios Mellado, editor of the Spanish student magazine 'Gaceta Universitaria', has been fined f1,200 for contravening the fascist press laws. The magazine has published students' Spanish reports on struggle against Franco and has supported the call for freedom for students. The fine was imposed after a cabinet meeting of Ministers who a 'very grave' condemned as offence an interview with a uni- versity professor.

THE

Italian premier- new Giulio Andreotti, designate, has accepted a mandate from president Giovanni Leone and begun consultations to form a new government coalition.

Andreotti, a Christian Demo- crat, has said he will make no alliances either with the Com- munist Party or with the fascist Italian Social Movement. bureaucracies are driven two closer together by a mutual fear of the working class. Tito needs to improve rela- tions with the USSR to combat the threat of civil war in crisis- ridden Yugoslavia. For their_part, the Soviet leaders need Tito as a go-between in the preparations for a Euro- pean security conference.

Accordingly, Tito is now described in the Soviet press as a 'fighter and a patriot'—a far cry from the cartoons in 'Pravda' 20 years ago comparing him with Nazi leader Hermann Goering and calling him the executioner of Yugoslavia. on Sunday of murder, kidnap and afterwards that the fairest trial The kidnapping in August 1970 led to the death of George Jackson's brother Jonathan, two prisoners and the judge, when the police opened fire. The prosecution presented 95 witnesses and 201 exhibits in a futile attempt to prove that Miss Davis supplied the and guns planned the whole affair because of her love for George Jackson.

why the prosecution Asked case failed, defence attorney said: The Moore prosecution didn't have a case.' In his final summing-up for the defence, attorney Leo Branton told the jury the prosecution's contention that Miss Davis would openly buy a shotgun with which to blow off a judge's head—'is an insult to your intelligence'.

In his speech to the jury, Branton summed up the 300- year history of Negro oppression in the United States to prove that Miss Davis' flight after the was a natural black shooting reaction. Miss Davis, a member of the Party and former Communist who had university lecturer, spent 16 months in jail before the trial, said outside the court- room: 'The fact that I had to fight these charges is itself a comment on the unfair system of justice?

she added: On the verdict, *The people of the world see this as an example of what is to come, starting this day.

We will work to free all political prisoners Nine of the jurors attended a afterwards, victory celebration the other three sending their congratulations. Angela Davis This leaves him to cobble together majority from his party, the socialists, the own Social-Democrats, the Republi- cans and the liberals. There is guarantee that no such a government will be any more stable than its predecessor, which broke down at the end of last year to precipitate the first premature general election since the overthrow of fascism.

The election results were not decisive in . resolving the parlia- mentary crisis, and the pre-elec- problems remain unsolved.

tion Whatever Cabinet Andreotti brings together will head a government of crisis and will face the same chronic difficulties as its predecessors. A CITY magistrate yesterday banned a demonstration which students had planned to stage outside Cape Town's Anglican cathédral in protest against police action in baton-charging an anti-apartheid rally there last week. The Cape Town acting magi- strate prohibited the demonstra- tion under the Riotous Assem- blies Act.

Plant by plant fight makes it more difficult for the court' By our own reporter hours The whole pul- pose of fighting plant-by-plant is to force the employers back to SHOP STEWARDS rep- the table at national level.

resenting 70,000 'The individual plants have en- been instructed to put their In gineering workers in claims. We asking are stronger organizations, such as the Birmingham area British-Leyland Lucas, and cer- GKN factories to lead the tain meet tomorrow night to fight. So far only Rover's, Tyseley (from the combine), have decide their policy on not informed me of their claim. the national engineering 'We working towards the are June 7 meeting at which we will claim. agree a date by which the com- must reply; Lucas's pantos Hugh Scanlon, president of due to reply by June 8. the Amalgamated Union 'If favourable reply is not Workers, will Engineering received by the date we agree, address the meeting. the then all plants concerned will simultaneously take action. In an exclusive interview with 'The form of action to be taken Cart- Workers Press, Norman Birming- is up to the men in each plant.

wright, of the SC CLay If one factory all East

AUEW

district wants to go ham com- the way then they will the of receive mittee, explains strategy from the the local leadership towards the every support claim. 'We are concentrating on

GKN

Leyland's, Lucas's and 'Our policy is to fight the claim these plant by plant', he said. "This is because companies can the afford concessions. national in line with com- decision haved achieved a far mittee SO alla 'We would hope in this way to would say breach the employers' front fair degree of success. will that the smaller companies fall into line. being "The increases won £3 week, best average the If this does follow not we settlement is at Cincinatti's where would have to look again at the the have negotiated a stewards smaller firms. £3.65p increase. 'I agree with the plant-by-plant This skilled rate gives men a will make it a strategy because it £27.60, semi-skilled £26.10 of damn sight more difficult for the and unskilled approximately £25.

Relations Industrial National Court to intervene than if it The have four men already was to proceed one district weeks' holiday. There have been claim for example, single on hours to the or, no concessions British Ley- reference through who at the moment are on men, working of a four-day land. short-time week. "That would it would mean only injunction 'No firm in our district has require one hours', Cartwright against us; this way every single conceded on take employer will have to us. said. to court to stop us. 'My personal opinion is that it would be unrealistic to expect 'We are not going to brook any concessions hours except at interference on this one from the national level. This the National court. not Union Railwaymen. There of 'For this reason not we will be no secret ballots.'

taking a hard-and-fast line on the The dally paper that leads the fight against the Torles. £20.28 for 12 months (312 Issues) £10.14 for 6 months (156 issues) £5.07 for 3 months (78 issues) If you want to take Workers Press twice a week the rates are: £1.56 for 3 months (24 issues) £6.24 for 12 months (96 issues) Fill in the form below NOW and send to: Circulation Dept., Workers Press, 186a Clapham High St., London, SW4 7UG. I would like to take out a subscription to Workers Press.

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NORTH EAST

By our industrial correspondent AS THE engineering battle in the North-East hots up, the sit-in by 1,000 engineer- ing workers at Hepworth and has Grandage, Sunderland, entered its second week. The company began to lay men off on May 25, after ten days of a work-to-rule. At the same time the men received letter management containing veiled threats suggest- ing that the factory might have to be closed down completely as a result of the sanctions.

The response of the work- force, mostly members of the AUEW and General and Muni- cipal Workers' Union, was to immediately occupy the factory.

This had originally been agreed as the tactic to be adopted in the event of a lock-out. Nevertheless, with dole queues already staggeringly long in Sunderland, the determined atti- tude of the men when they began the sit-in came as a surprise to their leaders. The firm, which manufactures piston rings, is part of the giant multinational combine Associated Engineering. It has already suffered from Japanese competi- dumping piston who tors are rings on the British market.

With the coming entry • into the Common Market, the con- tinuec existence of the Sunder- land factory seems unlikely and Associated Engineering must be consciously preparing for the situation. On May 31, shop stewards held a conference along with union representatives from the group's Bradford factories. Afterwards John Regan, the convenor, talked to Workers Press. I am very pleased with the response by the men to the sit-in and indeed surprised by it,' he said. 'When the company issued veiled threats about closure, we didn't think they were bluffing but we were resigned to it.

