Workers Press no. 968

workers press

TORY ULTIMATUM

DAY FOR THE TUC

By ALEX MITCHELL TORY PREMIER Edward Heath will today present a blunt ultimatum to the TUC-either co-operate with the new state pay laws or we'll do it anyhow!

That is why today's talks at No 10 Briginshaw of NATSOPA leading the Downing Street are not really to 'dis- morLy voLe After the meeting Feather told the Press cuss" anything. Everyone knows that that was 'evident the government the legal machinery to control wages still keeping He its options used is now a foregone conclusion.

UPCH

this slavish excuse tO USUy reasons for continuing to talk with Heath.

These laws will be backed by the criminal courts. union But Feather's statement or section of Tories arent lengling different false. who defy The

WOLACIS

stale-Teruated 'norms' will be open to unlimited fines or they

DOLICIC.

nave careruuy-orebared plan which went into operation during the DrISOn. tripartite From With this corporatist-style legislation Two and Heath Calle even nas only weeks away from the statute books his sleeve for state Turnen "nases up control over wages. Is une

MOST

monumental teachery tor the

TUC

to be seen grovelling at the If Heath has way wage-bargaining doorway of No. 10 today. know will WC connolete abolished. The trade unions will be drawn

TUC

general Victor With sCcrelamy Feather will be "lefts" into the state machinery apply the Hugh Scanlon wage 'guidelines' and Jack which the ruling will tones. wnlose unions. une two Class largest in the country, have been savaged Hamle. by the Tories' Industrial Relations Act.

Yesterday's country-wide upsurge militancy in the ranks of the civil service At yesterday's meeting of the TUC eco- show, nomic committee, an abortive attempt was nowever, Has COl- made to renewed talks with Heath get the sideraDe nene • on nis nanas But the called off. The normally docile civil servants went was cercated nine votes three, with Richard the in Manchester, march York and Scotland • Unel

HUSE

action that can Reporter struck maior industrial be remembered in this sector.

Bill Kendall, general secretary of the 200,000-strong Civil and outside inquiry Public Services Association, said: •We developing national industrial action the

LOR

UITST

A WORKERS PRESS reporter our history and I think was yesterday ume in at the we can be proud of that.'

saulted by two London docks shop stewards regional office the Transport General The enthusiastic meeting Workers' Union Green Lanes, north London. Central Hall, Westminster Workers Press photographer was threatened.

showed its willingness to endorse strike action if the Tories ine inciden took Dace ousice a union maur nto the conduct of five dockers at a mass lobb their refused demands Wake of the T&GWU's national headquarters, The meeting also voiced criticism House, on August 16 last year.

of Feather and the

TUC

leaders their Both the stewards involved •are submissive attitude'. supporters 'The Dockworker', the self-styled 'rank-and-file' paper (See story and picture, p. 1a.)

Apart from the civil servants.

many other sections of sional, and manual industrial approaching WOrKeIS are labialy a showdown with the govern- ment over wages. West End actors have been cut, gas- ‚orcea to lake a Day workers are demanding industrial next week, miners want trom the Coal Board ans wel fortnight, carworkers are claiming €10 week Dockers picket court' In- while hospital Cicasc. WOrKers launched with the assistance of the 'International finish their industrial Da O T action on January 15. vocalist crouD. David Maude, our industrial correspondent.

In of TC leadersip, was spite cringing struck and spat upon after attacks had been made retreats otthe y kers Press in support of the doceers these stewards policies pursued by te real opportunity exists lor a massive industrial campaign to ana mel struggle. force the Tories out of office.

The incident ended when the two stewards were In its place must be elected a so rae da other deckers pae cpos I in a picket Labour pledged government One inquiry. the two subsequently socialist policies and the repeal apologized for his actions of all anti-union laws. We mnem Yor eridas wisno make clearinar none or mne tve

SRINA NS

men who appeared before the inquiry.

-with whom su mit ed heir claim rises we have enjoyed the most cordial of relations-was week National Coal Board. m au way concernea in vesterday s incident

R • THURSDAY JANUARY 11, 1973

MMITTEE OF THE SOCIALIST L

Civil servants at their prot ABOUT 500 civil ser- vants working at the British Museum yester- day approved an indus- trial campaign for higher wages 'up to and includ- ing strike action'. The staff, including uni- formed attendants, library cleaners and assistants, met in the court- typists, yard of the museum. Ken Thomas, deputy general secretary of the Civil and Public Service Association, said that if the stoppages went ahead they first real would be the strikes in the civil service.

