Workers Press no. 819

workers press

BY STEPHEN JOHNS

BRITAIN'S top boss has revealed the secret aim of the plan by employers and union leaders to stop strikes. W. O. Campbell Adamson, director general of the Con- federation of British Indus- try, says the anti-strike panel to be set up by the CBI and TUC in September, will work towards cutting wage increases down to 8 per cent -at least 1 per cent less than the current annual increase in prices. Adamson also makes it clear that union leaders have agreed to this new 'pay-norm'—in effect a wage freeze. comes one day The news before union leaders and em- ployers get Tory blessing for scheme at 10 Downing their Street tomorrow. In an exclusive interview to ultra-Tory 'Sunday the Tele- graph' Adamson discussed the role of the conciliation panel agreed to by union leaders and the CBI last Wednesday. He says this voluntary machinery will not work under the Tory government, but that pay 'guide-lines' will drawn up. 'It's perfectly true... we shan't start any piece of concilia- tion or arbitration with a gov- ernment guide-line in mind, and deal nobody is going to get a which suits them perfectly, but I do think we can help reduce the rate of inflation... and don't run away with the idea that we shan't have guide-lines of our own-for example at the moment we're working with a figure of 8 per cent in mind.' (My emphasis, S.J.). The 'we' can only refer to the employers and the union leaders involved in establishing this machinery. These startling admissions expose the talk by 'left' union leaders like Jack Jones of the transport workers and Hugh Scanlon of the engineers as phoney. Jones said this weekend that any government interference in wages would mean an end to the CBI-TUC deal. This kind of big talk is a government, for fraud. The example, has been holding its industrial civil servants to an 8

INCORPORATING THE NEWSLETTER • MONDAY JULY 17, 1972

DAILY ORGAN OF THE CENTRAL COMMITTEE OF THE SOCIA

W. O. Campbell 8 per cent figure per cent pay increase since June.

rate of inflation then we are on (See pages 4 and 12.) indeed, dangerous path very because at the end of the road But this is exactly the wage surely lies dictatorship there the leaders norm union are of either the right or the left. accepting from the employers You've already seen the gap the under so-called voluntary widen between the rich and the system! and that, of course, plays poor hands of In other words the CBI-TUC into the who people 'initiative' is want to wreck our society.

another name for Tory He did not reveal what regime wage freeze. And every employers working-class household attempt- the would prefer ing to keep up their living stan- suffice to say they are not noted dards while food prices rocket in their love of socialism. Adam- will recognize it as such.

son said enough to show that The leaders enter this union employers are 'preparing to 'go to the end of the road' and beat coalition with the employers in desperation. inflation and the working class Adamson made it quite clear with a dictatorship of the right.

that inflation Right at the of this was so serious centre threat to the profits of the big ruling-class the campaign are monopolies that a serious review union leaders-men like Feather and Jones, who rounded off their of the political future was being board He Wednesday taken in the rooms. agreement on as warned: guests at the CBI cosy and very *If we private dinner party. can't cut back on the Transport and General Workers' Union general secretary Jack Jones is invol cussions with Lord Aldington on the docks.

Above: Some of his members tack after last Wednesday's All Trades Unions Alliance lobby of the

TUC

conciliation plans with the employers.

/ 17, 1972 4р • No. 819

SOCIALIST LABOUR LEAGUE

Campbell Adamson (right at a CBI lunch earli cent figure in an interview with the 'Sunday Tele They ignore all the demands of the rank and file—the burning desire to press forward for big wage increases and take on the -expressed in the recent Tories miners' strike and the clash with the dockers and rail workers.

Instead the TUC chiefs, left and right, faithfully carry out the requirements of Tory economic policy. The gulf between the desires of the ordinary worker and the antics of these men is now an open scandal in the whole labour movement. It means workers must press forward and build the Socialist Labour League and the All Trades Unions Alliance which are pledged to build a new leadership in the unions that recognizes the struggle wages means a political fight to bring the Tories down. s is involved in the CBI talks and in dis- bers tackle him outside Congress House * Economic Committee which agreed i~ unch earlier this year), who revealed the anday Telegraph'. LABOUR councillors in Lin- coln have defied local Party policy and voted to imple- ment the Tory Housing Fin- ance Bill, which will mean rent rises of up to El in the city. The Party's general man- agement committee had voted three-to-one to ignore the Tory Act when it becomes law, but at a special meeting of the Labour-controlled council, Labour members voted with only three abstentions to imple- ment the Act. First signs of this pro-Tory revolt came right after general management meeting.

Members with 'left' reputations, as well as right wingers, were talking contemptuously of the challenge from the trade union vote, which was against imple- mentation. Jack Middleton - a disabled worker, a council tenant and a militant in Minster Labour Party ward-condemned the councillors *load of weak-kneed as a socialists' The Lincoln Labour Party recently took a decision to throw out MP Dick Taverne as their local candidate because of his support of the Tories over the Common Market. A SPOKESMAN for strikers at the Jaguar car factory in Cov- entry said yesterday that leaflets strikers telling how to claim social security benefits were dis- tributed before the strike com- mittee had seen them. The leaflets, printed by the local Claimants' and Unemployed Workers' Union, had given rise which stories to newspaper caused huge embarrassment.

The spokesman admitted that they had been handed out to strikers by officials who did not know what was in them. "They seemed all right from just a quick look, but studied carefully they didn't go down too well, he added.

workers press

BY STEPHEN JOHNS

BRITAIN'S top boss has revealed the secret aim of the plan by employers and union leaders to stop strikes. W. O. Campbell Adamson, director general of the Con- federation of British Indus- try, says the anti-strike panel to be set up by the CBI and TUC in September, will work towards cutting wage increases down to 8 per cent -at least 1 per cent less than the current annual increase in prices. Adamson also makes it clear • agreed that union leaders have to this new "pay-norm'-in effect a wage freeze. The news comes one day before union leaders and em- ployers get Tory blessing for at 10 Downing scheme their Street tomorrow. In an exclusive interview to ultra-Tory 'Sunday Tele- the graph' Adamson discussed the role of the conciliation panel agreed to by union leaders and the CBI last Wednesday. He this voluntary says machinery will not work under the Tory government, but that pay 'guide-lines' will be drawn up. 'It's perfectly true... we shan't start any piece of concilia- tion or arbitration with a gov- ernment guide-line in mind, and nobody is going to get a deal which suits them perfectly, but I do think we can help reduce the rate of inflation... and don't run away with the idea that we shan't have guide-lines of our own-for example at the moment we're working with a figure of 8 per cent in mind.' (My emphasis, S.J.). The 'we' can only refer to the employers and the union leaders involved in establishing this machinery. These startling admissions expose the talk by 'left' union leaders like Jack Jones of the transport workers and Hugh Scanlon of the engineers as phoney. Jones said this weekend that any government interference in wages would mean an end to the CBI-TUC deal. This kind of big talk is a for fraud. The government, example, has been holding its industrial civil servants to an 8

INCORPORATING THE NEWSLETTER • MONDAY JULY 17, 1972

DAILY ORGAN OF THE CENTRAL COMMITTEE OF THE SOCIA

W. O. Campbell 8 per cent figure per cent pay increase since June.

rate of inflation then we are on indeed, (See pages 4 and 12.) because di gee end oth he road very dangerous But this is exactly the wage surely lies there dictatorship the leaders norm union are of either the right or the left. accepting from the employers You've already the gap under the so-called voluntary widen between the rich and the system! poor and that, of course, plays the hands of In other words the CBI-TUC who into people 'initiative' is want to wreck our society?

another for o dinne He did not reveal what regime Tory wage freeze. And every working-class household attempt- the would prefer employers ing to keep up their living stan- suffice to say they are not noted dards while food prices rocket in their love of socialism. Adam- will recognize it as such.

son said enough show that The leaders enter this preparing union employers are to go and beat coalition with the employers in to the end of the road' desperation. inflation and the working class Ádamson with a dictatorship of the right.

made it quite clear that inflation Right of this was so serious at the centre threat to the profits of the big ruling-class the campaign are monopolies that a serious review union leaders men like Feather and Jones, who rounded off their of the political future was being board rooms. He Wednesday taken in the agreement on as warned: guests at the CBI cosy and very private dinner party. If we can't cut back on the Transport and General Workers' Union general secretary Jack Jones is Invoh cussions with Lord Aldington on the docks. Above: Some of his members tack after last Wednesday's All Trades Unions Alliance lobby of the

TUC

conciliation plans with the employers.

/ 17, 1972 •

SOCIALIST LABOUR LEAGUE

Campbell Adamson (right at a CBI lunch earli cent tigure In an Interview with the 'Sunday Tele They ignore all the demands of the rank and file-the burning desire to press forward for big wage increases and take on the Tories-expressed in the recent miners' strike and the clash with the dockers and rail workers.

Instead the TUC chiefs, left and right, faithfully carry out the requirements of Tory economic policy. The gulf between the desires of the ordinary worker and the antics of these men is now an open scandal in the whole labour movement. It means workers must press forward and build the Socialist Labour League and the All Trades Unions Alliance which are pledged to build a new leadership in the unions that recognizes the struggle wages means a political fight to bring the Tories down. s Is involved In the CBI talks and in dis- bers tackle him outside Congress House • Economic Committee which agreed in unch earlier this year), who revealed the unday Telegraph'. LABOUR councillors in Lin- coln have defied local Party policy and voted to imple- ment the Tory Housing Fin- ance Bill, which will mean rent rises of up to fl in the city. The Party's general man- agement committee had voted three-to-one to ignore the Tory Act when it becomes law, but at a special meeting of the Labour-controlled council, Labour members voted with only three abstentions to imple- ment the Act. First signs of this pro-Tory right revolt came after the general meeting. management Members with 'left' reputations, as well as right wingers, were talking contemptuously of the challenge from the trade union vote, which was against imple- mentation. Jack Middleton - a disabled worker, a council tenant and a militant in Minster Labour Party ward-condemned the councillors load as a of weak-kneed socialists'. The Lincoln Labour Party recently took a decision to throw out MP Dick Taverne as their local candidate because of his support of the Tories over the Common Market. A SPOKESMAN for strikers at the Jaguar car factory in Cov- entry said yesterday that leaflets telling strikers how to claim social security benefits were dis- tributed before the strike com- mittee had seen them. The leaflets, printed by the local Claimants' and Unemployed Workers' Union, had given rise stories which to newspaper caused 'huge embarrassment'.

The spokesman admitted that they had been handed out to strikers by offcials who did not know what was in them. "They seemed all right from just a quick look, but studied they carefully didn't go down too well, he added.