'About 50 per cent of the workforce are ex-miners, skilled men who have been driven out of their industry by its contrac- Workers Press, '

HEPWORTH &

GRANDAGE LTD

MI H

Grandage the workers are sitting in tion in the last 20 years. They have come here to do jobs which are only classified as semi- skilled. 'There is rio doubt that the presence of the Tory government has strengthened the employers.

It would be good to get them out, but it would be essential that the next Labour government of guarantee the right every worker to work, he said. In the past the company has utilized government and muni- cipal to the factory. This has lain idle ever since.

Key workers essential for Sunderland work- training the in the new techniques force required had been brought up from Bradford. Upon being in Hendon, offered flats a dilapidated area in the town, they promptly returned home. When the sit-in began the shop stewards called on the men to maintain the new machinery and all the other machinery in running however, immediately cut off the electricity Management, supply, making this task impos- sible. Jim Roxby, G&MWU shop steward, commented on the atti- tude of the company: "They made no initiatives to Fill in the form below and

SECRETARY,

SOCIALIST

186A CLAPHAM HIGH ST, L

Name Address r8 Press, Tuesday June 6, 1972 PAGE 3 negotiations going with us.

get We had to make all the moves.

'It can't be just a question of to them longer, money any because they have just bought meet customers, competitors rings from our orders rather than settle with us. 'Such companies could easily close Sunderland down tomorrow.

It may. well be that this com- pany might be fully preparing to close these works down.' What began as a fight for a decent living wage to combat the fantastic rises in the cost-of- living : since the Tories came to power, has now raised much wider questions. Foremost of these is how can the most basic right, the right to work, be defended when faced with the Tories' Common Market conspiracy against the working class? Entry will mean vast areas of British industry being closed down and moved into Europe. For the men sitting in, their action expresses this conflict with everything the Tories stand for- high prices, huge unemployment, high rents and wage cuts.

A mass meeting was in session inside the factory last night to hear management proposals to end the sit-in. information about ow and send to NATIONAL

LEAGUE,

ALIST LABOUR

H ST, LONDON, SW4 TUG.

PAGE 4 Workers Pross, Tuezday Juno 6, Despite the acres of wise and profound words about the Industrial Re- lations Act, Fleet Street has found itself com- pletely unable to fathom it out. The Attorney-General, Sir Peter Rawlinson, has promised to make a statement clarifying the law of contempt in relation to the press and television.

He said the other day: "The law is complex. I shall, how- ever, consider any representa- tions which are sent to me from Fleet Street that there are difficulties now with regard [the National to this Court Industrial Relations Court]!

In a speech in the Commons, Mr Arthur Davidson, Labour MP, said it was 'manifestly absurd' that newspapers and broadcasting authorities are not permitted to report hostile other comments by trade or unionists about the NIRC.

The law of contempt was to in- dustrial relations, he said.

Davidson, who was formerly a libel lawyer in the newspaper industry, was referring to a recent case when the Court telephoned the BBC to point out that interviewing railmen who opposed the Court's de- cisions might lead to a … con- tempt charge. Under the laws of contempt, astronomical fines can be imposed Following this 'friendly ad- vice' ', the BBC issued a special memorandum calling on news programmes to purge dissident voices for items about the Court. у Липо 6, 1972 This means, in effect, that whereas the Court and those participating in it can have their views relayed throughout the capitalist media, militants and others are disbarred from having their views heard.

A BBC confidential memor- reached andum which has Workers Press says: "The President of the Court Sir John Donaldson had tele- phoned Ian Ross on Wednes- day morning, April 19, and given him some useful tips about what might constitute contempt of his court. 'Later in the discussion when the general manager of London Radio, Mr Peter Red- house, expressed astonishment at this action by a High Court judge, the editor of news and current affairs, Desmond Tay- lor, said that Sir John had not attempted to give instructions.

Had he done so he would have received an appropriate reply.

He had simply offered some helpful advice on points of with which the BBC's law, solicitor and legal adviser fully agreed. In brief, the legal advice was that once a Court ruling had been made, a broadcaster risked being in contempt if, in interviewing union leaders or shop stewards, he asked questions or provoked state- ments which could be held to constitute incitement to others the Court's in- to disregard The risk structions. was greater if the . questiogs or in a statements were uttered §tudio (as a result of a BBC invitation). But whether the broadcast came from a studio or a public place the editor/ Top: Donaldson of the NIRC.

Above: Attorney-General, Sir Peter Rawlinson producer of the programme would considerably reduce the that risk if he made sure balancing from statements those who wished to stay with- in the law appeared in the same item. This was in no way a limitation on normal discus- sion of the political aspects of the story. But there were legal pitfalls, and it was essential to the solicitor's advice seek whenever one was in doubt.'

The media are being intimi- dated—-do they really need it?

—to reflect only the views of the Tory Court. 'pressure' The Labour in - parliament has succeeded in getting the relations between the press and the Act referred to Lord Justice Phillimore for his wise opinion. A bitter row is brewing in the engineers' section of the Amalgamated Union of Engineering Workers over the recent ballot for the post of general secretary. Branches in several areas of the complaining country are about the conduct of the elec- tion. If upheld by the section's executive could council, these lead to a costly re-ballot later in the year. Inadequate organization of the poll, loss of voting rights and interterence with the ballot are just some of the allegations made.

Of the nine candidates in the election, the two expected front- Jim Conway, the runners are right-wing incumbent, present and Ernie Roberts, a Labour Party 'left' who currently holds the post of assistant general sec- retary. Since the winner will hold what is considered the No. Two in Britain's second position has largest union, the election attracted considerable political interest. Ernie Roberts. Above: Jim Conway Not quite everything in Murdoch's ex- Kupert I panding garden is bloom- ing. 'Finance Week', the Austra- lian weekly business magazine -tipped to add a new dimen- sion to investment reporting in which Murdoch had a third share has folded after only three months. The other partners were the South African 'Financial Mail' and the London 'Financial Times'. Although the shut down was by mutual consent' the 'Financial Times' is rumoured to be the partner unwilling to put in more cash. Nearer home 12 titles from the City Magazines range have had to be sold, according te the annual report of Murdoch's News International. The extreme right-wing 'East- West Digest', for instance, last month invented the paranoiac theory that Roberts is merely a stalking-horse • for the AUEW's other assistant secretary, Com- munist Party member Ken Brett.

Right-wingers inside the union, however, seem to be more scared than Brett. of Roberts Some extremely scurrilous material has been circulated about the for- mer. One item accused him of being a Communist, Maoist and Trotskyist . . . all at the same.