He said civil servants had not caught up with the cost of living increases in 1971 and 1972. Amid cheers, Mr Gerry Gillman, deputy general secretary of the 60,000- Society of Civil strong Servants, declared: 1973 • No 968 • 4p

ALIST LABOUR LEAGUE

AREA

their protest meeting outside the British I am here this morning to report a case of theft, because as from January 1, the government have stolen from you the pay increases which are due to you. It is time we told the government this particular worm has turned

AT SOMERSET HOUSE

400 civil servants left their desks to attend an open- air meeting in the enclosed courtyard.

CHARGES

against four Workers Press sellers for alleged obstruction in Orpington, Kent, last December were dismissed in court yesterday on the basis that there had been no wilful obstruction. The four had been selling e British Museum yesterday The stoppage held up work in the Population Census department, the Public Record Office and the Inland Revenue Office.

A resolution was passed warning the government that unless it took account of the special circum- stances of the civil servants there would be a danger of repudiating the whole existing civil service negotiating machinery. Workers Press in Orping- ton High Street on Satur- day, December 9 when they were charged with the offence. The magistrate com- mented, however, that he thought the charges had been properly brought and cautioned the defendants.

workers press

TORY ULTIMATUM

DAY FOR THE TUC

INCORPORATING THE NEWSLETTER • THU

DAILY ORGAN OF THE CENTRAL COMMITTE

By ALEX MITCHELL TORY PREMIER Edward Heath will today present a blunt ultimatum to the TUC-either co-operate with the new state pay laws or we'll do it anyhow!

That is why today's talks at No 10 Briginshaw of NATSOPA leading the Downing Street are not really to 'dis- minority vote. Everyone knows that After the meeting Feather told the Press cuss' anything. that 'evident the the legal machinery to control wages it was government lc still keeping its options open'. He used is now a foregone conclusion.

this slavish TUC's excuse to justify the reasons for continuing to talk with Heath.

These laws will be backed by the criminal courts. Any union of But Feather's statement is patently or section defy false. The Tories aren't juggling different workers Who The crate raou atar 'norms' will be open to unlimited fines or policies- -they have carefully-prepared plan which went into operation during the With this legislation One, came Phase Two and Heath even has cornaratict _crule only weeks away from the statute books, further 'Phases' his sleeve for STATe it is the control over wages.

MOST

monumental treacnary tor

TUC

-to be grovelling the the seen If Heath has his way, wage-bargaining doorway of No. 10 today. completely We With

TUC

Victor abolished. The trade unions will be drawn secretary the state Feather will he tha wage

MILO

machinery and Jack whose 'guidelines' which the ruling class will Tones, unions, the two frame. largest in the have country, been savaged by the Tories' Industrial Relations Act.

Yesterday's country-wide upsurge of militancy in the ranks of the civil service At yesterday's meeting of the TUC eco- show, nomic committee, an abortive attempt was that nowever. Heath has the siderable fight on his hands.

made to get renewed talks with Heath But the motion was defeated The normally docile civil servants went by nine votes to three, with Richard the Manchester, march in london, on York and Scotland the first in major industrial action that can be remembered in this sector.

Bill Kendall, general secretary of 200,000-strong Civil and tha Public Services Association, said: 'We developing ara industrial action for the first A WORKERS PRESS reporter was yesterday as- our history and I think time in saulted by two London docks shop stewards at the we can be proud of that.'

regional Ottion in reen Lanes. office Transport and General The enthusiastic meeting Workers' north London. A Central Hall. Westminctor • Workers Press photographer was threatened.

showed its willingness to endorse The Incident took place outside a union inquiry strike action Into the conduct of five dockers at a lobby their wage demands. mAce Transport of the T&GWU's national headquarters, The meeting also voiced criticism House, on August 16 last year.

of Feather and the TUC leaders for their 'submissive attitude. Both the stewards involved • are supporters (See story and picture, p. 12) 'The Dockworker', the self-styled 'rank-and-file' paper Apart from the civil servants, many other of sections profes- cinnal industrial workers are rapidly approaching a showdown with the govern- ment over wages. West End actors have been forced to take s Dav cut. gas- workers are demanding industrial action next week. minAro ront an answer from the Coal Board in fortnight, carworkers are up to f10 a week in- court'-p. 12 Dockers picket claiming while hospital crease. workers launched with the assistance of the 'International finish their industrial Socialist group. action on January 15. David Maude our industrial correspondent, was In the spite cringing i had been made retreats of the TUC leadership, struck and spat upon after attacks the real opportunity exists pursued Workers Press in support of the dockers and their to campaign struggle. force the Tories out of office.