PAGE 2 Workers Press, Monday Juty 1

THE TROUBLE

the with • leader- of the IRA Provisionals, ship wrote , Mary Holland in yester- day's 'Observer', is that they do not think in terms of politics being the art of the possible.

She said: 'When Mr Seamus Twomey, the Belfast IRA chief, speaks contemptuously of people breaking their word you feel he does not recognize those shades of grey that to most working politicians are the very stuff of politics.' On the contrary both wings of the IRA are on their knees only a few paces behind Mary Holland worshipping at the same shrine.

If the IRA doesn't believe in 'grey areas; if they do not believe •in that system of tea and com- promise by which the bourgeoisie maintain their domination of the working class, what were they doing talking to Whitelaw at all?

almost certainly Holland is right to speculate that the Provos broke the 14-day 'peace' because they were offered no quid pro quo by Whitelaw with which to temper the feelings of their more extreme followers. But what has always been at stake in Ulster is the inescapable need to overcome the con- sequences of the crisis of capi- talism and imperialism by over- turning the state apparatus of bourgeois domination-at West- minster and Stormont. There never has been and never can 'be any middle road in this struggle. The dictatorship of the bourgeoisie must be replaced by the dictatorship of the pro- letariat and this means the fight for the revolutionary Marxist party. The reformists, Stalinists and revisionists wilfully turned their backs on this perspective.

The Labour Party reformists, the Stalinists, the revisionists of Socialists and the International International Marxist Group, tail ended by the IRA, have, to a man, accepted direct rule.

The result is to leave Ulster's working class bitterly divided by religion and tearing at each others throats to obtain maximum sectarian concessions from the imperial power. Far from attacking the middle- class leaders of the IRA for their deliberate and criminal failure to unite Catholic. and Protestant workers in the struggle against the main enemythe Tory gov- ernment-Holland's complaint is that they have not been oppor- tunist enough. It is known that while Holland is not a member of Cliff's Inter- national Socialism group, many of her perspectives are drawn from these circles. She said: "The leaders of the Belfast IRA are mainly middle- aged men, hardened, by long internment terms of jail and alternating with periods of free- dom during which they operated as a fanatical minority.'

She concludes that it is a great pity that the IRA leaders are not more like 'Stormont MP Mr Paddy Devlin, republican in (his) sym- pathies, but with a shrewd grasp of what is politically possible'.

A month ago, Eamon McCann leaders of the revisionist and Anti-Internment League, backed by Mid-Ulster MP Miss Berna- were vowing that dette Devlin, the IRA would fight to the last barricade to force Westminster to agree to their demands.

Since then, as the barricades have come down, their silence has been eloquent. Holland may well speak for a new phase in the monstrous betrayal of Ulster workers for which the revisionists bear a prime responsibility.

day Juty 17, 1972

BY JOHN SPENCER

FINANCE Ministers of the ten countries of the enlarged Com- mon Market converge on London this morning for a crisis meeting dominated by the run on the dollar. Ever since the pound was floated three ago dollar- weeks Long a haven for 'hot' money, Switzer- concerted float by the EEC countries. His holders have been trying to con- land now served only to fuel the E eST statement Europe. And bankers there expect even wave of dollar selling vert their money into one of the harsher possibly measures, including the The floating pound has already effectively European currencies. The wave anuuluc!l Yrccer CILeNDES montlar)

J NOI

dollars for Swiss francs.

beat on the cont contat carre eces weid of selling reached a peak on There is he Common aMack et cuntenlled much talk of a 'controlled continental would currencies Thursday and Friday last week.

float' oi the be the coup de grace. Ll l. anu lall The Common Market central banks wie wou• erecuvev mean a cuostanıa wo oz wałr while the Itallan lire would certainly float down.

dollar devaluation. European had to buy in $2,000m to more than currencies were up-valued against the dollar London Finance Ministers' meeting keep the dollar above its parity is likev to ask United States for UnIY seven

DORUAS

ago as varı 'floor'. Stringent exchange controis Washington agreement. Such a move would hefty increase in the official price of gold Germany France favour Americans by making which would enable them to buy gold witł introduced in and exports less expensive than those of then their surplus dollar reserves Switzerland and rumoured to be European competitors. price currently in Belgium Holland and Karl Klasen, the governor of the Bundes.

-$27.10 above failed to stem the influx.

bank, said both bank and the West the ucuma coveranen Den nowever me ammencos de onman financial circles. Swiss Bankers' prevent another mark revaluation, either concerned with liquidating their balance-of- Association accused directly or under the guise of a 'float' payments deficit and have a vested interest government decreeing own responsibilitt But he added. that he was

COLS ON

aoLICI. sunstant al uctalldllul without the approval of the banks.

not "fundamentally hostile' to the idea of a dollar.

AROUND THE WORLD

THE QUEEN,

the Duke Edinburgh and Princess Anne are Yugoslavia to pay a state visit to A GROUP of former student _une Hovilalon ricacil Tito from October to 21 this leaders and jurnalists who year. It their first-ever state opposed the Soviet invasion "socialist' Visit to a coualry. of Czechoslovakia appear in week ago Princess Anne attended Prague the wedding today in fascist of court in Prominent intellectuals, journa- Alexander, the pretender Prince charged with subversion. lists Communist and Yugoslav throne Cuess arananlasler The group, whom

DULLIC

Party leaders from Pachman, sentencer to two years

EGYPTIAN

premier Aziz Sidky «onecek been in prison since Novem- have period have been under arrest in imprisonment on four subversion returned to Cairo at the week-

UCL

LOSE

'yedl. are lo Culalscu Czechoslovakia for some time.

charges. a 30-hour visit to Mos- culu ilol under Article of the Penal Pachman They include the journalists released after cow tor taks win sover eaeer Code which provides for penalties was He told a banquet in the Soviet already served Karel Kyncl and Vadimir Nepras, sen teonths ini nai capital Egypt sure the ycals was Rudolf .Battek, his- months jail despite ill- imprisonment. with health.

USSK

Tesar, scientist Karel olduall? The size of and composition tullallll of subport and backing al torme aban anes tonner tararledders The latest trial shows that the the group to be in all fields'. But the L taay mole Milan Huebl, Jiri Littera and not immediately known, Stalinist rulers in implied ovecos ovake paper Jaroslav Sabata. sources said it was believed to are turning cautiously were still wide differences between towards include student leader Despite a pledge from Com- legal action against countries. the two

LULLILCL

munist Partv chief Gustav Husak SIX PRISONERS were shot and jın Mueller along witn nve ornel ouocek surdoo ters. •esoue mel people. that there will be no show trials, pledges to the contrary. wounded and guards be hed Deneyce postare lod prison riot near Baltimore, Mary.

yesterday. More involved the Cevirts

WCLC

three •ecrin wnen escaping prisoners were shot by guards. Rebe were convicts reported to have broken into the armoury and seized weapons.

six people known to have been hit injured were when guntire out during the moting

OLUKC

Revolutionary ruling Command Council has announced the formation reshuffled

SECRET

negotiations again the US had to serious discussion. I both recently TC- comel UG er Damne anusten ceived President Nixon. between United of the things Abdel Salem Jalloud, who was the ALnl%

TAA DNSE

Kissinger had that are said on appointed last News of States and North Viet- Combined with the occasions are he reshuffle, from the Egyptian blockade of northern nam seemed likely to San Clemente Middle Devsasalda DulDUSCd. stepped- White

AHUNLS

astrol Tlne resume after both sides House day ever Rogers said there up bombardment of the Gaddafi, who for the week to sident Muammar past had indicated their ome slight nuances north, the aim has been were discuss Vietnam che in the drive the readiness to renew Vietnamese Dosi liberatio, poli, Libyan capital. oludon lic Acndis _ tne expressed a corner. them yesterday. Ilgaters Into are not concerned about

TRIAL

four three reopened Pariş negotia- the North Vietnamese Nixon wants a settle- and woman, tions Thursday. They proviso that they should favourable the North Vietnamse poth- Tho, the ment T'errorism "slightly Ute t WClE cucourau before pression Communism Acts, eLler dUSCUSSO

WILL

one NOTeRI ing', he said, though he member who has 'something to offer: ber presidential election.

resumes Pretoria, South huro did not say what they secretly Willia m The administration m Henry Africa, Mohamed Essop today. were. adviser Dr Nixon's Secretary been dropping broad Yousuf KIs- Hanoi's re- Indrasen Moodley (27) and Mrs Saste r fitten bilirs Tinu Their bean. dozen times over the is much more important open secret talks follows ing will be much tougher (51) denied Amina Desai have indicated said diplo- nonths of pressure from the President what re- the policies of promoling the elected without a settle- South matic and MosCoW Peking, outlawed African Com- weCkcld WIkI is said when it gets down ment in Vietnam. and the African KONG De RO EO wnere tne stallnist lead- munist Party National Congress

CORRECTION

Editorial Board statement in An Mondav. lune I2

YOKKENS

reSS. stated that the application David Maude, industrial

PAKISTAN

Zulfiqar correspondent. for mem bership president will be promulgated as law, but which was ratified on Saturday Industrial the The inonr ano Ali Bhutto arrived Karachi will have 12 vear‹ UrGu ocak raK Stein Natond Correspondents' Group *is noW grace to learn Sindhi. During that Assembly, Bhutto is now seking at the weekend to begin a week- supported

BBC,

correspondents period it will be illegal to dis- support to bolster his American long tour of the troubled Sind I Mirror them for not the against crisis-ridden which has been under ehillillalo ICille Guardian" "Daily This his decision knowing the ofiicial language ex eins military occupation following "Daily Mail", "Tribune", the shaky 'solution' does withdraw Pakistan from the Kult "The "Financial which at nothing to settie the deep unrest South East Asia Treaty Organiza- Scotsman". an ae ORn BeySL Times" "Sunday which behind the 14 peopie were Kilea. les tion, while simultaneously activa lalsuare others'. and ting Central

MOLS.

"onerenco He began his visit by announc- incorrect. For example, workers in Organization, The paragraph quoted a compromise the Bill ing Karachi port and in the Middle Eastern counterpart. should have referred to a petition city's making Sindhi the province's sole these correspondents signed call- industrial Bhutto said he would withdraw colalc ale language. for a special of the retm to work untui manademenı Irom CENiu as Well as SEAI which sparked the riots between Labour Corres. if its members did not give him and Sindhi- and Urdu-speaking inha- they have been prevented the pondents' Group to decide the support wants. Hydera- ot Karachi of Maude's The DILaBILO tatters ate application. working by curtew regulations Colly S ccononly is bad. Following his agreement with following the war with India and support Delilio

LIC

Bhutto, the Bill Indian premier Mrs Indira Gandhi, the loss of Bangla Desh. application as such. According to

Twelve months ago John Dillon, a paint-shop steward at Ford's Halewood factory, was sacked for allegedly 'holding an unauthorized meeting' with his members.