Strictly against the union's rules, full-time union officers in at least one area have been can- vassing support for the pro- Common Market Conway. The 400,000 or so ballot papers in a are currently locked away engineers' at the AUEW room Peckham Road, South-East Lon- don, headquarters. Some of the allegations which could lead to the ballot being scrapped, and the expenditure of £100,000 on a re-ballot, another are: The election should have been held, according to rule, in March, but was not held until May.

Hundreds of branches involv- ing many thousands of members were not included on the roll, on the excuse that branch some returns were received too late for the members' inclusion.

of Some the members who received ballot literature from the Union have made complaints.

In members some cases, received an empty envelope, and could therefore not vote. Others to vote in more were entitled than one election, and had not received enough paper. In other cases, members received more one ballot paper for the than general secretary's election.

In at least one case, a ballot paper was sent to the address of a member who has been dead for some years. The returning officer in the for general secretary is ballot Hugh Scanlon, AUEW president.

Under rule it should be Ken outset, Conway Brett. At the acted as Returning Officer in his election, by calling for own nominations. Fress has spoken to Workers a number of union members who allegations, voiced have these who stress that their action in doing so is in no way intended to be to the advantage of any of the nine candidates. What is at stake, they say, is the democracy and rules of the union. And surplus capacıty 1s expected to result in a loss for Eric Bemrose Ltd, the Liverpool printers owned by the Murdoch group. Despite these setbacks the report shows that net after tax profits rose to nearly £3m last year. Murdoch the £lm says plus growth in profits is due to unprofitable activities being closed down and companies unlikely to produce growth being sold. He may be planning even more spectacular profits in the it future. Though he claimed was because he believed in the the future of newspaper industry, a big investment in non-voting Beaverbrook shares ('Express' and 'Standard') points to the Murdoch finger about to appear in another pie.

'Sun' circulation has leapt and to 2.6 million copies would doubtless go still higher if some of the competitors could be bought off. Murdoch's other major in- vestment - London Weekend has apparently recovered from the financial doldrums after last year's extensive programme and personnel changes aimed at increasing viewing audi- ences.

NEW US

INVESTMENT

THRUSTS

INTO

BRAZIL

Since Secretary of State William Rogers' foreign policy Con- message to emphasized 'the gress excellent opportunities for the expansion of foreign investment opera- tions and the growing vitality of the economy Brazil', United States in imperialists have stepped their of up penetration the Brazilian economy. Ford: holds second place survey published the 1n 'Jornal newspaper do Brasil' has shown that foreign inter- ests control 35 per cent of the capital in the ten most impor- lant companies proqucing inter- mediate goods. 73 per cent in companies producing capital goods, 70 per cent in compa- nies producing durable

COLL

sumer goods and nearly 54 per companies producing non-durable consumer goods.

Foreign capital has a domi- position in the sectors leading the productive process.

is helped by state invest- ment in transport, and steel. The World Bank has pro- mised Garrastuzu's police state $1,200m this or credit This year. is backed up by $50m from the US Agency for Development International to enable it to expand its capital stock market low alle false quotations aid" These projects are backed by the biggest US cor- porations. General Motors has announ- ced that its biggest investments abroad 1972 will 1n Brazil. Workers Press, Tuezday June 6, 1972 PAGE 5 Ford is not far behind. Its President, ( Lee lacocca, a man who gold uses snoelaces, visited Rio de Janeiro recently and talked to President Medici in Brasilia. Ford holds second place in Brazil's car-market after Volks- wagen. Iacocca announced that Ford will make biggest investment ever in its history in Brazil. It will invest $150m in the construction of a new plant and in the expansion of an existing one. Iacocca 1 CO fused comment the to matter with journalists before his interview with the Brazilian president because, he said: 'One doesn't announce wedding before one talks to the bride? Volkswagen has further. 1970 and

DCLWCCI

will invest more than 1915 1 $200m in factory Taubate, Sao Paulo. Meanwhile, SiX Japanese conglomerates are planning $400m invest pro- jects ranging from the exploita- tion of minerals to the produc- tion of acrylic fibre. With all this capital flowing benefit from the low Unite earned Brazilian wages by workers, Brazil has continued its takeover of certain sectors of the Bolivian economy. Banzer: cleared the way General Banzer's coup and the of massacre of thousands unionists cleared the trade way for this Brazil has the dominant role In tor mineral arreements exploitation by mixed Bolivian- Brazilian companies. The Bank of Brazil has also given mone- tary loans to the Bolivian gov- 1he bank has issued emblazoned gift match boxes with the phrase: 1 love my Bolivia. what about you?'

Top: President Medici of Brazil. Above: William Rogers—putting a word in for Brazil.

A RIGHT ROYAL PICNIC AT THE PALACE

PAGE 6 Workars Pross, Tueaday June 6, 1872

BY IAN YEATS

A few hundred yards from the Royal Mall on Saturday youths with big boots and short hair daubed the walls of the stark tenements in Vin- cent Street. In the stone doorways house- wives talked about the price ladies of meat and old exchanged grim histories of their consort's illnesses.

Small boys hung screaming netting from wire around games courts squeezed between the cavernous blocks. Waste- paper littered the pavements.

In other parts of London, in dressing rooms at private semi- rural mansions the ruling class debated what to wear. Not in general terms. There was never any doubt about that. But in terms of that attention to detail which marks difference between a the knighthood and an earldom.

consequential Deep and struggles raged in the breasts, especially of those who were forced to spend Friday at Moss Bros, about whether it would be proper to wear a grey silk one's or a black tie with morning suit. Although the occasion was the celebration of the Queen's birthday trooping the colour of one of her house- hold regiments, there was also the question of the Duke's death. The problem with the code of the ruling class being un- written (like the constitution of its government) is that one be sure what it can never means-especially if one is a hanger on or a tradesman.

Some decided on a grey topper with a black tie, others on a black topper and a grey tie and some went the whole hog with a black topper and a black tie. None was irreverent enough to go in a grey topper and a grey tie. The ramifications of pro- priety are strict and no one was eager to be "tasteless'.

While housewives in Vincent Street arrived home with their weekend shopping wondering where their money had gone, the ruling class made their leisurely way to Horseguards Parade. The complexities of dress made some late. 'Oh dear. Have you got the General's ticket, flapped one.

Just look where that queue goes,' wailed another ind1g- nantly having marched with brazen confidence to the front only to be sent back by a soldier from Scotland who obviously thought the wait would do them good. The topper brigade resented queuing for seats in the stands — carefully arranged so that nobility and dignitaries sat behind the Queen, business- men and traders on either side and tourists and 'others' hard up against the 'public', herded without seats behind a barrier fronting St James's Park.

When the Queen appeared on the parade ground some of the 'herd' had the effrontery to cheer. The heads of the ruling class —well, the petty bourgeoisie- turned to a man as if an insufferable smell had suddenly wafted under their noses.