Tho insidont ondad whan the turn atowarde moro In its place must be elected a restrained by other dockers participating in a picket Labour pledged onuprumant One two subsequently inquiry socialist i policies and the repeal analazed for his actions to make BRITAIN's We wish clear that none of the five miners yesterday men who appeared before the inquiry-with whom submitted for rises anim we have enjoyed the most cordial of relations was week the UD In any way concerned in yesterday's incident.

Board.

R • THURSDAY JANUARY 11, 1973

MMITTEE OF THE SOCIALIST L

..! Civil servants at their prote

ABOUT

500 civil ser- vants working at the British Museum yester- indus- day approved an trial campaign for higher wages 'up to and includ- ing strike action'. The staff, including uni- formed attendants, library assistants, cleaners and typists, met in the court- yard of the museum. Ken Thomas, deputy general secretary of the Civil and Public Service Association, said that if the stoppages went ahead they first real be the strikes in the civil service.

He said civil servants had not caught up with the cost of living increases in 1971 and 1972. Amid cheers, Mr Gerry Gillman, deputy general secretary of the 60,000- strong Society of Civil Servants, declared: 1973 & No 968 • 4p

ALIST LABOUR LEAGUE

AR their protest meeting outside the British M I am here this morning to report a case of theft, because as from January 1, the government have stolen from you the pay increases which are due to you. 'It is time we told the government this worm has turned, Particular

AT SOMERSET HOUSE

400 civil servants left their desks to attend an open- air meeting in the enclosed courtyard. CHARGES against four Workers Press sellers for alleged obstruction in Orpington, Kent, last December were dismissed in court yesterday on the basis that there had been no wilful obstruction. The four had been selling e British Museum yesterday The stoppage held up work in the Population Census department, the Public Record Office and the Inland Revenue Office.

resolution was passed warning the government that unless it took account of the special circum- stances of the civil servants there would be a danger of repudiating existing civil service negotiating machinery. Workers Press in Orping- • ton High Street on Satur- day, December 9 when they were charged with the offence. The magistrate com- mented, however, that he thought the charges had been properly brought and cautioned the defendants.

PAGE 2 Workers Press, Thursday January 11, 1973 Portugal: 'Accidental bombing' was Anti-war

BY A FOREIGN

CORRESPONDENT

a pitched battle protest ends

THE 'ACCIDENTAL'

bombing of the giant Da Nang air base with sack in South Vietnam on US and Monday was, in fact, a and nine American servicemen iSs compeetely subservient to imperialism, has agreed

BY A FOREIGN

wounded. pitched battle between

CORRESPONDENT

A US

army spokesman des- Lat une a bases nom walcd US and troops belong. puppet and bombers orner criber the bomb Vietnam can remain" THE PORTUGUESE Minister bunk' 'We have no reports ing to puppet President oi disturbances', he of the Interior has announced Thieu's regime. troops clash: Prime Minister Thanom the dismissal of civil servants President Thieu Dalcon Liberation appointed his said that National colicin who took part in a New Year's Hoang Nha head be abile from The in mediate Front Press agency report Eve vigil in protest against the the able immediate propaganda NLF claims government s Hanoi colonial Africa of quoted radio wars aculon aralsi violationl claims US troops Portuguese imperialism. opened to win the support of the South ceasefire by Toe

NOTTA

Vietnamese after any cease- nre ana unar planes were The US command had said hre B52 boi class the too more imprisoned others sent in. "there weic mally and addresses taken. the had

NLF

have bombers casualties on both sides and propagandists We nanes bast OCCu acciacal

WELC

ally by ily- preparing nombed nve Jets been The Among da' jail is Dr ThOSe ammunition dumps were Vietnamese made no one Selled ground for a take-over. parallel yesterday bringing the Francisco Pereira Moura, blown up. been killed total now claimed to 37. The Thai government which Professor the Economics Faculty in Lisbon University.

'Provocations' scare over Maoist's death 267 in latest Overney trial gives Turkish mass trial THE LATEST mass trial of oppositionists in Turkey began yester- day when 267 defendants faced a military court on a wide variety CP election jitters of charges. They are alleged to be members of the underground Workers' and Peasants' Party and the charges in- Revolutionary clude attempting to overthrow consitutional insult- ing state authorities and harbouring criminals.