The move was part of a disciplinary crackdown by the company following the ten-week pay strike which had ended two months previously. It followed a visit to Halewood by Robert Ramsey, the company's chief labour relations officer. With just two months to go before the start of another pay claim at Ford's John Dillon here criticizes an account of his sacking in a recent book on last year's strike-and points to the significance of these events for today.

BY JOHN DILLON

sections and I too was told to It is a year since the go home 45 minutes after they at Halewood workers were, together with the metal showed magnificent where I was repair section, solidarity when a shop working. went usual my route home through the plant.

steward was sacked. The As I went to the door, the last few pages of the nen stopped me and asked me recent book "The Ford what the score was. 'unauthorized This was the Strike by John Mathews I meeting' I was accused of. have an account of this went to the supervisor's office.

strike which followed 12 By thy incensed and came the men were naturally weeks after the big strike crowding the office. into for £I0. to go out of persuaded them There is one the plant to a meeting. general point I'd like make first which followed about The strike this book of John Mathews. It did not result in my sacking is quite good 'diary of the total victory that John events', but the author avoids Mathews implies in his book.

making any real comments or He says strike ended the on committing himself. the basis that 'Dillon was to be I think he could have said reinstated, not as steward, a that the way the leaders ended but operative in as an Ford strike the different section of the plant' general was responsible attack for the 'the demand for and then says which Ford's launched on the a joint investigation was shop organization immediately No com- abandoned'. Finish. afterwards. ment. In Mathews' book, he says We decided to return to correctly that the union leaders work recommendation on dropped the demand for a no from the platform that I would I think victimization clause, be reinstated as an operative, this gave the company a free On that pending an inquiry. hand to go to town on the shop basis I said at the time that it 'victory for stewards' after- organization was a common- wards. If Mathews had spoken sense'. I was so confident that more to the lads on the fioor ham fisted it was such he would have known this.

attempt to frame me that I At of shop meeting said to someone the union stewards, a group of us pressed would be able to prove the for a no-victimization proviso allegations made by the com- to be included in the return- pany were untrue. to-work agreement. The answer I went to work the next day we got from our union leader- Then with everyone else. ship that it wasn't was came disillusion and disappoint- necessary. From our experience I the ment. went to see it is absolutely necessary when personnel the manager of working for the Motor Ford and assembly paint, trim Co. It was then, it is now and (PTA) plant with my convenor it always will be in the future.

to discuss where I was work- It is common knowledge in ing. Mr Mitchell, the person- Halewood that my sacking was nel manager, told me there was But, for those a put-up job. definitely agreement to no Halewood plant, outside the conduct an inquiry. I'd like to run through the I First told him events again. wasn't going on the other job, I wanted my old job back as misled. we had been argued for hours. The two said if I didn't take company. the job I'd be sacking myself The company said that I held as there was no alternative an unauthorized meeting in the job. In the end I felt I would paint shop and took a leading demonstration. This part in a have the situation to accept fight is a complete and utter lie.

and it through the The landing deck had branch. The next thing I saw stopped over a manning issue.

was I had been sent for twice that the Ford supervisors' bulletin.

got them categorically It stated night and to quite same start work while I put the dis- that the agreement for my re- pute in procedure. Because the instatement was that I would never be allowed to have pressure was too great they stopped again. The sealer deck shop stewards' credential stopped sympathy. For within the company again.

in three-quarters of an hour they When challenged about this waited for me, but the super- branch Bro. at meeting, McGuire (convenor) and Bro. visor never informed me they were asking for me. Craig denied that such any They were told to go home. agreement was made. Work in What struck me was I was dried up other John Dillon: 'the management is trying to really re-instated. Re- not instated means you are returned to the conditions you had before. Twelve months later I am still employed in a place separated from the main body of the plant. The ban on being a steward has not me been challenged officially by the union. After the strike, at suc- cessive branch meetings, there were overwhelming votes ask- ing for an investigation by the union. I personally asked for it, to clear my name. I wrote to Harry Wall, regional official, now retired, appealing for an investigation. asked to be present at a regional committee of the Transport and General Workers' Union which was to hear a report. From all this I got negative results. Was the strike a victory? The whole of the victory was in the way the shop floor came out so promptly. It stopped 4027i London W1

BOOKS • PERIC

Workers Press, 's trying to use as scapegoats lads who stick up the company in their tracks.

It was a fantastic victory for solidarity which the lads thought, and I thought, left us in a position that I would be reinstated as a shop steward in a few weeks. They felt they had done all the heavy work and all the union had to do was to tie it up. But the union never told us about the agree- ment which meant that Förd's were deciding who could be shop steward. John Mathews is right when he says in his book that a different atmosphere was reign- ing in the plant after this strike, and that Ford's couldn't go on then to pick the next man off their list. But, at this time of writing Ford's have got another blacklist. At the last PTA joint works' committee, the company com- plained of a spate of 'unofficial stoppages. They blamed 'sub- elements' versive operating

• IS /SSAS

LOENE

S • PERIODICALS • NEWSPAPERS

518 Press, Monday July 17, 1872 PAGIL 3 o stick up for themselves?

within the plant and asked for unión co-operation to trade get rid of them. Blacklists, reds under the beds, is one of the oldest forms of smokescreens to cover up bad working conditions and under-manning. No responsible trade unionist can fall for this. Once again, the management is trying to use as scapegoats the lads who stick up for themselves, naming six in the PTA, over a six-month period.

Two militants on the list were sacked last week. Twelve months ago it was the stewards who were being attacked as the 'subversives'. '. The shop knew then that they floor weren't just defending me but all shop stewards. the Twelve months ago shop floor didn't fall for it.

Why should the stewards? It is the responsibility of the stewards now to defend the shop floor. If they don't, then I'm afraid that John Mathews will have to write another chapter in his book called 'The aftermath is still going on'

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PAGE 6 Workers Press, Monday July 17

BY DAVID MAUDE

Mike Orton and his 194,000 fellow-workers in government industrial around establishments the country feel a deep sense of personal insult at the £1.50 pay offer made to them by the Civil Service Department. With about 800 other dele- gates from dockyards, ord- nance factories, research centres and other state enter- prises, Mike lobbied MPs at the House of Commons last week to express his feelings about the offer. As they waited in the hot sun, penned claustrophobically between metal barriers in the exhaust fumes of busy Old Palace Yard, Westminster, their chants turned from an occasional 'Why are we wait- ing?' to a steady "30 bob?

Heath out!' The story Mike told me as ay uly 17, 1972 we waited was typical of many of the lobbyers. And it explains why the men who keep wheels of government turning are determined that, this year they are not going to be fobbed off with yet another meagre rise leaving them trailing the increase in the cost of living.

A worker at Portsmouth dockyard, Mike scorned Civil Department claims Service that average earnings in the •service range from £20.87 at the lower end of the scale to over £36 a week. 'We don't think we're bad employers,' a spokesman for the Department told me com- placently before I went to the lobby. 'We don't think our offer is too unreasonable' His statements were greeted with bitter ribaldry down the queue at Old Palace Yard.

Married with two children, Mike Orton is semi-skilled in the middle pay range. For a 40-hour week he takes home the princely sum of £16.50.

SOUTH WALES

TIGLASCOED ROF

GOVT INDUSTRIAL

GO WORKER PAY CLAIM

MOD

LORD PRIVI

SEAL

Stre

OFFERS PEANUTS

ARE WE THE MONKEYS

Outside London, Portsmouth is one of the highest rented areas in the country. Mike's rent, not by any means one the highest among friends at the dockyard, is £8.15 a week. Which leaves him with £8.35 to keep his growing tamily and transport himself to work. 'It's degrading that we've got to be crammed together like this, to demonstrate in the street, just for a decent living wage, Mike told me.

'It's degrading to the intel- ligence of grown men that they think we will accept the first measly pittance they offer us.

'We asked for a "sub- stantial" increase at the start of both 1971 and 1972 pay negotiations. Last year we got a few bob-8 per cent. 'If they think they can pull the same stroke this year, they're wrong. "They're trying to exploit the loyalty of the government

SOUTH

GLASCOED

WALES

ROF

AVERAGE

EARNINGS

FOR HOLDAYS

IN PLACE OF

SUPPLEMENT

INCOME

There's industrial worker. been almost industrial action in the dockyards since the time of Nelson. 'But this time they're trying to push us too far. Pay between negotiations national officials and union the Civil Service Department kicked off this year on June 1, when, as Mike Orton says, the 'substantial' usual unspecified, increase was asked for. several been 1 nere nave meetings since then. But so far the senior civil servants from the Ministries of Defence and the Environment, who con- stitute the official side of the Co-ordinating Commit- Joint have stuck fast to their tee, first offer. The offer is: £1.50 a week extra for men, two more days holiday for almost everyone with ten years' service and a further step towards equal pay them to women Dance 924 per cent of the men's rate). Left: workers employed in gov- ernment Industrial establishments Parllament. Above: Mike lobby Orton. According to the Depart- ment, this works out at just under 8 per cent. But 8 per cent of what? Present basic rates are £17.30 a week for unskilled men and £23.35 for craftsmen: There is no disagreement be- tween the Department and its workers here. Where they do disagree is on figures for average earnings. The Department says that at the beginning of this year skilled timeworkers were earn- ing on average £30.22 a week and unskilled £20.87. It gives a figure of £36.12 for piece- workers. lobbyers last week Most maintained that such figures were impossible to attain with- out large amounts of overtime —something which is becom- ing increasingly scarce. I was shown a large number of wage-packets with columns of typed calculations. The highest take-home figure I saw, highly- on the packet of a skilled dockyard worker, was unions and the Department not actually broken have down, but on July 5 the staff side of the JCC declared that as far as they were concerned the normal talks machinery was exhausted. The union negotiators will be meeting their executives this Thursday to decide the next move. Fleet Street industrial cor- respondents close to the believe that a negotiators national strike call can • vir- tually be ruled out as far as they are concerned. They think the executives will try to keep talks going so as to squeeze a few extra pence from the Department.