A few workers took the kids but the to see the soldiers, hard core frenzy was left to the women of the petty bour- geoisie running the length of St Tames's Park to cheer the and laddering their Queen stockings on fences in their haste to get to the front of the kerbside crush. In the heat of adulation one actually fainted and woman while a dozen ambulance men well-fed frame carted away by stretcher, her husband danced around with a camera photographing her agony. And what a fine bunch of men the Monarch had with her-apart, that is, from the pot-bellied marshals and generals. A blaze of red fron the five 'regiments of guards and clatter from the glitter cavalry. On Saturday the colour being trooped belonged to the Coldstreams — Peninsula, Waterloo, Sebastopol, Somme, Ypres, Marne, Rhineland, Tobruk, Dunkirk to name but a few of the battles the regi- ment fought for imperialism.

And that is the reality. The myth is the popular concept of the Queen's toy soldiers strutting about outside the palace having their pictures taken by tourists. Many of those in the splen- did uniform over which the middle class were cooing, were busy adding another battle to their flags-Ulster. There was a massive security clampdown against the IRA because scores of guardsmen had only a short while pre- helped gun down viously workers in the Six Counties and put hoods over their heads in Long Kesh. It is members of the Royal cavalry and foot guards who make up the notorious Special Air Services regiment. anybody Whatever else thinks of the Royal troops, the knows ruling class exactly what they are and what they represent. They assemble in their uni- forms, spring hats and toppers year for a ritual con- every firmation of the strength and permanence of the institutions on which their domination of the working class is based.

PAGE 8 Workers Press, Tuesday June 6, 1972

WHEN A

GENERATION

OF POETS

MET STALIN

BY DAVE SPOONER

Cecil Day Lewis, member of the Communist Party for some four years in the mid-1930s and Poet Laureate since 1968, died last week at the home of Kingsley Amis, the novelist and hater of 'lefties'. He won a very respectful obituary from the 'Daily Tele- graph' which paid tribute to his 'socialism'—a ¡coulous that the Tories recognized as innocuous. from his lewis was, book of poems published first in extremely mech- 1y4y. an anical poet, formal in thought and turgid in rhythm. Nonetheless desperate is) the crisis was Englisn poelry unal unis Dook of poems caused T. E. Law- rence Winston to remark to Churchill that Day Lewis was the poetic hope of England. No doubt they had another Adonis like imperialistic Rupert Brooke in mind. Day his credit, Lewis, different direction. sought He Communist joined the Party in the period of the mid- 1930s when, after the coming to power of Hitler in Germany, Comintern elaborated the Popular Front, , counter- revolutionary front with the middle class and its allies in the labour movement behind Churchill: saw Day Lewis as the poetic hope of England-before Day Lewis joined the Communist Party ay June 6, 1972 which the purging of revolu- tionists was carried out in Russia and Spain. Day Lewis took little notice of the history, theory and tac- tics of the Party he joined. Stephen Spender recalled that Day Lewis left the Communist Party in 1938 because looked at Stalin and decided it wasn't really for him!' Day Lewis himself complains in his autobiography that he merely appeared on platforms, was given no training in Marx- ism, hardly met a worker and regarded and regarded was himself) as a literary hack. The Stalinists kept him in political ignorance because to have opened up a conflict with his intensely idealist and religious conception of socialism would have laid bare the reactionary nature of the Popular Front itself. His poetry desperately attempts his to overcome remoteness from the decisive political events of the 1930s.

is a The predictable result barren and empty rhetoric, a hollow idealist circularity thought and a creaking rhythm.

The following lines from his earnest epic, "The Magnetic Mountain', are characteristic: the poetic hope of England-before nist Party C. Day Lewis photographed in 1951 'Cyclists and hikers in com- pany, day excursionists, Refugees from cursed towns and devastated areas: Know you seek a new world, a saviour to establish Long-lost kinship and res- tore the blood's fulfilment.'

was allowed by the He Stalinists to remain the faith- ful son of an Irish Church of England clergyman. And if the occult and primitivistic ele- ments in Day Lewis's poetry did not take on the openly reactionary character, they did on the continent, that because of the way in which British capitalism was able to provide something of an eco- nomic cushion to the effects of the world depression. Day Lewis's (and W. H. Auden's) poetry of the 1930s smacks of their conception of a communist party as a pair of boy-scouts on a tandem. If this seems flippant what do you make of the following devas- tating sortie upon the bour- geoisie in the same poem?

'These [i.e. the bourgeois] drowned the farms to form a pleasure lake, In time of drought they drain the reservoir Through private pipes for baths and sprinklers.' For Day Lewis the bourgeois remain eccentric figures for Oxfordian fun and not the class that in the 1920s and imposed the military 1930s rule of capital over the work- "The Magnetic ing class. Mountain' grinds on through hundreds of boring cantos, the work of poet who could never break (nor was assisted in breaking) from political pos- ing, nor grapple with the tech- nical ordering, in rhythm and diction, of the experiences he went through.

TALENT

DESTROYED

The Stalinists walled him from theism is sein from Marxism; posed his idealism which in furt est he himself purs it, himself put it, poet. As the political situation was merely 'to be used to reflect the inner activities of .the poet'. His inability to come to terms with the problem of the alienation of the poet from his product, the poem-a conflict which has been posed for every poet since Blake- -crippled him. Artistically and politically, Day Lewis was destroyed by The Stalinism. Stephen Spen- Lewis, der, Day Auden, MacNeice 'circle' was allowed to remain a circle by the Com- munist Party. Not only was the conflict between their desire to be litterateurs and dilettante communists and the historical the working rcuurements class in the 1930s not fought Stalinists through, the wanted these poets to remain the sort of who would writers be praised by T. E. Lawrence and Churchill. Innocent though they may have politically, they beer nevertheless played an im- portant role in providing the international political COVe behind which anti-Stalinists inside and outside Com- munist Party could be isolated and then destroyed. Hardly a liberal in England took up the cause of the opposition in the Soviet Union; the majority were in or around the Com- munist Party. According "The Times obituary, Day Lewis's belief in working 'very class was (and touchingly) 'touching' appear of this mouthpiece proletarianism that is because never working Class dumb beast of more than burden in Day Lewis's writings and because the poetry keeps all contradiction as a very safe distance-the sort of distance at which you can sip a sherry and at the

SCOT

LOUI

monthly literary luncheon fear without of ulcer an even a mild hiccup The working class paid Stalinists heavy price ior the encouragement of this type of fellow-travelling. Day Lewis, Auden, Spender and a host of others have provided, directly and obliquely, three decades of anti-communist propaganda.

Slavery in the United States was not dead and buried with the Ameri- can civil war, as many people supposed. Five farmworkers have filed a suit in Miami federal court charging a multi-million dollar agricultural company with forcing them to work under conditions of slave labour.

For farmworkers in the South, the statements of the five had a real meaning. They were backed by an investiga- tion by Florida Rural Legal Services lawyers. The suit was filed on behalf of all A. Duda & Sons' farm- workers. It charges that the company is subjecting field workers to 'conditions of in- voluntary servitude or peon- age'. The firm employs as many as 2,000 workers at the peak of the harvest season and is one of Florida's largest producers of vegetables, sugar cane and citrus. In the 1930s during the Great Depression, John Stein- beck described the near-slavery of hired . farmworkers in the South in his book 'The Grapes of Wrath'. The statements of the five are witness to even worse conditions in 1972.