Many could face the death penalty. The accused come from mans

BY OUR OWN CORRESPONDENT

life and include univer- walks of THE Renault personnel officer who murdered cororessors. peasants and actor. in read, aze detend- Alter the young Maoist militant, Pierre Overney, told ment has been defend- read, expected be are cleared. a Paris court on Tuesday that he shot the youth allls judged 1 ne ockers Will be 'accidentally' while trying to frighten demon- three army officers in a specially- prepared courtroom in an Ankara strators at the massive Billancourt factory on the barracks. outskirts of Paris. One of the best known defend.

ant it An Pea University sha Jean Antoine Tramoni stated that he was 'only waving Ankara University his pistol to intimidate the truncheon-wielding Maoists hiding or Was monus caught by security into leaving the factory-grounds.

forces. There have been of the murder, French CP came of At the time the to the number mass trials since the defence neaull s gunmen accusine lalest Crack-aown let -wine 'aiding the repressive aims of the bosses and the government activities began 21 months ago.

by provocative The boycotted Overney's funeral. An even bigger trial over 400 people is But over 100,000 marchers joihed the cortège at the beginning expected to begin of last March in what was the biggest demonstration in Paris since the May-June events of 1968.

students are also awaiting trial by military court accused of The CP and the CGT once again relusing to mobilize university the working class, against the Renault murderers. In a statement strations. issued by the CGT (Stalinist union federation) on January 6, the bureaucracy claims quite fallaciously that

CGT

has denounced the alWays Crisince armed ponce Renault and condemned the murder.

MORE

The CT's main intent is to warn against provocations over which takes the election trial, place at the beginning of when une representalves olbower.

FOREIGN

president of the Republic, are trying to use the spectre of dis- order'. The CGT, however, is worried by the fact that their

NEWS P.11

tarv in Renault and two appear witnesses, *although they have never in any way been involved in the tragic events'.

lard Overne Tramn batone is gun and oned it at Oney.

before his It concludes by expressing 'complete solidarity with the CGT- Renault union' and reecond la advance any attempt at a political exploitation for ends, anti-union

BRIEFLY

Socialist Labour League North West Rally of the of CGT mili- tants, the reasons for which it is

FORCE THE TORY

permissible to question'.

ISRAELI

MP Avraham the industry on world yesterday against the inter- Behind all the

GOVERNMENT TO RESIGN!

evasive phrases, West Levenbraun claimed year and nas MarKers. LaST vendon police there could be that his has been Germany built 155 ships forces Universite clearer „state- son ment from the leaders tortured the with a total of 1.4 million in prison by

BUILD THE

refusal defend Overney and gross registered tons worth Rabat, Monday Levento all. their complete prostration before £385m. Movem ment security torces

REVOLUTIONARY

'public raided the campus in order ernie spectres

PARIS

representative opinion' and 'electoral polls'.

to break said up a mass protest

PARTY!

of the ed to eric shock restine liberation This shows phoney had meeting being held campaign initiated last the occu azalist Organization

(PLO),

submen His stu- weekend new ecuadons. Hamchari, has Mahmoud treatment. son was dents were arrested, includ- SUNDAY JANUARY 14, 7 p.m.

ing Students' Union Presi- arrested recently on charges •lec

TON

annumes Party deputies on the extension received bomb of trade The rights Abdelazız Meenebhi The Everyman, Hope Street, union rights. or belonging to an allegea aposiar 33) was seriously explosion month Mr Syrian spy ring. several executive In question were muscused un woe

LIVERPOOL

Grenelle agreement of members. infamous

WEST

GERMAN

ship- nurt in dis nar on becem 1968, the formal basis end- ber 8 when he picked up a . builders have urged the the May- une telephone to which a bomb General ASSEMBLY work Bonn government to work at the Strike. attached. Massey-Ferguson tractor Was Cut-

OUL.