White-collar civil servants were offered 84 per cent the day before last week's lobby, and it is thought the union chiefs will hold out for at least that. Mike Orton and his 194,000 friends seem in no mood to accept just a few pence, how- ever. They came to London last York- week from Scotland, shire, South Wales, the Mid- lands and the South-West to say no to £1.50. Most lobbyers I spoke to calculated that as far as they, concerned personally, were anything less than £2.50 would be a cut in their standard of living. Rory McCarthy, full-time official for the Amalgamated Union of Engineering Workers in Portsmouth, reckoned that would continue his members to demand at least f5. The Civil Service Depart- ment expects to be back in talks with the unions next week. If 84 per cent is to be its bid, it seems certain • that guerrilla strike action, at least, will break out in the most militant sections of the service.

Union leaders would be ex- tremely foolish to try and block such moves when they meet this Thursday. The danger is, of course, that they will try and put themselves in the leadership of such limited action only to head the rank and file off at a later date. The lesson of last week's lobby for govern- ment industrial workers is: Be on your guard.

THE ROLE OF THE

PABLOITE REVISIONISTS

A special background series examining the class struggle in Ceylon from 1964 to the present day. Part seven.

A special background series ex The political situation in Ceylon cannot be grasped correctly without analys- ing the role of the Pab- loite revisionists in the class struggle. For in Ceylon they carried their theory and practice to its logical conclusion. Since the revisionists around Pablo, Mandel and Frank broke from the Fourth Inter- national in 1953, the Lanka Sama Samaja Party remained with them the 1964 until betrayal. Defended and pro- tected by the theories of Pablo-Mandel this party not only entered into a coalition with the capitalist class, but in 1971 also actually partici- pated in the massacre of youth and willingly supported the banning of the Trotskyist press of the Revolutionary Communist League. Now it is plodding along the footsteps of Indonesian Mwiba party, which produced Adam Malik, with its vicious anti- communist propaganda. After forging the alliance with the SLFP, it joined hands with all the reactionaries to denounce the Soviet Union, slander the October revolution and attack the Ceylon Stalinists from the right. The original opposition to Stalinism, when the Kremlin betrayed the national libera- tion struggles of the colonial peoples, remained a nationalist one, though it was covered by Trotskyist phraseology. The LSSPers break from Stalinism was not a move toward the internationalism of the Fourth International and they played no role in building the international whatsoever.

The revisionist centre in Paris protected and nourished this reactionary heritage of the Ceylon middle class and when the true colours of the LSSP became clear after 1964 they remained silent about it.

In a period of severe economic crisis, this national- ism inevitably takes the path of defending 'national eco- nomy by strengthening the capitalists' plans for corporate state. Only the International Com- mittee of the Fourth Inter- national carried a conscious struggle against these traitors in its struggle to build the Fourth International. The Pab- loites supported every move from the LSSP towards the capitalist class. When the first Bandaranaike government came to power in 1956, the ISSP adopted a restrictive co- policy of operation' towards the govern- ment with the backing of the Paris centre. And when the masses threat- ened the regime of Mrs Sirimavo Bandaranaike during the 1960s the same Paris centre introduced to the LSSP a popular formula of building a front with the petty-bourgeois

MEP

and the Communist Party. In the published resolutions of this 'unification' congress of 1963 we can read this criminal policy statement, which asked the LSSP to form a 'genuinely socialist united front govern- The ment. same resolution suggested the LSSP to form 'united front committees' to eries examining the class struggle in prevent the 'possible counter- revolutionary manoeuvring from the part of the Stalinists' This historical statement should not be forgotten. This policy was formulated precisely at the moment when the work- ing class and the rural masses launched their biggest offen- sive against the SLFP regime.

In a situation where the revo- lutionary party should place all its emphasis on the ques- tion of defeating the MEP and the CP in the class struggle, and of course to achieve this task to defeat the right-wing opportunism of the LSSP leadership, the Secretariat' 'front' drove the LSSP to a with the Stalinists and nation- alists on the pretext of pre- venting the old counter- revolutionary manoeuvring from the CP. In fact, it actually did encourage new counter-revolu- tionary manoeuvres from the

LSSP.

Even eight years after the great betrayal, Pierre Frank still has some compliments for 'united front' the policy, though he is now completely silent about his own role of advocating it during the 1963- 1964 period. 'Nevertheless, there was another partial turn to the left by the party (LSSP) in 1962- 1963. When the masses again went into action together with the Ceylonese CP, and a small radical appearing bourgeois organization, the

MEP,

LSSP formed what was called the United Left Front. This organization was well received by the Ceylonese masses and could have, were it not for the point constituted the departure of an extra-parlia- mentary struggle for power.

(Pierre Frank — Inter- continental Press, May 8, 1972.

Emphasis added.) Thus the 1964 betrayal was not cooked by the LSSP alone as the 'Secretariat' remained critical. This is a lie. Pabloism was really the architect for the plan of betrayal by the LSSP.

(This episode is analysed in detail in the pamphlets by G.

Healy 'Ceylon, the Great Betrayal' and by M. Banda "The Moscoso Affair-A Case History of Revisionism'.)

eventually The section opposed the betrayal and split from the LSSP in 1964. The breakaway LSSP (R) was repeatedly disoriented by the Paris centre. Instead of training these militants as Marxists, to take up the battle for the alternative leadership, the Pabloite centre supplied them dead ropes of 'united fronts'. This encouraged the development of opportunism inside the party and it split into pieces within two years.

Now this LSSP (R), under the Tampoe, is leadership of Bala actually an appendage of the Ceylon Mercantile Union, but still plays the deadly dangerous role in Ceylon class struggle, as we shall see. The foundation of the Cey- lon section of the International Committee (the RCL) was laid in a struggle against this betrayal of Marxist principles and theoretical confusion.

In 1971, when the coalition returned to power, the Trot- skyists around the RCL were in a position to publish regu- larly a Sinhala weekly paper, a iggle in Ceylon from 1964 to the pres Right: Bala Tampoe, leader of the LSS liberals' of the SLFP and towards Tamil fortnightly and a youth They launched paper. ener- getically the campaign to force the 'left' leaders to break from the coalition. (The press of the RCL has been banned since April 1971.) A considerable youth move- ment was built around these policies and regular educa- tional work was conducted.

Because they fought for the perspective of power for the working class, their fight had to be carried against the centrists who adapted them- selves to the traditional leader- ships, adventurists who refused the role of the working class, and at the same time against the trade union consciousness of the working class. This was a fight for Marxist theory against all forms of revisionism.

The revisionists vehemently opposed RCL policy. As the first wave of struggles in defence of the mounted trade unions, the LSSP (R) clearly avoided all the political questions involved with this fight and acted as a brake on revolutionary political development inside the work- ing class. They asked the gov- ernment to bring legislation Workers Press, the present day. Part seven.

• the LSSP. After uncritically backing the JVP wards hunger strikes—that is to popular frontis against the employers and thereby adapted to the back- ward illusions of the working class, strengthening these illu- sions at the same time. This assault on Trotskyism by the LSSP (R) is the inter- national line of the Pabloite revisionists and not a national peculiarity of their Ceylon stooges. The attack by the British International Marxist Group on the policy of the SLL to bring a Labour govern- ment to power and the opposi- tion of the American Socialist Workers Party to the fight to build a Labour Party in the USA is the expression of this attack on Trotskyism inter- nationally. The meaning of the LSSP (R)'s opposition to RCL policy is clearly revealed in an inter- view given by Bala Tampoe to the Stalinist press in Australia on March 16, 1972: *The right and imperialism want to force the government to capitulate completely to imperialism or to take action ra Press, Monday Juty 17, 1972 PAGE 5 the JVP, Tampoe turned towards the ular frontism which would precipitate crisis. Unfortunately I fear it will capitulate. "To resist the pressure of imperialism on the economy and to once more rally the masses and gain revolutionary enthusiasm, the government would have to break with im- perialism economically, chal- lenge local reaction ana come to some arrangement with the Soviet Union for economic aid to help overcome the diffi- culties resulting from a break with imperialism' (Inter- continental Press, May 10, 1971.) This is, precisely, the per- spective of the Ceylon Stalin- ism! And it is not difficult to understand why the Australian Stalinists gave publicity to these ideas of Tampoe. While attempting to con- fine the working class only to a trade union perspective and strengthening reformism and Stalinism, Tampoe at the same time made a special contribu- tion to the suicidal policies of the JVP 'guerrilla' youth, whose rising began in April 1971.

CONTINUED TOMORROW

Monday Juty 17, 1972 PAGE 6 Workers Presa,

AREA COM

BY STEPHEN JOHNS. PHOTOGRAPHS BY P. J. ARKELL

iron and steel production steelworks-first announced in Lord Melchett hear our words big integrated plants using the June 1971. today.

BOS

method modern toI In December this year nearly Lord. Melchett hear our plea.

The smelting imported ore. 2,000 steelworkers went balance of steel output We are machines its not or quietly on the dole as the first would come from smaller phase iook effect with the numbers. electric are furnaces-the so of the coke ovens, Closure We are people can't you see.

called mini-mills. 2 blast furnace, No. steel BSC has sunk £200m in the plant and the foundry. The verse was written by Anchor project at Scunthorpe, It could Irlam fully- a steelworker. - once and there, and at Lackenby in integrated steelworks relying Yorkshire,

BOS

large plants be called the of song mainly on scrap metal-is now will be installed. Irlam — a south Lanca- a cold steelmaking and billet billet output By 1973 production unit. The BSC will shire community halfway Scunthorpe will have expanded run this operation down, sack- sufficiently to make up for the to economic extinction ing 2,000 men and leaving only loss from the rolling mills of and waiting for the pro- the profitable rod mill in pro- Warrington. This Irlam and duction, employing about 500 whole process of rationaliza- cess to complete in workers. duction ao seintred big sites June 1974. duction at selected big Irlam is a victim of the This date is the British Steel 50,000 Corporation's preparations for involves massive Corporation's deadline for the Market. These redundancies throughout the Common near total closure of the Irlam basic industry. concentrating The philosophy within the BSC boardroom was brutally summed up by Herbert Morley, director of managing the steels division, when genera! • he told the Irlam Action Com- mittee: 'Even if we could pro- duce more steel, we would have to do it with fewer people to compete, this is just regret- table.' crushed the delegation He with a reminder that produc- tion per man in the Common Market was three times the British rate.

INEFFICIENT

Indeed it is not just centres and the West of like Irlam Scotland which depend on the ancient and inefficient open- hearth process, who are feeling the cold wind. Scunthorpe itself has suffered 2,000 redun- dancies the past over months. But for Irlam the closure is a fatal wound to the com- munity's economy. The original steel labour force of 4,662 was four times larger than all the other sources of employment within the Irlam area. Redundancies WE outside steel have been severe.

The local soap works has lost half its labour force and only last week Lancashire Tar Dis- the virtual tillers announced closure of its Irlam plant.