They said a Duda repre- sentative picked them up at the Miami Rescue Mission and offered them $15 a day to pick vegetables. They were taken to the com- pany's Collier County labour camp, where company thugs forced them to stay at gun- point when they became fed up and wanted to leave. At the end of the first week in the fields the men were paid virtually nothing. Two of the workers actually told were they had to pay the company.

When they got their pay- checks, the men had to endorse them and hand them back to the paymaster. He then arbi- trarily deducted something for food, drink, cigarettes and something called room ser- vice' Coffee costs 40 cents a cup and a packet of cigarettes 75 cents. A $10 book of meal tickets, given each worker and supposed to last a week, never lasted more than two days.

At the end of the week one received the princely worker sum of $1.29 (about 45p). One worker was told by the pay- master he owed the company $10.49 and another $20.49.

Duda carried the logic of the offensive against the US work- They ing class its end. to forced the workers to slave at gunpoint for subsistence wages and even less. Top: farmworkers in Florida, USA. Underpaid and treated like slaves. Below: John Stein- beck, who in his books wrote of the near-slavery of farm- workers in the 1930s. Workers Press, Amazing scenes at a presenta- tion party for David Showan, ex-director of British-Leyland's Austin-Morris division at Cowley, Oxford, who has just been moved to the company's radiator plant at Llanelli.

Showan's replacement at Cowley is John Simons, a former Chrysler man with a penchant for natty suitings, flowered ties and wrap-around stereo in his Rover. One of Simons' first acts at the factory was to get himself severely trounced in a dispute with 94 heavy-vehicle drivers.

Nevertheless you would ex- pect a farewell presentation to be accompanied by the usual quota of olde-worlde, forelock- touching courtesy. not, apparently, so. But Management solidarity has been in somewhat short supply at Cowley recently. The rot really set in with massive Westminster-Barclays loan to the combine last July, which placed a large slice of management decisions in hock to the banks. Simons' appointment was from of number one Chrysler they insisted on. New, whizz-kid directors came in to replace some of the older, more paternalistic spirits hang- ing over from British Motor Corporation days. Thus when Showan rose to being 'thank' Leyland for booted out to South-West Wales, he shook his audience rigid. Where is this place, Llanelli?' he asked. 'Siberia?'

Disbelief followed amazement as he went on to allege that 'flower power' was taking over 'shirts, ties at Cowley, with and Rovers' counting for more than management skills. White-faced, the assembled managers heard Showan con- clude: 'Don't expect me to come back in two or three years and pick up the pieces.'

It seems there is no end to Leyland's difficulties. The com- pany reverses its way out of a financial cul-de-sac, only to be faced with a personality crisis among the people who are sup- posed to be leading the com- pany. Some of its whizz-kids seem to be suffering from over- dose of whizz... ars Press, Tuesday June 6, 1972 PAGE 9 A minister of the General Assembly of the Church of Scotland has urged his col- leagues to preach politics from the pulpit. passed A resolution was calling on ministers to 'give place in their sermons to the deepening awareness of poli- an area of Christian concern'. The main speaker called on issues which recommended themselves 'to your conscience and write to your MP about it in the name of Jesus Christ'.

Seems like a funny way to sign a letter. By the way, the made this cleric who sug- gestion was the Reveread E.

George Balls. The annual report of Simon Engineering is _just out. It shows that Mr John Goddard, who resigned from the board last December, received handsome golden handshake •.. of £44,000. Whether men who spend a lifetime working in the company's factories receive a similar amount on retirement is not revealed.

The reluctance of the. leaders of the Transport and General Workers' Union to fight the Industrial Relations Act given unusually was blatant confirmation last week.

The right-wing Industrial Society held a lunch at Lon- don's plush Connaught Rooms costing between £6 and £8 a head and attended by direc- tors, managers and — trade union officials. The lunch was given to dis- cuss a code of industrial rela- tions practice drawn up by Claude Birch, one of the prin- cipal line directors of the Guest, Keen and Nettelfold group-notorious for its tough line against trade unions.

Not only did trade union representatives attend the function — it was actually chaired by E. G. Allen (described cordially as Ernie Allen in the programme) T&GWU regional secretary.

Allen shared top billing with Birch as principal speakers.

LEON TROTSKY:

Germany 1931/1932 Paperback £1.25—cloth £1.87} Where Is Britain Going ? Paperback 37}p Revolution Betrayed Paperback 62}p-cloth £1.05 Problems of the Chinese Revolution Paperback £1.12)—cloth £1.87} Permanent Revolution : Results and Prospects Paperback 75p In Defence of Marxism Paperback 75p Lessons of October Paperback 60p Postage 10p per book, 3p per pamphlet. Order from :

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PAGE 10 Workers Press, Tuesday June l By PHILIP WADE Our Hou TENANTS in the North Padd a double blow which could leac cleared of working-class familie On the one hand, the 500 tenants in the Lanhill Road and Marylands Road area are fighting the invasion of property men who have come in under the benefit of the 1969 Housing Act. Westminster Tory-controlled has declared the council neighbourhood a general-improve- ment area. This means that land- lords can obtain grants from the improve their council to properties. What in reality has happened is that rents have now soared to an average of £22 a week in those properties improved,_com- of £5 pared to an average préviously. Now, of course, these tenants are threatened with the attacks on private tenants contained in the Tory rents' naturally welcomed by West- minster council. Controlled tenancies will cease to exist and their rents will rise immediately. No improvements

LANHILL RC

AREA

KARROW

ROAD

MANUFACTURERS appear to be allowed to increase prices willy-nilly, without government interference, the president of the National Union of Small Shopkeepers, Tom Lynch, said yesterday.

Speaking at the union's annual waterencern Landleno, forth Wales, Lynch called national prices commission and the introduction of price controls.

The commission should look at profits, distributive costs and marketing. He said that the endless varieties of food commodities, led which .. to overlapping and wasteful production, could be drasticaily cut down. day June в, 1972 Our Housing Correspondent th Paddington area are facing uld lead to a whole area being s families. the Tories Rent Bill will be required. Unfurnished tenancies will be subject to 'agreements' landlord - tenant allowing the landlord to fix the rent even higher than the 'fair rent. What the Tories hope for is that eventually all the working- class tenants will be forced to quit for one reason or another and the area will be turned over to the middle class. About a year ago three young architects decided to take up a fight against these plans. Out of tenants' meeting they formed the Marylands and Lanhill Tenants' Association. Today Kay Jordan, Jo Wreford and Graham !obbs are leading a political fight in the against the Tory area govern- ment.