DULL

Marchais and the CP leader- factory Coventry, Cition deteriorated MaST aimed keeping the in- ship are opposed to the indepen- week and doctors had to halted yesterday by a strike dustry healthy' Dr Norbert one of his legs. amputate 1,150 dent mobilization of the spokesman for the

'RIGHT TO WORK' FILM

Henke, ano only way to defend secret service shift assembly workers. The Class Federation of German Ship.

trade union rights. responsible for he blast believed began when been builders, said that govern- attempted ment-backed investments Handscincil

MOROCCAN

to ensure students move o assembly men necessary were 48-hour different work. ...... strike started the

NEWS DESK

G. HEALY (SLL National Secretary) PRESIDENT MOBUTU of Zaire, formerly the Congo, welcome' Reuter Peking 'warm CHRISTINE SMITH (Young Socialists) arrived in 1089 reported yesterday. 01-720 2000 An oncial spokesman said a state In a personal capacity: would be given to Mobutu tonight.

The official banquet En-lai. CONNIE FAHEY (Manchester Tenants) was headed by premier Chou

DALLY

CIRCULATION

Mobutu came to ALAN STANLEY (Vauxhall Shop Stewards) power through a millary coup ized and financed by the Central Intelligence

BRIAN GEENEY (U.P.W.)

(CIA). He has since been responsible for the execution of WALLY FOUCHS (CAV Occupation Committee) hundreds of them 01-622 7029 pollucat opponents, some He is on record as a fanatical private set of gallows. he expelled the diplomats of anti-communist. Last year

Rents: Camden caves in Strikers at the second Dartford Tunnel gather round a brazier on CAMDEN LABOUR council was certain to have put the seal on capitulation to the Tory government and its 'fair rents' Act when it met last night.

Although a minority of

BY PHILIP WADE OUR HOU

Labour members were planning to vote against implementation, would have fierce. They heen 'Hampstead also knew that the over 20,000 tenants will now the socialists' on council had be facing 85p increases in soft underbellies. March. • They were proved right. The council without collapsed real Eight months of formal oppo- shot being fired. Housing Finance sition to the Act came a swift and sudden The mood in the key policy to and death at the Labour group resources committee on Tuesday ing on Monday night, by 35 votes which decided night, to to 17. recommend implementation' to the council meeting, was sym- The Tory government had only bolic stuff of the sort of the to threaten to withhold subsidies newly-converted implementers are and the game was up. The non- made of. like collapsed implementers pack of cards. Little jokes the Turning their back on working class, refusing to issue any call their open support, for Little jokes were swopped with the majority in the Labour group the Tories who suddenly found had decided to face "reality'. themselves agreeing with council In that sense the Tory govern- leader Mrs Millie Miller and ment has always known the others. She had already admitted Camden Labourites for what they that the rent arrears position was No Housing Commissioner without are. deteriorating fast, the district auditor sent in new 85p increases. or was for a good reason. All she could say 'The was: It was not so much the Tories government, in forcing us to take afraid of action, were the reaction the res- must take ponsibility happens.' of the tenants-which no doubt for what Socialist Labour League Yorkshire Rally

FORCE THE TORY

GOVERNMENT TO RESIGN!

BUILD THE

REVOLUTIONARY

PARTY!

SUNDAY JANUARY 21, 7.30 p.m.

Great Northern Hotel, Wellington Street (near Leeds station),

LEEDS

FILM: THREE YEARS

OF WORKERS PRESS

Speakers: PAUL WHETSTONE (Young Socialists) In personal capacity:

GEORGE LUBY (U.P.W.)

ROBBIE ROBERTS (N.U.M.)

Workers Press, Thursday January 11; 1973 PAGE 3 WORK ON the construction of the previo widers ater omalt oo second Dartford tunnel is still welders, going all strike of building wor- bya way to southend to interview them.

halled sacking of six

KAYS

TOllOWInS in A branch the Amal- secretar three weeks ago. The Union Engineering tunnel- 1977- -scheduled to Workers' construction section (CEU) Derek Wheaton, told Workers Will eventuell JaIK Press Essex sides of the Thames. Tvar me mao been sacke‹ once berori But preparators on WOrK

BOTI

work. because previ ons reco ra, he addese of the cimber ms to sides December halt when workers. a nOD steward When he was reinstated, he began were sacked by the main contractor "December • OroRnA une ate. Balfour Beatty. Management turned suddenly found round and said thes when going unnecessary have much the elect a snob stewaru I0l 11alS• labour until the following July and General workers union Yesterday, Derek Wheaton, con- worker sacked. every engineers? steward, out. inc uding all those emploved b' said situation was COlIDICLCH sub-contractors.' «nerent io tre picture painted bi management: "They said they weren't Local

CEU

officials said to do air for the strike going compressed be pressing azier on their picket line.

made official.