Before the phase one redun- five of dancy, in one population town's working steelworkers and were more half the 2,000 involved than in stage two are local people.

It is impossible to predict exactly the resulting unemploy- ment the closure will cause Irlam is statistically since as part of the Man- classed travel-to-work chester area, estimates range from but jobless rate of between 10 and 20 per cent. It will mean that the men between 45 and 64 who com- pose 40 per cent of the exist- ing labour force will be un- likely to find new jobs. The younger men who do get em- ployment will have to move out of the area or travel long distances to work and most will suffer considerable wage- cuts. But steelworkers will not be able to walk into other jobs in the greater Manchester area. Contrary to popular belief the North West is an area in eco- nomic decline. The dole queues in Man- chester and the surrounding towns are not as long as those in Scotland, but the basic in- dustries — engineering, textiles and coal-are all being ration- alized. Last year the North West Development Council noted: beginning of the Since the year factory closures and other reductions in industrial activity have led to over 16,000 redun- dancies in the region... on the substantial side few positive developments are taking place?

Now local employers report no resurgence of business con- fidence and still most are planning on further economies.

UNCERTAINTY

For men like Eric Teal, a 33- at year-old maintenance htter Irlam, the future is fraught with uncertainty. Eric, secretary of the works action committee, says he is now resigned to the closure.

'If I do get another job it will mean a considerable loss of income. The rate for en- gineers in the Manchester area is £23.50—this is £10 to £l> less than what the steelworks pays,' he told me. was walking through Stockport with wife the the other day. At the labour exchange there were two cards in my field, one was for a job of £26.50 in with a wage Preston-30 or 40 miles away.

The fact that they advertise this in Stockport shows how bad things are' of closure is Acceptance directly related to the hopeless reformist Tory and even leadership of the "save-Irlam' campaign. This has taken place under banners such militant as 'Irlam requests Lord Melchett for adequate modernization'. This very polite pleading has not impressed Melchett. In fact BSC has played a crafty Originally final the game. closure was planned for 1973.

After the first mild protests, which included a mass pray-in for the works, BSC relented and said it would withdraw stage two and listen to the arguments. This gave maximum advan- tage to those who argued for moderation (that is most of the action committee comprising of Tory and Labour council- lors, local MP Fred Lee and union bureaucrats). To "prove' their worth, the steelworkers were persuaded to drive up production to 10,000 tons a week. These efforts stifled any more radical initiative — par- ticularly any industrial action In June, against the closure. BSC calmly announced that phase would go ahead two because Irlam just could not steel cheaper than produce Scunthorpe - the much 'social' vaunted arguments the Closure had not made slightest impression on Mel- chett or the government. But the most miserable role of all was played by the trade union leaders. is no exaggeration to say that they have done almost nothing to fight for the right to work at Irlam. The men are very bitter this abdication of over responsibility. Says Eric Teal: 'As far as I am concerned, the 10,000-ton figure was just a carrot that the BSC hung in front of us. I think the same goes for this talk of Irlam getting an electric arc furnace.

'I am bitterly disappointed with the action of our unions at national level. They have done very little. We were promised a common policy on steel involving union members everywhere. 'We were promised meetings with Sir John Eden, who was Minister of Trade and then Industry. But none of these Workers Press, Monda off. I feel that the came AUEW had taken some initia- tive, the other unions repre- senting the production workers would have started to move.

But nothing has, really been done to save our jobs.'

RUTHLESS

last Even a delegation to year's TUC Congress at Black- pool brought no results. The Irlam men requested union leaders visit the steel town while they were in the North West-but none came. Understandably after a year of this kind of leadership there is an air of resignation in Irlam - many people accept that Irlam will die industrially and at best become a group of beses en thanchester hway between Manchester Warrington. the Irlam many ways story is the story of all British heavy industry. Workers are facing the most ruthless and calculated attack on their jobs and living standards. And the union leaders can only respond pleading and with empty indignation over the social consequences. orkers Press, Monday July 17, 1972 PAGE 7 Above: May 21, 1971, Irlam workers and their families march against the closure of the steelworks. MP Fred Lee has proposed endless detailed schemes for making Irlam the most profit- able steel plant in Britain — union Scottish just as the leaders and MPs do for their Lee, of steel ailing mills. course, had the best chance of all. In the Wilson government he was responsible for steel nationalization and the hand- some compensation Steel Paid out to Lancashire for the Irlam mill which was destined to close anyway! to Melchett The answer must be a political one. Pro- gress under the capitalist eco- homy is no progress at all—it longer dole simply means queues and more dereliction in areas like Irlam. Only a planned socialist economy can advance material welfare by introducing new and reaping processes benefits with shorter hours and better conditions. This is the workers' answer to the steel crisis. It is a crisis only because profit is still King. Hence the guilty Ones are those who had their chance to legislate for the people of Irlam in 1964... but failed.

FLORIDA GROWERS

REVIVE SLAVE SYSTEM

PAGE 8 Workers Press, Monday July 17, With the recent indict- of crew leaders ments and foremen at two Flo. rida labour camps for violating the anti-slavery provision of the US Con- stitution, the brutal ex- ploitation and inhuman living conditions faced by most farm workers were all too briefly exposed. B. McKay, reporter for the 'Bulletin', the weekly news- paper of the Workers League, files this report from Tampa in Florida where the slave system still survives. Near Ruskin, 20 miles south of here, crew leader Walter Taylor ]r. and five of his fore- men were arrested June 13 by the FBI on an indictment with holding charging them workers in bondage. In Putnam County near Jacksonville, crew leader Willie Charles Simmons was arrested on a similar indictment re- turned by a federal Grand Jury investigating migrant labour conditions in Florida. This investigation is not part of a government campaign to alleviate the conditions of vir- tual slavery faced by nearly all farm workers here. On the contrary, it is merely designed to provide a few sacrifical offer- ings to hide the continued widespread existence of such conditions. not the growers— It is increasingly dominated by the conglomerate giants of finance capital—who were the targets of these indictments but rather the crew leaders and camp foremen: the paymasters and drill sergeants. The crew leaders hire work- ers, contract with various grow- they criss-cross the ers as country in search of work, then pay their workers part of what- ever is paid them by the grow- ers. The grower simply pays the crew leader the piece rate wages earned by his workers and ends up in the comfort- able position of having no legal responsibility for the workers, although he may pro- vide quarters on his own pro- perty for the crew leader to set up a camp for the workers and their families. The crew leader is respon- sible for providing food and housing and other necessities, as transportation for as well his workers, and this comes out their wages. Inflated prices are often charged for food, drink and cigarettes by the crew leader so he can keep a of his workers' larger share wages for himself, and many workers are told they actually are in debt to the 'boss man' as a device to keep them tied to his crew. This degrading system is not a product of individual crew leaders but of the capitalist system which uses the migrant labour system to support con- ditions of super-exploitation unheard of since the sweat shops of the 19th century.

The crew leader himself enjoys a standard of living only slightly higher than that of his workers and is forced by the system to wrestle as much as from them in possible away order to maintain it. He becomes the slave driver of the capitalists and is often driven to trickery and physi- cal brutality to keep as many workers as possible under his command. John Bryant was one of th у uly 17, 1972 Top: at work. Above: shack where worker Walter Taylor's workers for eight months as his crew of 40 workers followed the crops through Virginia, South Caro- lina and Florida. 'I was a slave. I'd like to cry to myself some of those nights, especially after getting a beat- I didn't have ing,' he said. any decent clothes. Couldn't leave the camp. If you managed to get away, he found you. It was just like being a slave?

He says he tried to escape six times but was caught each time and beaten to a pulp: 'When he hit you, you hit the ground. One time • he hit me with a tree limb. I ran. Then he got my friend Tramp and beat him with a two-inch iron pipe? Bryant had paid a high price to the capitalist class even before joining Taylor's crew, having lost his hand several years ago in a factory accident.

This puts him at a great dis- advantage in a system where the worth of a man's labour is ere workers are forced to live.

measured by how fast he picks.

He says that when he was with Taylor's crew, he was paid $3 a week and given two bottles of cheap wine, as work- ers in most camps are, to dull their minds when they aren't working. Taylor also allotted each worker two packs of cigarettes per week at 75 cents a pack. Bryant now works in a camp where he is free from the phy- sical violence he formerly suf- fered under and he now makes $70-$80 per week, but while he seems to be satisfied it is only because he has become accus- tomed to a way of life which seems to swallow you whole and offers no escape. in fact, Bryant, like most farm workers, still faces in- human living conditions and a future which is a dead end.

He is no exception, and most farm workers face similar con- ditions, whether they live in a migrant camp, a grower's camp or in a rural ghetto. Not only is their wage actually far below the official minimum-Bryant works 60-80 hours for his $70- 580 but is paid only for the time actually spent picking tomatoes -but housing is almost always a travesty of building codes and frequently lacks water, electricity or sanitary facilities.

This 'Bulletin' reporter saw one camp in the Ruskin area, not Taylor's Sun City School camp, but another untouched by the forces of 'law and order' -where about 40 migrant tomato pickers and their fami- lies were crowded together in a ramshackle building about loft by 30ft which appeared to have originally served as a produce storage shed. A grower supervised as they moved in a few old mattresses.

Belongings scattered were among trash, and there was obviously no running water or electricity, and only a make- shift outhouse. Our entry was blocked by a tall barbed wire fence and a gate almost obscured by the huge No Trespassing' two signs on each side, as well as by the grower and crew leader who were not anxious to have the workers talk to anyone, much less let any outsider view the inside of the camp. Antonio Diaz, Father a Catholic priest in Ruskin, who has been waging a one-man battle against conditions in the migrant camps, told the 'Bulle- tin' in an interview that the Taylor camp was no different than many others: "There are camps that are worse, much worse. None of the them most meet even nly minimal health standards. No sanitation. Nothing. I go to the Health Department about these all the time, but no action.

They won't lift a finger to do anything about the problem. None of these places operate according to state regulations, but they are still open, because the growers have power.' Diaz said his only reaction to the arrests was surprise that anything at all had been done.

His efforts to alleviate own conditions faced by migrants in the area have won him little but the enmity of the growers and numerous threats on his life. "They hate me. They hate me with a vengeance, he said. "They fight every improve- ment. They treat the migrants like cattle, and they don't want that changed. I've been here for six years, and yet not one offered to help. person has They're afraid. I'm told there is a price on my head.' The growers increasingly fear the movement of farm workers and are prepared to crush anything which threatens to upset the system which allows them to reap super- profits from the misery of farm workers. Union organizers face harass- ment, threats and physical violence from the growers themselves, as well as crew leaders who fear an end to their role in the system. And the growers are preparing to bring the full weight of the government against the union with 'right-to-work' laws, anti- strike laws, anti-boycott laws, injunctions, ulti- jailings and mately, that 'armed body of men' which comprises basis of the capitalist state.