1ILL ROAD

AVENUE

MARYLANDS

ROAD AREA

For example, 40 firms manu- factured between 400 and 500 different kinds of biscuit, but there was no evidence of a biscuit-eating mania. Lynch went on to speak of the big business now being estab- lished in coupon trading in shops.

relating of "The continual coupon values to actual cash makes one wonder if values Britain is rapidly heading for a phoney national retai. prices system. 'There will always be instability of retail prices while the coupon Left to right: Jo Wreford, Kaye Jordan the tenants' paper. Below left: the sen 'As far as the Housing Act is concerned the tactics they use with furnished tenants is to give them an automatic notice to quit.

And when they appeal to the tribunal, landlord the rent comes along and says he got this improvement grant. And, of Westminster council sup- course, port the landlords. 'As for unfurnished tenants, they suffer direct harassment until they go,' said Kay..

Graham added that council documents they had seen ad- mitted that the new rents would be far higher than any existing tenant could afford. Some had already reached £30 a week. Just to ensure nice surround- ings for the middle class when move in, the council is they preparing to spend £500,000 on improving 'environment' of , the the area. Some 60 per cent of this money will go on fences and 33 per cent on road works.

While roofs leak and over- crowding gets worse, the council offers you a new fence and a blocked-off road! Now the Tories are planning the killing blow with their 'fair rents' Bill. 'When decontrol begins (20 per cent of the properties in the area are controlled) the repts will rise automatically, and then the big property speculators will move in, • Kay explained. 'Their aim is to clear the whole area-legally. If you can't pay you don't stay is their motto. The rent allowance available to unfurnished will also tenants assist the clearance of the area.

Graham explained: 'In an area of high property values like this won't get the full one, you rebate. You will have to prove you must live in the area as a necessity.' What about their perspective for fighting the big landlords and the government? 'We tried to establish contact with the trade unions as we knew that was the only way we could get anything done. 'The Communist Party, how- who the Joint ever, control system continues, he said. 'It should be abolished.' Commenting Common Market entry, he said: It makes one shudder to think what the future holds for Britain's small shopkeepers. 'We are told that 5 million small business farmers • resident in the EEC countries will during the next ten years be bulldozed out of business. 'Does a similar fate await the small shopkeepers of Britain,? he asked. 'If so it can mean a future of gloom and despondency.'

ye Jordan and Graham Hobbs working on late : the 'general improvement area' Council of Westminster Tenants' Associations and largely domin- council, ate the trades put up barriers against when us we posed the question of a General Strike, said Jo. 'We went along to a meeting of the All Trades Union Alliance where the rent question was discussed, and i we approved of behind setting up the idea Councils of Action. Now we aim to try and arrange a meeting with all the tenants associations and trade unionists. We hope from that meeting there will be proposals to set up a Council of Action.

'Then we'll make the trades something council do with pressure from below. We would able to in from a position of strength.'

ALL TRADES

ALLIANCE N

Support the dockers and rail- waymen. Build Councils of Action COVENTRY: Tuesday June 6, 8 p.m. Wood End Community Association Hall, Hillmorton Road. NORTH KENT: Tuesday June 6, 8 p.m. SOGAT House, 25 Essex Rd, Dartford. 'Engineers' pay claim'. DAGENHAM: Tuesday June 6, 8 p.m. Co-op , Hall, Fanshawe Ave, Barking. "Industrial Rela- tions Act'. SOUTH LONDON: Tuesday June 6, 8 p.m. Clapham Manor Clapham Manor Street, Baths, SW4.

WEST

Tuesday

LONDON:

June 6, 8 p.m. 'Prince Albert' Wharfedale Road, Kings Cross.

GLASGOW: Tuesday June 6, 7.30 p.m. Partick Room 1, Burgh Hall. ng on latest edition of 'North Pad News', London port charges up HIGHER charges will be intro- duced by the Port of London Authority on July 1. Port rates on goods, conser- vancy charges, dock charges and import and export charges will cent, the hire go up by 8z per of quay and floating cranes by 16 towage of cent and per vessels by 6 per cent. For goods on through pallets there will be substantial increased benefits because the allowances are being raised to £1.15 per metric ton for imports and £1.50 per metric ton for exports.

The increased charges will raise gross revenue of the PLA by 5 per cent. Moscow Trials Anthology Paperback, 62}p

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Behind The Moscow Trial Paperback 75p

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Stalinism In Britain Paperback £1.12½—cloth £2

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ADES UNIONS

CE MEETINGS

NORTH LONDON: Thursday June 8, 8 p.m. 'Bricklayers Arms', Rd Tottenham High (nr White Hart Lane). CROYDON: Thursday June 8, 8 p.m. Ruskin House, Coombe Road. LUTON: Thursday June 8, 8 p.m. St John Ambulance Brigade Hall, Lea Road.

SOUTH EAST LONDON:

Thursday June 8, 8 p.m. Dept- ford Engineers' Club (opposite New Cross Station). SOUTHALL: Thursday June 8, • p.m. Parkway Rooms_ (Rent Office), Estate, Racecourse Northolt. PRESTON: Thursday June 8, 7.30 p.m. Railway and Com- mercial Hotel (nr rail stn), Butler St.

COALVILLE:

Thursday June 8, 8 p.m. 'Organize Councils of Action'.

BBC 1

9.20 The Herbs. 9.38, 2.05 Shools. 1.00 Eisteddfod. 1.30 Along the Trail. 1.45 News, weather. 4.15 Play School. 4.40 Magic Roundabout. 4.45 Jack- anory. 4.55 Animal Magic. 5.20 Scooby-Doo. 5.44 Hector's House.

5.50 News, weather.

6.00 NATIONWIDE

6.45

TELEVISION TOP

OF THE FORM. Plympton v Dunfermline.

7.05 TOM AND JERRY.

7.10 TOMORROW'S WORLD.

7.35 FILM: 'DERBY DAY':

Anna Neagle, Michael Wilding. Adventures of motley assortment of people who converge on Epsom Downs for the big race. 9.00 NEWS, Weather.

9.20 POINTING THE WAY

1959-1961. Harold Mac- millan conversation with Robert McKenzie.

10.20 FILM 72.

10.50 24 HOURS.

11.25 THE BITTER SANDS.

BBC 2

11.00 Play School. 5.35 Open University. 6.35 Computers in Business. 7.05 Open University.

7.30 NEWSROOM,

Weather. 8.00

RICH

MAN,

POOR

MAN ... 6: The State.