WOTK IOK

SCVCl Dut lIt brought out a four-page docu-

UR HOUSING CORRESPONDENT

which supposed ment was Adve chec decenu clothing the retreat and betrayal.

Few government officials will be uenole TeSUIT blustering introduc- Aner mne statement. tion against the Act we had the inevitable word 'nevertheless', With the majority of the party by for change was Clir 'we have group lollowcu eCOn. Wistrich. that apart from Camden Wistrich also nize WilCol there are now only two autorities girector mne eurobed vove. England ment, the organization subsidized by the Foreign Ôffice inolemenl. Any outfit: tenants reading the state was CLLR PHIL TURNER ... One of headquarters ment will see through it extremely smart few opponents quickly. WeEK oreduce one and for the Housing Finance Act Hampton Court Palace 'celebra- tions when Britain entered the to be scrapped'. No consolation Common Market But what is that pledge worth Only two councillors opposed alongside last night's 'Most council tenants,' it the says, Inno eme tanon COn. Cave wnel unte golg gol jasi 'will mittee. One was Phil Turner. nave t20 each a little tough? savee by the non-implementation policy 'The Act,' told .the other to date.' after the Cir lurner told me Labour members, would put meeting there was need for That, will of market values into council hous- course, complete leadership change little consolation those facing somelnns wacos dononen al [ne lor une cabour rarty the 85p us as socialists.' furthe among the National Executive sici casc more who at all refused octover WilD But his call to oppose imple- follow until rent levels to defy the Tory government.

councils Didillllll. mentation and to seek the back- doubled and many tenants have of Camden through ing tenants to quit their homes This needs a leccnu was ony supportec OlOCCS also Brian Loughran. carried into Camden itselt by blir picoceo colmci would 'continue to campaign for clear out the right wing and the Former non-implementer the next stage reten due int stober tor be droppses increases 'left'-talkers who have now joined Best, chairman of the committee, hands with them. THE MANAGEMENT at the CAV factory in Acton, west London, is offering to take over responsibility for de-

BY A WORKERS PRESS REPORTER

ducting union sutscriptions It is believed that branch trade unionists and their union from workers' pay each week.

circular has been distributed affiliation. which thoroughly recommends • In some factories men starting Already the General and the scheme and describes Municipal Workers' Union has "very successful' in other factories ollen in the region. joining one of two «noice oi agreed to the scheme. Similar is sub- When the Acton joint shop tracting dues arrangements have been made they Lall oldy oicwalus rIcci consiaer to with the

G&MWU

other TUlC areclng met ther might suo eci TaKP InTr union their choice industries; it fits in with the account following which have union's kind of 'low learnt the hard contact cases trade unionists omans at present dues with membership' policy. way ll olacr lacione WaCOaVe been 'sold' the check-off system: branch meetings and thus al c check-off system of de- obliged to 1 he aliena branca

COUS

collection dues by ducting usually management unior dues Cuscons. shop stewards surreptitiously removing the factories where of Concu lo point contact the office

UCLWCCI]

pay 100-per-cent membership sUllit shop-foor _edoersms ane tnt union: e.g. all

AUEW

all uduc unionists Wi SO• ots membership. In some cases in

T&GWU,

branch meetings altogether large factories, the only and organization will a multi-union plant like Lullalt hit. Dut In

CAV

• The shop-floor collection is a it is

DUSC

0100- It seems ironic that a firm tha vital element shop-floor —nOI PacI OT walch 1c The is prepared to put 1,000 men and stand against the by organization. let workers out the gate leading shop stewards. sulis Manaremenl WOUTe weaker razakerley Liverpool Dalll trade union organization among to the Now the local full-time officials should keer the membership. workers such a selfless service in the

T&GWU

trying „ are Acton! "sell' which due system into operation management With such a helpful illalds. converent • hist OveTd