The Council for Mutual Economic Assistance (Comecon), consisting of representatives from the Soviet Union, six East European states and Mongolia began its annual meeting in Mos- cow on July 10. For the first time Yugosla- via is also fully represented at the Moscow meeting, though Belgrade has held 'associate' status since 1964 and was an 'observer' state from 1955.

There is also talk of admit- ting Cuba as a full member, following Prime Minister Fidel Castro's cordial and extensive visits to the various Comecon countries. 'Socialism in a single country' This year's meeting is pro- bably the most crucial in the organization's 23-year history.

It is taking place against the background of the most severe ..%. monetary and economic crisis strike the capitalist ever to world. And despite the nationalized property relations within the Comecon states, they are by no means immune from the reper- cussions of the crisis. In fact the bureaucratic rulers of Eastern Europe and the USSR face enormous poli- tical, social and economic pro- blems of their own. Many of these are rooted in the isola- tion of these states from the world economy and the imperi- alist encirclement around them.

This creates a shortage of certain types of raw materials and finished goods which can only be produced within the Comecon bloc at the cost of great sacrifices. In addition, there is a chronic shortage of capital for development. These objective problems are the result of the counter- revolutionary policies of the bureaucracy whose Stalinist vested interest in maintaining the isolation of the workers' states is epitomized in their • 'Socialism in a single slogan country. Top of the agenda in Mos- cow is likely to be a review of the progress made in carry- ing out the ambitious pro- gramme of economic integra- tion agreed a year ago at the Council meeting in Bucharest.

The programme, strongly fought for by the Soviet Union particularly against opposition from Rumania, is aimed pri- marily at increasing the eco- nomic ties between the various member states. It envisages measures to increase the convertibility of member-states' currencies with one another and particularly with the rouble. It also pro- vides for a more-developed division of labour between the various countries, some con- centrating on particular lines of industrial production while importing other products from their neighbours. The plan also contains pro- 'Peaceful co-existence' to suppress rev Brezhnev in Moscov visions for building a genuine —as opposed to the existing paper-customs union between the Comecon states. Though already formally committed to do away with tariff barriers, the member-countries in fact operate various systems to dis- criminate against their part- ners' goods and thus protect their own industry. The 1971 programme re- mains at present little more than a pious wish-far from being a harmonious community of co-operating states, Come- con is in fact riven with con- tradictions. "Peaceful co-existence' The bureaucracy knows that its privileges will exist only so long as it can continue to subordinate the working class to its own selfish requirements.

This, in turn, means aiding imperialism under the slogan of "peaceful co-existence' to sup- press revolution everywhere.

visit Hence the Nixon to Moscow and the preparations for a European security con- ference. At the same time, the Stalinists hope to extend their with imperialism co-operation increased trade and through economic ties, in particular with the Common Market and the United States. Brezhnev and Nixon con- cluded the most extensive trade and economic co-operation deal ever entered into by the USSR and the US. And in March this year, the Soviet leader announced his willingness to recognize the 'reality of the previously vilified Common Market, provided the latter would do the same for the Soviet bloc. press revolution everywhereNixon and in Moscow. When the Common Market was first formed in 1957 the Comecon leaders denounced it accurately as 'an association of imperialist countries, in the interests of the monopolies and the banks'. Since 1965, how- ever, four Comecon countries (Bulgaria, Hungary, Poland and Rumania) have signed agricultural with agreements the Common Market and 'associated' Yugoslavia is also tied to the BEC by a non-pre- ferential commercial pact.

Both Rumania and Cuba have formally asked to be included in the EEC's general- ized preference system. In Rumanian fact, the govern- ment letter asking for this status was the first-ever direct official communication to the Common Market commission from a Comecon member-state.

Since 1958, trade between Comecon and Common Market members has risen from a yearly value of $1,700m to $6,800m. Imports from the EEC have increased by nearly 400 per cent over this period, while imports from the rest of the world have risen only by 180 per cent. towards recogni- The turn tion of the EEC can also be in the policies of the seen West European Stalinists. The Italian Communist Party has long accepted the Common Market and takes part in the European parliament. And in France, the common programme just ratified by the Communist and Socialist Par- ties envisages continued French membership of the Market under a 'Popular Front' gov- ernment. The Comecon meeting can be expected to continue this bureaucratic turn to the right.

Workers Press,

IN THE JOB-CUTTING BUSINES

Lord Aldington is a busy man.

He is chairman of the Port of London Authority currently engaged in sacking 2,000 dock- ers. He is deputy chairman of GEC, also in the job-cutting business_throughout the vast GEC-AEI combine. He is now in secret talks with Jack Jones of the Transport and General Work- ers' Union which can only result in further loss of docks jobs. Between all this Aldington, the former deputy leader of the Tory Party, finds time to pursue his banking business.

His bank, National and Grindlays, has just completed the takeover of the William Brandt merchant banking group for a cool £6.5m. oта Press, Monday July 17, 1972 PGL 9

BUSINESS

National and Grindlays, the overseas bank in which Lloyds has a large stake, has been dis- cussing the deal for the remain- ing one-third interest for about a year. The bank originally acquired two-thirds of Brandt's capital in 1965. Under the agreement Grind- lays has paid £6.50 for each share, roughly five times more the shares cost in the than original stake. Aldington, National and Grindlays chairman, takes over as head of William Brandt and brings in Michael Andrews as chief executive. Two Brandt family members, Walter and Peter, stay as directors. Below: Lord Aldington

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PAGE 10 Workers Press, Monday July 17, 1972 The extent of the slump other hand, fell by one fifth to £15.8m. in the computer industry Meanwhile unemployment is is revealed in figures just rising rapidly in the industry.

52,400 jobs at the end From published by official gov- of 1970, there were 47,400 at ernment sources. the end of March. During the Output has dropped to the past three months a further 300 jobs have been lost by the lowest for level two years during the first quarter of this industry, most of them in the research and development year. sector. Up to the end of March, Britain's major computer production, repairs and main- outfit, International Computers tenance in the UK by British Limited, is a classic reflection firms and British-based sub- of the computer slump. sidiaries of overseas concerns Forged by the Labour gov- totalled only £61.5m. ernment out of an amalgama- This was a drop of 24 per tion of ICT, Elliott Automa- cent compared with the pre- tion and Plessey, the company vious three months and some was floated on huge govern- 16 per cent below the £73.6m ment grants. produced in the same quarter But as sales dropped and last year. the competition intensified A detailed breakdown of British company could not get sales of hardware a foothold. Two weeks ago the computer Tories were forced to over the past two years shows pump that British-made the com- another £14.2m into ICL, but puters have suffered most from this will scarcely revive ICL's the recession. sour fortunes. The of machines ICL's show value latest accounts delivered by UK makers to interim profits down from £4.49m £1.44m. These the home market fell 30 per to £22.2m in the first figures have sent ICL shares cent to quarter this year compared sliding down the share manet.

They slipped from 122p to with a year ago. But deliveries of machines, 96p in a matter of days. During almost all of which are im- the past 12 months ICL stock managed a modest has been as high as 155p and ports, cent increase to £15.7m. 1970 they reached a peak per in But British machines, on the of f3. The daily paper that leads the fight against the Tories. £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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Name Address Tilbury's container through-put will be a record this year. The number of containers passing through the berths for the first six months of this year just fell short of the total handled through 1971. These figures are calculated on containers passing through the common-user berths-Nos.

40, 41 and 43. More than 59,000 containers were handled on these berths up to midnight on June 30 compared with A German chemical firm has devised a process of taking waste that pol- lutes the rivers and streams and turning it into building material that could be the rival of concrete. The waste comes from the worthless aend unwanted phos- phate chemical that is thrown out by fertilizer plants.

A German company with an Italian name, Guilini, in its factory in Ludwigshaven on the Rhine, was faced with enforced closure if it did not stop pol- luting that famous river with its waste product. So Guilini scientists worked on the problem and, after intensive research and experi- ment, found the answer. They discovered the way to turn the waste into money. The throw-out becomes a kind of gypsum, but it is so full of impurities that it has no value.

Guilini, by a secret process, has discovered how to turn this into a gypsum that can be as building materials; used principally plaster boards, blocks and floor coverings, but is strong enough to be used for outer walls. A natural gypsum, mined in Canada and US, sells, mostly to building industry, for around $12 a ton. This Guilini product sells for $5 a ton.

So the company appears to be sitting on a fortune; a basic material in strong demand made from a raw material that 77,401 throughout 1971. This huge expansion in traffic can be accounted for only when the work conditions are studied. The Port of Lon- don Authority, chaired by Lord Aldington, has a unique agreement with the unions at Tilbury. It permits dockers to work round-the-clock, seven • days a week, 365 days a year.

Since the start of the year the PLA has won a new weekly service to New York operated by Hapag-Lloyd, a regular service to the Ameri- gulf ports operated by can Combi Line and the Svea Line service to Scandinavian ports.

not only costs nothing but which has its removal paid for by the suppliers. Guilini is a private, family- dominated company which sees no reason to go public. Sabina, a hopeful but small- ish Canadian mining company, has its own breakthrough and has secured the North Ameri- can licence rights for the Gui- lini process. Two large Canadian chemi- cal producers have taken options to manufacture. One is Esso Chemical Canada. The second, Cable Industries, will pay Sabina $500,000 by next August if they exercise the right they have to start manufacturing.

After that royalties and a cut of the profits handsome will be paid to Sabina. believe Sabina directors there is room in North Ame- rica for 30 factories producing this new material for the build- ing trade. That sounds a little optimistic but the prospects are bright. There is some surprise that none of the big British chemi- cal producers, worried as they must be by their own pollution problems, have so far taken an option on the process.

Sabina shares, little known before they obtained this fran- chise, have become an interest- ing market here. Some shrewd buying has sent the price of the Sl shares up to 190p. If Sabina get as much out of the Guilini prospect as it expects, the shares are going to be worth a lot more than that. In addition, the Comar Line carrying Ford traffic service, to and from the Continent, began operating earlier this year. These day-and-night work schedules, coupled with labour- intensified work conditions, are at the root of the crisis over jobs on the docks. As the Tories rush Britain into the Common Market, these terminals will become more vigorous the areas of exploitation of trade increases.

Jobs can only be defended • the docks today on on the basis of a policy of nationaliza- tion.