BY AN INDUSTRIAL REPORTER

LORD COOPER, general secre- tary of the General and Muni- cipal Workers' Union, will announce officially his retire- ment today. Cooper, 64, has led the 850,000- strong union, the third largest in the country, for ten He joined the union in 1928 and has always been one of the most outspoken right-wingers in the trade union and labour move- ment. He has frequently recom- mended unions should register under the Industrial Relations Act. On leaving the union, Cooper will not be thrown into penury.

his Apart from pension, Cooper also holds lucrative direc- torships with Yorkshire Tele- vision, the Meat and Livestock Commission, the Thames Con- servancy Board. Recently he joined the board of the National Bus Co on a £1,000-a-year retainer. IN HIS opening address at the year's G&WU start of this conference, the union chairman, Alex Donnet, JP, said the In- dustrial Relations Act was 'un- just' and 'irrelevant'. He said the Act had shown it could provoke more trouble than it could settle. How does the giant G&MWU intend to fight the Act? Donnet explains: 'We must exploit every loophole in its ill-drafted clauses so that it is undermined and its inadequacies exposed to the wider public which fell for the facile propaganda with which it was launched. Donnet does not point out, however, that it was from his own union that a lot of the facile propaganda in favour of the Act emerged. Baker

ITV

10.20, 1.45 Schools. 1.15 Remem- ber. 2.33 Good Afternoon. 3.00 Houseparty. 3.15 Let's Face It.

• 3.45 Danger Man. 4.40 Once Upon a Time. 4.55 Showtime. 5.20 Magpie. 5.50 News.

6.00 TODAY.

6.30 CROSSROADS.

ALBERT.

6.55 7.25

FILM:

'ALBERT RN'.

Anthony Steel, Jack Warner, Robert Beatty. Story of World War Two ingenious escape scheme. 9.00

CRIME

PASSION.

Paul. 10.00

NEWS.

10.30

THE

LIMITS

OF GROWTH. Documentary. 11.30

SOMETHING

SAY.

ONLY ONE EARTH.

Discussion of above docu- mentary. 9.20

THE

SIX

WIVES

OF

HENRY VIII.

10.50 NEWS, Weather. 10.55

GREY

THE

OLD

WHISTLE TEST. Ashman Reynolds. UNION leaders who organized sit-ins in Manchester and engineering Sheffield factories were criticised by Ken Baker, the union's chief engineering negoti- ator, yesterday. It was a had this pity • we upsurge in Manchester,' he said, presenting his annual report.

There were up to 30 sit-ins in engineering shops when local claims on pay, hours and holidays FALMOUTH boilermakers, who have been on strike for ten weeks over a holiday bonus dispute, were viciously Castigated in yesterday's 'Journal of Commerce'. The 'Journal', the daily news- employers, paper of the port "closed the men have the says yard down and • put it close to ruin' Referring to the intimidating statements of the management, Silley Cox and . Co, the paper goes on: 'They have made clear that unless the unions can co- operate with each other and with the management there is little of the prospect for the future firm and indeed the port itself.

REGIONAL TV

CHANNEL: 10.20 Schools. 4.00 Lottery. 4.10 Enchanted house. 4.20 Puffin. 4.25 Dr Simon Locke.

4.55 London. 6.00 News. 6.10 Police file. 6.15 Lookaround. 6.35 Crossroads. 7.00 Film: 'Britannia Mews. 8.30 London.

11.30 Drive-in special. 11.55 News, weather. WESTWARD. As Channel ex- cept: 3.55 Gus Honeybun. 4.20 News. 6.00 Diary. 11.57 News, weather. 12.01 Faith for life.

SOUTHERN: 2.30 Afternoon.

Man from :3.00 Uncle. 4.00 4.15 Grasshopper Houseparty. island. 4.30 Crossroads. 4.55 London. 6.00 Day by day. 6.30 Sky's the limit. 7.00 Film: 'Elope- ment'. 8.30 London. 11.30 News.

11.40 Farm 12.10 progress. Weather. Insight to the artist.

HTV: 10.20 Schools. 3.20 Camp- ing. 3.45 Junkin. 4.15 Tinkertain- ment. 4.30 Crossroads. London. 6.01 Report West. 6.18 Report Wales. 6.35 Odd couple.

Film: 'Frenchie'. London. 11.30 Motorway. 12.00 Weather. HTV Wales as above except: 4.15 Miri Mawr. 6.01 Y Dydd.

Lord Cooper submitted. The dispute were lasted three months. Baker said it was ridiculous that claims of such a size were submitted to firms which could not afford to pay. He had evidence that many people who attended the original meeting when the sit-in decision was taken, were unemployed and therefore had no responsibility to the members or to the unions.

'The boilermakers of Falmouth will have a lot to answer for if the yard does have to put up the shutters because of their un- willingness to consider the com- of the town of Fal- mon good mouth and its industry. are in The Silley Cox men for a just and fact fighting reasonable claim. What is astonishing is the fact that the ship repair work done at Silley Cox has been trans- ferred to Newcastle without blink of protest from the Boiler- makers' Society leadership at Newcastle which must be fully aware of what's going on.

Workers Press, Tuesday June 6, 1972 PAGE 11 HTV West as above except: 6.18- Red'. 8.30 London. 11.30 Spy- 6.35 Report West.

HTV

HTV

GRANADA:

10.20 Schools. 2.35 3.30 Wales plus: Avengers. Messene News 11.15 O'r Wasg. Camera a 4:40 Enchanted 4.55 London.

LCYLON

6.00e Set six. Film:

ANGLIA:

2.30 London. 3.45 London. •Fiddlers Three'. 8.30 Pipe 4.40 4.10 Newsroom. 4.15 Mi 11.30 Felony squad. Enchanted house. 6.00 About Anglia. 6.35 7.00 McCloud. 8.30 London. 11.30 Motorway.

1.45

TYNE

TEES:

10.20 1.10 2.30 After Songs Master noon. chefs. 3.15

ATV MIDLANDS

3.10. 3.0- Derby day. 4.10 News. 4.15 3.35 Horoscope. Sean. Crossroads. 4.40 4.55 4.40 6.30 Hogan's 4.10 Simon Locke. heroes. 7.00 Film: No Name women. To: True or s heroes 7.00 Film: 6.00 roads. i8.30 Tone ST. Tl.3d Bullet. 8.30 London. 12.15 News. 12.30 ames'. top. cost Double Who knows? Epilogue.

ULSTER: 10.20

Schools. 4.30

SCOTTISH: 10.20,

1.45 Schools. 4.55 3.45 Fondon. 6.00 NeWS. 4.50 News. 3.30 Origami. Crossroads. London. 6.00 6.10 Lids 4.10 Dateline. London. 6.00 4.55 ville. 6.35 Crossroads. 7.00 Film: Dateline. 6.20 Long Film: 11.30 'Ring of Fire'. 8.30 London. 11.30 calp. 11.35 Shirley's world. call. Drive in.

YORKSHIRE:

10.20 Schools. GRAMPIAN: 11.00 Schools. 3.38 2.32 Good afternoon. 3.00 Master ndon. 6.00 News, 4.10 Nanny. News. weather. 4.10 News. 4.40 London. 6.00 ches. so croy eay 6.35 4.40 Enchanter 4.15 Crossroads. Scottish. 4.55 London 6.00 30 London. Essent Crossroads. 6.30 Hogan's the Sun'. weather. calcula heroes. 7.00 Film: "The Hills Run seat. 12.00 Epilogue. London-Lincoln calls to fight Tories WEST HAM Trades Council and return a Labour government pledged to socialist policies.

has passed unanimously a e ond resolution Lincich which The resolution calling for the will the sent recall of the TUC to fight Labour Partv and the local trades council if passed, calls for the Industrial Relations Act.

setting of Council up composed of representa• Acuoll. tives from working-class meeting insisted that

TUC

political organizations, the enera secretar tenants associations Victor Feather, call the confer- branches, ence immediately. and shop stewaras committees.