PROPERTY MILLIONS

PAGE 4 Workers Press, Thursday Janua

BY STEPHEN JOHNS

What have a retired post- man, the Crown Agents and the Moscow Narodni Bank in common? The answer is property-ap- proximately £100m worth in the City of London. Both the Bank, the Agents and the 104,000 pensioners of the Post Office are directly or indirectly involved in one of the largest real estate deals in the history of British capital- ism. For the agents and their partners, Jack Walker and Ramon Green, two of the brightest stars in the world of property speculation, it has meant a cool £40m profit. In return the pensioners, who had no direct say in the deal, have found a greater propor- tion of their hard-earned sav- into fast-moving ings sunk property portfolios. The organization that has shattered the image of pension funds ultra-conservative bodies investing their millions in the safest blue-chip shares or gilt-edged securities is the Post Office Staff Superannua- tion Fund (the POSSF). It has bought from English Continental Properties buildings in the City of Lon- don, in Wales and in Scotland estimated value of an £100m. These include such well- known London monoliths as Cunard House and Bush House in the Strand. The principal benefactors have been the Crown Agents, an organization responsible for mainly overseas government interests and property and Messrs. Green & Walker. The 49-per-cent stake held by the two property men who entered the market three and a half years ago has realized a super profit. Cunard House, for example, was bought for £6.5m but valued in the POSSF deal at £23m. Bush House (Finance arranged c/o Moscow Narodni) was acquired for £23.5m and over £30m, valued making it Britain's most ex- pensive office block. The purchasing prices of the which come with properties, mortgages, is reported to be between f30m and £50m. The money was paid out of POSSF's fund, made up of the 6 per cent contributions paid each week by the Post Office's 400,000 workers, plus the con- tributions from the Corpora- tion itself. The transaction raised eye- brows in some quarters. Many people, including Jack Walker, consider the property boom to be 'peaked out'—things can go down faster than they go up.

But it is not the first time POSSF has been involved in property dealing. As far back as January 1971 the Trustees announced that they were moving into this market. The first purchase was a re- latively modest one-f14m worth of short leases and town centre developments. These included a shop deve- undertaken lopment with Corby Development Corpora- tion, Northamptonshire; a £2m freehold on nine supermarkets in Redhill, Surrey; a joint in- dustrial development with Rush-Tompkins at Haydock, Lancashire, and the ten-year residue lease on an office block day January 11, 1973 in Finsbury Circus, London.

Later, POSSF added another scalp to its belt when it pro- vided finance for the Hay's Wharf development in London —the riverside property pro- ject that was the graveyard for hundreds of dock jobs.

But the English and Conti- nental deal is the biggest of them all and it takes POSSF very close to the policy margin on property laid down by the Trustees. The Fund was set up in October 1969 when the Post Office became a corporation. It took over all responsibility for paying benefits to 104,000 pen- sioners and collecting the con- staff. tributions from the Workers with 40 years' service can retire on half pay. The sums involved are enor- mous. POSSF is probably the fastest-growing pension fund in the country: contributions add £100m a year. Such vast sums are a pole of attraction from the cash hungry City- millions of pounds are needed to finance the big deals.

Three weeks ago the Fund stood at £250m. There is a policy rule that only a quarter of this may be used for invest- ment in

POSSE

property. already had £20m in earlier deals and the English and Con- tinental transaction would ap- pear to take the property port- folio right up to the margin.

The Trustees have their own property advisers — Bernard Thorpe and Partners, and a for the spokesman Crown Agents considered POSSF had got a good deal. He said esca- lating value of the Cunard Building alone demonstrated the millions to be m-te from property speculation. But Jack Walker does not entirely agree. He told 'The Guardian' that he thought the property market had 'peaked out.' He admitted to Workers Press that he had made a 'sub- Below: Messrs Greene and Walker—a stantial profit' on the deal.

We are a property company that believes in going out and creating values, he said. 'We have no business sitting on these properties just holding them and "paying taxa- onto tion.' How are these values created? mere passage of 'By the time, the inflationary growth of property value or the loss of value in money if you like.

We also prepare and renovate the property for sale. Cunard House has had a complete re- novation and floor space has been added. It's a very worth- while building' The attitude of the 104,000 pensioners to the activities of the Trustees is unknown. Whe- ther they approve of property speculation-which is opposed by the trade union movement —is not clear either. However, it would be hard for the pensioners to influence the Trustees. They are appoin- ted by the Post Office Board in consultation with the unions. The employers' side has three members: Kenneth Cad- bury, PO director in charge of the planning and purchasing; Norman Holmans, PO direc- tor, head of finance; and K.

Young, PO director in charge of personnel. The chairman of the Trus- tees is Alan Wolstencroft, sec- retary to the Post Office and special adviser to Corporation chairman Sir William Ryland.

unions The allowed are three places which they fill with ex-senior officers. Workers at ICI and Ley- land's have already voiced con- cern about the wisdom of the investment policy of their pen- sion funds. Post Office work- ers, too, should take note of the way their money is man- aged. 49-por-cent stake.