TUBER

INVESTMENTS

CLOSURE

FIGHT

The fight against the closing of Tube Investment's stainless steel plant at Walsall in the Midlands will be bitter. Protests mounted so far by the workforce have not had the slightest effect on the management. The plant, which employs 1,400 workers, is to be phased out of production because of 'the world surplus capacity in stainless steel and the depressed state of the market.

A £l.6m modernization pro- ject at Walsall, aimed at mak- ing it one of the most advanced stainless steel tube plants any- where, completed 12 was months ago. Production facilities include manufacturing plant for turn- : out long-length tubing, used in the light water' type of nuclear power stations.

A Swedish order for these tubes has been completed, and an Italian order will be finished in the next few weeks and the company has no new orders.

Hopes that Tory govern- ment spending on new nuclear power stations might provide a need for long-length tubes are remote. And though closing the Wal- sall plant mean, in would theory, that tubes would have to be imported to fulfil new orders, this likelihood is dis- tant at present. No new nuclear power sta- tions are projected at present in Britain, and the favoured gas-reactor type does not use long-length tubes.

WORKERS

at CAV Lucas, Acton London, have accepted a £3.25 general wage increase.

The award will apply to every the worker on site save canteen staff. On top of the general in- crease, skilled workers will get a further tl a week and semi- skilled 50p. The deal was accepted at a 2,000-strong mass meeting on Friday. Originally shop stewards voted to pool the increase so every worker would receive a general pay rise of £3.63. But manage- ment insisted on the differentials after dissatisfaction from the skilled section. Militants on the shop stewards' that committee argued the award reduce £3.63 would antagonism caused by differing pay rates and break the £3.25 pay norm maintained by Lucas during plant battles over the engineering pay claim. Meanwhile laboratory tech- nicians who have been on official strike for three weeks at the Acton site are increasingly bitter over what they claim is a failure by union officials to some mobilize support. In March lab workers were promised 100 per cent action in their dispute, but so far there even been a factory has not collection. THE ACTION committee at Tube Investments, Walsall, is cal- ling a mass meeting today to plan the next stage of the fight against the stainless steel fac- tory's closure. The committee wants to launch a national campaign involving the trade union leadership and Labour MPs. Friday's meeting At last between management and work- ers' representatives, TI chairman Lord Plowden said the phased closedown would go ahead.

Alan Colpitt, action committee chairman, said after 90 minutes We have got Plowden: with nothing out of the meeting what.

A total of 1,400 jobs will soever.' be lost if the closure is allowed.

TODAY'S

BBC 1

borough with Animals. 10.50 Tin 10.55 Magic Roundabout. 11.25 Cricket. 1.30 Pogles Wood. 1 1.45 News, weather. 2.10 Cricket.

4.15 Play School. 4.40 Jackanory.

4.55 Penelope Pitstop._5.15 It's Your Word. 5.44 Sir Prancelot. 5.50 News, weather.

6.00 LONDON THIS WEEK.

6.20 ANIMALS AT HOME. What animal makes a good pet. 6

6.40 THE MOVIE QUIZ.

7.05 Z CARS. Forget It.

7.30 THE VIRGIN FELLAS.

Episode 2. 7.55 THE OLYMPIANS. Abebe Bikila.

8.00 PANORAMA.

9.00 NEWS, Weather. 9.20 DOOMWATCH. Deadly Dangerous Tomorrow.

INTERNATIONAL

10.10 ROYAL

HORSE

SHOW;

ATH-

LETICS.

11.15 NEWS.

11.20 ATHLETE. Pole Vault.

BBC 2

11.00 Play School. 4.30 Cricket.

6.35 Open University. 7.30 NEWSROOM, Weather. 8.00 HIGH CHAPARRAL. Sud- den Country.

8.50 HIS LORDSHIP

ENTER-

TAINS. Ronnie Barker. 9.20 HORIZON. Navajo — The Last Red Indians.

10.10 THIRTY • MINUTE

THEATRE. Getting In. 10.40 NEWS, Weather.

10.45 CRICKET.

11.15 LATE NIGHT LINE UP.

Workers Press,

BY OUR OWN REPORTER

SPECULATION intensified at the weekend that the deputy prime minis- and Home Secretary Reginald ter Maudling might be about to resign.

telephoned at his When he was country home in Essendon, Hertford- shire, Maudling refused to deny rumours that he was going.

In the next 24 hours the Prime Minister, Edward Heath, will receive a report on the Maudling seen on Monday at the Inter Poulson bankruptcy case prepared by the Dir- national Confederation Free Trado Unions' ector of Public Prosecutions.

conference with Harold Wilson tank' that • the He will then make a other front during be onced benci Poulson operations. Heath's statement rise in violence and further statement Poulson before the House and then due in currently crime was part the House on the Poul- the decline affair which has apocalls WeLL 1110 seclusion InC son Wakefield country house on disciplines, bankruntev traditional links with the names where his debts Saturday. including parental dis- court MPs, includ- of three beer revealed cipline. nave He has fulfilled only ing Maudling, and sev- £250.000. science colorar one political engage- eral high-ranking civil Since last Thursday's was more and more able ment- long-standing Cabinet to treat the criminal and servants. three-hour the Maudling was a chair- to discuss the Maudling summer man of of Poul- Poulson case, of violence Political Many Iorms Conservative and he not been as wickedness be son's companies and Centre at Cambridge. He altered the spicuous usual. the He the Tory Maudling family— told was

MISSIL

ILOI

ITV

12.25 Women 11.35 Seven Seas. Today. 12.50 Freud 1.25 Yak. 2005 Castle Haven. 2.05 2.30 Skippy hood Afternoon 3.00 Film: Ine Long, Long Trailer'. 4.40 En- 4.55 chanted House. Clapper- oard. 5.20 Treasure Isiand. 5.5( 6.00

YOU AND THE WORLD.

Part 1. West. 14-year- old John stealing. 6.20

CROSSROADS.

6.40

THE DAVID NIXON SHOW.

CORONATION STREET.

WORLD IN ACTION.

8.00 8.30

LOLLIPOP

(New Series) Comedy with eggy Moun and Huah Lloyd. Three the 'Doomwatch' am on BBC 1: Elizabeth Weaver as Anne Tarr 9.00

MAN

AT THE TOP. HoW Quist and Vivien Sherrard as Barbara Mason to Make a Fortune. 10.00

NEWS.

Tennis. 1.25 My three sons. 1.55 ANGLIA: 1.40 World War 1. 2.05 Cooking. 2.15 Bellbird. 2.30 Good Arthur. 2.30 Good afternoon. 3.00 10.30 OF

THE GAME.

NAME

afternoon. 3.00 Let's face Jokers. 3.45 The Skin Game. •it. 3.30 Houseparty 3.15 4.15 Cartoons. eye view. 3.55 Houseparty. Yoga. 4.10 NAws

11.55 THE COMMON MIND.

4.10 Twizzle. 4.25 Junking. 4.55 4.25 Romper room. 4.55 London. London. 6.00 Day 6.00 About Anglia. 6.45 London by day 6.45 10.30 Afloat. 10.30 Brian 11.00 News Connell. 11.05 Hollo. Marcus Welby. 12.05 way's daughters.

REGIONAL TV

Weather. Guideline.

ATV

MIDLANDS:

3.10 Good

HTV: 2.35

Edgar Wallace. 3.30 3.35 3.45 Enchanted 3.45 Women. 4.40 Women. Nanny Nuts

CHANNEL:

2.55 Once upon House 4.70 4.25 Super- 4.55 Forest time. 3.05 Puffin. 3.10 Yoga. 3.35 _nkerainment. rangers 4.55 London. 6.01 Report London 6.00 6.45 man. Today The Rope' 4.55 Nest 6.22 Report Wales 6.45 10.30 Challenge: London. weather. LondOn. 10.30 Film: 'Deadly Randall. What's on where? 6.15 Pursuers Nightshade'. 11.40 Mysteries. University

ULSTER:

London. 4.30 12.10 Weather. 11.00 Name News. 4.55 /Romper Visages de HTV Wales above except: 1.55 game 6.10 Smith London o.UU 2.30 Weather A'r Mis. 4.15 Cantamil. family. 6.35 Cartoons. 6.45 Lon 6.01 Y Dydd. don. 10.30 Monday WESTWARD. As Channel night. 10.35

ACCOM

2.35 2.58 News. HTV West as above except: 6.22 Name of the came. 6.00 Diary. 10.59 This is the West This Week

YORKSHIRE:

1.45 Bewitched weather. 12.20 for 2.15

HTV

Cymru/Wales Bellbird. 2.30 Good After- Cantamil. 6.01 000 ve life. 4.15 Film: White and except: 3.00

HOOT

Tails'. 4.35 Calendar. 4.40 Once SOUTHERN: 12.55, News. 1.00 Dydd. 8 Press, Monday July 17, 1972 PAGE 11 case Poulson bankruptcy case be heard in chambers at Wake field tomorrow. District Registrar Mr D. M.

Garside said: There is an In application proceeding chambers. Applications have been made and, as they are in chambers, I cannot disclose what they were.' Because the application la in chambers, press and pubito are barred. News that the court had gone into chambers emerged Friday when it was last revealed that a private hearing was held six days ago. Mr Garside said the public examinations of Poulson would be held on August 1, the date which the been case adjourned to. 'Matters are going on from time to time in chambers in bank- connection with the Matters don't stand rupicy. still. There Is nothing unusual about It.' ANOTHER meeting will be held this week in a bid to resolve the dispute which has closed down the £20m extension works of the Esso site at Milford Haven, South Wales. The strike involved 2,000 men and follows on the site the sacking of 37 men by one of the main contractors, Foster Wheeler Limited. Talks ended last Friday after nine hours without any agreement. Officials of the Department of Employment were present throughout the meeting.

Pickets will again out today. Last week there were scuffles between pickets and police. Anne Tarrant, John Paul as Dr Spencer upon a time. 4.55 Rovers. 5.20 London. 6.00 Calendar, weather.

6.25 Under these roofs. 6.45 London. 11.55 Yesterdays. 12.25 Weather. GRANADA: 2.20 Yesterdays. 2.45 People like us. 3.15 Danger man.

6.00 News. 6.25 This is your right.

6.40 London. 10.30 Crime and mystery. SCOTTISH: 3.35 Horoscope. 3.45 Women. 4.40 .15 Dick Van Dyke. 6.45 Londor 10.30 At odds. 11.10 Late call.

11.15 University challenge.

GRAMPIAN:

3.37 News. 3.45 Women. 4.10 Yoga. 4.40 Once Rumblie a time. 4.55 upon jumblie. 5.20 London. 6.00 News, weather. Farming 6.15 news. Lucy. 6.45 London. 10.30 Univer- nce sity challenge. 11.00 Saint.