The third calls on the Lincoln "The purpos Congress, Labour Party and all Labour said, should councillors refuse imple- to trade moblize the union. move- ment fight for the policy ment the lories Housing Finance decided at Congress last Septem- with the Industrial Relations Act.

'The unions should ab Coal strike that policy out expelled.' hits iron special meeting of the A Transport and General Workers' Union 10/6 branch in Lincoln has been called for OUTPUT of iron castings in the three emergency resolu- first three months of the year was tions. badly hit by the miners' strike, The first calls on the union to according to a Council of Iron- recall biennial delegate con- foundry Associations report out as a matter of emergency.

union's total alarm the today. patin Act and to productial Industrial Production dropped 82,000 the 1971 10 from quarter annoyanne ormenders TaST unions create the political 754,000 tons. The figur conditions and industrial for the first quarter of 1971 wa Tories office 898,000 tons.

KEEPLEFT

NOW

WEEKLY

OF TRA YOUNG BOGIALIBTS

BOL 21 NO A PRICE 3P

The eight-page youth Plenty of viows and against HeRe Stenon the Tory government, for the right to work, factories dole 186a Clapham High St, queues. London, SWA 7UG. Please send me 'Keep Left for one year ' enclose £2.86 Name Address

PAGE 12 Workers Press, Tuesday June 6 By our own reporter FIVE HUNDRED pickets yesterday put on a show of strength outside the gates of the giant Shell Petroleum plant at Stanlow, Ellesmere Port. Their numbers were so large that a big formation of police fell back and allowed the pickets to crowd the gates and give out leaflets. previous occasions the On police have managed to keep the pickets at bay. There were no incidents during yesterday's picketing. All the construction workers at the plant joined the pickets for an hour to reinforce the line. The pickets work for a sub- contractor on the site called Fluor. Two weeks ago, they went on strike and were promptly sacked.

The dispute with Fluor started with a demarcation dispute and quickly spread to include all sec- tions of labour on the issues of flexibility and mobility of labour, and of the employer's refusal to take on certain workers with long terms of unemployment. Now it concerns the basic right to work. All except the scaffold- ers have been dismissed. Site convenor, John Graham, a steel erector, said that a meet- ing of shop stewards decided to give support against police intimi- dation and to establish the basic right to picket. 'It looked as if the police were arresting going to start the Fluor workers by attempting to implement the Industrial Rela- tions Act'. He said the mass pickets would • continue. A STRIKE for better pay and conditions by 1,500 engineers yesterday down in shut works Aberdeen and • Fraserburgh after the men had rejected an improved offer. The engineers want an across- rise of f6, a the-board fourth week's holiday and a reduction in the working week from 40 to 35 hours. They originally were offered a £1.75 a week rise.

employers latest The offer proposed increases on basic for skilled, rates from £2.25 £1.98 for semi-skilled, and £1.72 for unskilled men, and further holiday concessions. Women were oiffered £1.121. John Forest, secretary of the Employers' Federation, stressed today: 'The employers are stand- ing firm on that offer.'

LATE NEWS

lay June 6, 1972

STANLOW

REFINERY

Shall UK: Shell Chemicals Limited U.K. Limited Shell pickets massed at one of the gates CLERKS on a pay strike at also be in Liverpool today meet- shop stewards and local the Triumph factories, two officials. Liverpool, will meet today to As the 140 electricians òn hear "peace' Their a plan. strike Thursday since at strike has led to 2,400 wor- Chrysler's, Coventry, plant, kers being laid off. turned to work yesterday, again halted by duction More than 250 clerks struck was strike. last Wednesday for a £7-a-week new pay rise after rejecting This time 120 day-shift store- offer. management pay men walked out. No cars could Production of the new be produced and about 500 car, the Toledo, has been severely workers in the trim and final hit by the strike. assembly tracks were sent home. Grantham, general retary of the clerks: uenen APEX, The electricians returned after shouted jostled they had been promised dis- was and when he tried cussions on a separate pay deal down to get will work return to last week, in the factory. M!!!!!!

WEATHER

JUNE FUND

STARTS WITH

A

SHALLOW

depression off South-West Ireland will move £22.30 very slowly South-East. England, South- except the and North-West, will have West OVER the last two months we showers and perhaps some longer asked readers, you, our to outbreaks of rain but also bright monthly appeal increase our Remaining of to €1,750 periods. areas fund help uS to England, Wales, Northern Ireland overcome our greatly increased West and Scotland will have expenditure. Your response was sunny periods and showers, per- You more than magnificent. haps heavy in places. £1,750, not only raised but Eastern central Scotland and each month collected well over will be dry at first, but showers the target. will develop later in the day. This month, we once again It will be generally rather cool, This increased appeal to you. North but Scotland over income is help. an enormous will be near the sea- Costs continuously going pelalures are sonal normal. up and in this political situa- Outlook for Wednesday and is tion there a constant Thursday: Sunny periods and demand for our reporters to Perhaps showers. some longer travel further afield. periods of rain at times. Rather We know that you are com- cold. pletely behind our paper. Help therefore, raise a target of

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THE Bakers'. Union conference yesterday called on its national negotiating committee to renew efforts for a £25 basic weekly wage. Ken Taylor, delegate from Birmingham, said: 'Last year we £25 basic and did asked for a not get it. "This year we will get the rise or there will be no bread-make no mistake about that. 'We, too, are a special case.

TWO MEN appeared at Marl- borough Street court, London, yesterday charged with sedition Speakers' Corner, Hyde at Park, and a third appeared charged with inciting people to train as soldiers to fight in Ulster. remanded in All three were custody until June 14. Michael Joseph Callinan, 45, unemployed and Patrick Marc- antonio, 43, tailor, both from Kil- West London, burn, were Employers at the NIRC: Expanded M W. N. Wardeby; deputy managing dire yesterday. NOTTINGHAM Corporation bus- men have banned the further introduction of one-man buses in the city. A special meeting of Transport Union and General Workers' 5/92 branch yesterday. voted overwhelmingly for the ban.

Three hundred jobs in the Nottingham City Transport have disappeared in the last three years, say branch officials.

charged that on March 19 at Speakers' Corner 'in the hearing of liege subjects of HM The Queen they did utter seditious speech inviting people living in London to Northern to go Ireland to take up arms against lawful authority'. Thomas Stanley Quinn, 43, an accountant of North London was charged that between February 1 and June 3, 1972 in the inner London area, he 'incited persons in London to train as living soldiers and enrol as persons pre- pared to go to Northern Ireland and wage civil war there' panded Metal's personnel manager (l.), aging director (r.), R. D. Scott pictured