Govt. workers: 8.5 p.c. offer 'insult to our intelligence' PAGE 12 Workers Press, Monday July 17

LONDONDERRY

appeared quiet yesterday afternoon after a decision to abandon plans to build brick barriers across three main routes- from the Bogside into the central shop- ping area. The plans were abandoned by Ulster Secretary William , White- law after the Minister of State for Northern Ireland, Paul Chan- non, held talks with local busi- nessmen, representatives of the Bogside and Creggan areas and Social Democratic and Labour MP: John Hume. Further talks will take place early this week.

morning, In Belfast yesterday however, a police station and Andersonstown army post at came undér rocket attack and police said experiment in an blocking off all roads into the city centre "could well become permanent. The army agreed yesterday to reduce its presence in the Lena- doon area of Belfast,

BY OUR OWN REPORTER

THE TORY government has wo agreed to plans to devastate services offered by British Rail and sack tens of thousands of railwaymen. John Peyton, Minister for Transport Industries, will spell out the strategy in a statement in the House of Commons before the summer recess. remaining notion that Any some lines have to remain open as a social 'service has been thrown overboard. Instead Bri- 'eco- tish Rail will run on an nomy and efficiency' basis.

Last year British Rail made a loss of f15.4m—mainly because of the slump in the volume of freight carried which fell as the industrial recession developed. The operating profit was actually interest £30.2m, crippling rates of £45.6m led to the deficit.

It is thought that British Rail has speeded up its new strategy following the recent pay settle- ment on the railways. involves The plan large-scale closures of 'uneconomic' branch lines and curtailed services, with inevitable redundancies. As things stand, union leaders have called off any fight against the sacking of 12,500 railway

LATE NEWS

TWO SOLDIERS were killed yes- terday ifternoon when a mine exploded under an army vehicle near the border village of Cross- maglen, Co. Armagh. An army spokesman said the two men were in a two-vehicle patrol of the Duke of Wellington's Regi- ment. One other soldier is said to be "seriously injured'. According to police 99 British soldiers have now died since the IRA terror campaign began.

In addition 16 members of the Ulster Defence Regiment and 24 policemen have also been killed. Most of the Lenadoon estate, Belfast, expected to was deserted by last night following a call at a crowded meeting for walk-out by Parish a protest priest Father Jack Fitzsimmons.

Committee headed by Father Fitzsimmons rejected army offer to cut down troops in area, and made clear they would be satis- fied with nothing less than total withdrawal. ay July 17, 1972 MORE THAN 10,000 of Bri- tain's government industrial workers are being sent papers for a secret ballot ask- ing them if they are prepared to strike over pay. The workers involved— drivers, electricians, fitters and even maintenance workers at the Houses of Parliament and Buckingham Palaceare among 194,000 government industrial workers whose leaders have rejected a pay offer of just under 8 per cent. has workers announced last Sept- ember. Leaders have accepted redun- dancies—the only haggling is now about the terms. They involve 5,500 rail shopmen at Swindon, Barassie in Ayrshire (where com- plete closure is envisaged), and 560 at the Ashford works, Kent. In addition 6,000 administra- tive staff are due for sacking notices. Now the Tories-aided by ex- Labour Minister Richard Marsh at British Rail and encouraged by the feebleness of the rail union leaders-are ready to continue the massive run-down launched by Lord Beeching under the Mac- le a millan government. The 11,000-mile network will of probably be cut by about 25 per cent. Passengers will be offered a few high-speed advanced pas- senger trains as a substitute for a comprehensive service. And no doubt a number of property men are standing by to any benefits that might reap come their way from the pur- chase and sale of former rail- way land. Employment on the railways has been cut by two-thirds since nationalization in 1947. Now the 280,000 workers left in the indus- try face a fight to prevent the their complete decimation. of jobs.

WEATHER

IT WILL continue warm and sunny in most places although coastal districts of eastern England also north west and north Scotland will have mist and fog patches which will clear away, in many places by late morning. Outlook for Tuesday and Wednesday: Sunny and very warm. Perhaps some showers in the south.

NEWS DESK

01-720 2000

CIRCULATION 01-622 7029

Printed by Plough Press Itd.

180b Clapham

BY OUR OWN REI

On Thursday about 50 execu- tive members of ten unions involved will meet to decide the next steps in their campaign for a 'substantial' increase.

Observers feel that the union chiefs want to spin out talks the Civil Service Depart- with ment, under whose umbrella the various Ministries negotiate pay.

It is thought the unions would demand at least the 8 per cent staff last given to white-collar week. But big rank-and-file sure is building up for militant action behind demands which are considerably larger. LIVERPOOL dockers will be out in force to lobby the key Transport General Workers' and delegate Union docks conference on July 27. The port will come to a standstill and a special train will carry 500 men to London to insist on no retreat from the threat to strike in 11 days time if there is no satisfactory solution to the port jobs crisis.

A mass meeting at the Stadium, Liverpool, decided this after unanimously yesterday hearing a report from the national port stewards', commit- tee at the beginning of this month. That meeting, which took at Birmingham, decided place that all ports would stop on the day of the delegate conference.

The platform at yesterday's seemed anxious not to meeting completely dismiss the union- employer inquiry into the jobs issue, due to report on Thurs- day week, July 26. But rank-and-file dockers were certain that they will get nothing which is from inquiry, chaired jointly by Jack Jones, BUILDING workers marched through Leeds 300-strong on Saturday in support of their national pay claim. Men from nearby centres of Bradford, York and Barnsley joined the march. the men At a later meeting unanimously supported a resolu- tion calling for the extension of selective strikes and, if necessary, for national strike action. The first site in Doncaster has been called out in the pay dispute.

FUND

£745.65 AND A

DECISIVE WEEK

WE HAVE five days left before our summer camp begins. By that time we would like to complete most of our July target of £1,750.

In Ulster the weakness of the IRA and the leadership of the labour movement has opened up great dangers for the Irish work- ing class. Workers Press must be used to unite workers in Britain and Ulster in every way to force this Tory government out of office.

Collect extra amounts wherever you can. Post these Immediately to: Workers Press July Appeal Fund, 186a Clapham High Streel, London, SW4 7UG

: OWN REPORTER

agreed to set up with the Con- federation of British Industry. The Civil Service Department's Simon Diamond, staff stewards' chairman for Environment Dep- hard-line refusal to improve its offer to a by and large low-paid artment depots in London, said of workers, at the weekend that the present section however, 1S offer was "an insult to our intelli- of the further condemnation gence. TUC chiefs' attempts to talk tur- He added: 'If it was at least key to the Tories on wages.

doubled, our members prepared to consider it might be It is yet another argument for of the immediate breaking-off which these talks, the scrapping of so- One coursé of action considered on Thursday called conciliation and the recall- may be ing of the TUC to plan action to selective strikes at key gov- force the Tories out. ernment centres. If this took place, the govern- ment could find itself asking for • See special article, page four.

assistance from the new concilia- 'Government workers get miserly tion service TUC leaders have offer? general and Behind closed doors with the secretary, Party chairman Lord union leaders, the port employers ex-Tory said recently that one in seven Aldington. the attached register were It is now believed that the surplus their requirements meat of their report will be now (over 5,600 men). gradually reduce the plan More 30,000 dockers' of dockers — currently than register jobs have been lost over the last 41,000-strong-by 8 per cent.

ten years. To encourage men to leave the £500 Dockers lobbying next week's industry grants of €1,000 Per head and delegate conference will no doubt least questions unfit men would be added to the have some sharp ask Jones his apparent existing severance-pay which now yield to £2,300. agreement to further cuts.

up Last Friday the government was asked to subsidize the plan to the tune of at least f5m.

Such would be scheme the almost certain to receive backing of Trans- enthusiastic Peyton, who port Minister John SECRECY in the proceedings of told employers in March that the the Common Market Council of afford industry could not to Ministers attacked by the was carry surplus labour. BEC 'ambassador' to Britain yes- 8-per-cent cut in the But an Georges Berthoin, chief terday. register (about 3,300 jobs) is only of the Delegation representative the tip of the iceberg as far as of the Commission of the Euro- the employers are concerned.

Communities, speaking the Conservative Political Centre's The National Ports Council, on which Jones sits with Summer School, called for a trans- em- ployers, said last month that formation from what was now too the cessit of 5,000 jobs must go over the next much a diplomatic process Wearing the hat of three years. democratic one. Port of London Authority chair- Ministers in one way or another should be May that answerable man, Aldington said in more 2,000 must go in London alone what is said and for the position they take up', he said. this year.

ALL TRADES UNIONS ALLIANCE MEETINGS

WEDNESDAY, JULY 19, 8 p.m.

CO-OP HALL, FANSHAWE AVENUE

BARKING

DOCKERS AND TRANSPORT WORKERS UNITE AGAINST TORIES!

RECALL THE TUC!

DEFEND THE RIGHT TO WORK!

THURSDAY, JULY 20, 8 p.m.

CO-OP HALL, SEVEN SISTERS RD

HOLLOWAY

WITHDRAW BRITISH TROOPSI

SOCIALIST IRELAND

Kings Cross.

ALL TRADES UNIONS

dale Road, Stalinism and the Tory govern-

ALLJANCE MEETINGS

ment.' The currency crisis N KENT: Tuesday July 18, 8 and the working class House,

SOGAT

Essex p.m. 'Stalinism and Road, Dartford.

WANDSWORTH:

Monday July the Tory government. Sel- 17, 8 p.m. 'Selkirk Arms', kirk Road, Tooting Broadway PRESTON: Thursday July 20, 8 p.m. Railway and Commercial GOOLE: Monday July 17, 8 p.m.

Hotel, Butler Street (near rail- 'The Wetherill Buchanan' way station).

SOUTHAMPTON:

Tuesday July 18, 7.30 The Bay Tree NOTTINGHAM: Wednesday July p.m. Inn, New Road. 7.30 Thurland Hall, Peiham St. B Build Councils of LEEDS: Tuesday July 18, 7.30 Action' Peel Hotel, Boar Lane. Building LUTON: Thursday July 20, workers' claim pay Summer Camp.' St John Ambulance Hall, and the p.m. 'Stalinism and the Lea Road. SW LONDON: Tuesday July 18, Tory government. 8 p.m. Clapham Manor Baths, Clapham Manor Street, SW4. SE LONDON: Thursday July 20, 'Stalinism and the Tory Engineers' Deptford p.m. ernment.' Club. opposite New Cross W LONDON: Tuesday July 18, Force the Tories to Station. 8 p.m. 'Prince Albert', Wharfe- Resign.