UNION CHIEFS

ON THE MOVE

INTO EUROPE

The trade union bureau- crat most identified with the pro-Common Market cause is undoubtedly Sir Frederick Hayday of the General Municipal and Workers Union (above). Until recently Hayday was national officer the union and chairman of the TUC's international committee. He is also one of the five presidents Movement, of the European the organization partly financed by the Foreign Office and big The other presidents are the Tory Foreign Secretary and friend Franco, Sir Alec ot Douglas Home Lord George- Brown, Sir Roy Jenkins Norman. The G&MWU Arthur leadership has always been fervently in favour entry. OI Lord Cooper, its retiring sec- of is a vice-president the Labour the Committee for Europe. The union has been busily sending members to Europe as part of public relations exercise to get them to accept

EEC

'Europe membership. of the Left', the newspaper Labour Committee for Europe. following G&MWU reports the Europe: Junkel to 'Nineteen members of the General and Municipal Wor- kers' Union have made a little bit of trade union history by going to brussels to nna out at first hand how the Common Market has affected the workers. arranged by the The visit, Contemporary Department

COT

European Studies Sussex University, the blurb, 1 Ulis 'was the first of its kind and other unions are to be asked delegations. send similar Tony Carew, from the Univer- sity, accompanied the dele- gation and arranged for meet- ings with leading Belgian trade unionists.' One very interesting topic of discussion between the two sets of trade unionists was the problem of trade union independence. According to 'Europe Left' the Belgians strongly expressed that their unions the view must retain complete indepen- dence and if there was to be any participation in manage- ment it must be only in such matters as they wished to be involved'. of the British dele- Some gates, it seems, were more forthright in old-fashionedly their opinions about manage- ment. Said one: 'My job is to oppose management, not to join them. The Belgian trade unionists told their British counterparts about the influx of workers from other parts of the Euro- pean continent and said that they were experiencing language problems in representing them.

Another point mentioned was a devious plot by eastern Europe to exploit their cheap labour by offering special to multi-national facilities companies. 'Wage structures were gone into at length' , reports Europe Left. The head of Belgium's public services union told the delegation that by law all their workers at the age of 21 must take home a minimum of £108 a month, free of deductions.

There was no 'closed shop', but 'union members could get special benefits'. And the report ends: "The talks did much to clear the air and there is nothing suggest that the British unions will find fundamental difficulties as we move into Europe.'(!)

The reactionary dictator- ship of Sudanese presi- dent General Jafaar Numeiry receives unstin- ting support from the Soviet Communist Party leaders. The support is forthcoming despite-or perhaps as a re- sult of—Numeiry's black re- cord as a killer of communists and an enemy of elementary rights. In July 1971 the Sudanese dictator drowned in blood an attempted coup d'etat led by of the military supporters Sudanese Communist Party.

The party leader and the head of the trade unions were mur- dered after drum-head courts martial. The unions were outlawed, the Party driven underground and thousands of CP militants and supporters rounded up and held under concentration camp conditions in the hands of the Sudanese army. The Soviet Union was at pains to dissociate itself from the abortive coup d'etat and went to considerable lengths in an eitort to persuade the Sudan government it could still rely on Moscow's support.

Added urgency was given to these overtures by the fact that China had stepped in im- mediately after the coup at- tempt to offer financial and military aid to the Numeiry regime. The USSR, which had con- tributed large amounts of eco- nomic and other aid to the Sudan regime prior to the 1971 coup attempt, felt its position being usurped. It was determined to res- tore good relations with the sinister Numeiry however much communist blood might have shed. This explains the fulsome tribute paid to the Numeiry government in a re- cent Moscow broadcast. The broadcast marked the 17th anniversary of Sudanese independence from Britain.

The anniversary was marked in Moscow by a meeting held at Friendship and • House attended by Amin Abd Al- Latif, Numeiry's chargé d'affaires in Moscow. Igor Belyayev, a functionary of the USSR African Institute, said that the USSR had had good relations with the Sudan 'right from the start'. "The He added: Soviet Union has always worked for friendship with the Sudanese people and for normal rela- tions and co-operation in all fields. We are happy to note that all practical measures by the USSR had this aim in Soviet-Sudanese relations.'

In reply Abd Al-Latif pointed out that the Sudanese people were for the first time celebrating their anniversary united—no doubt implying that the disruptive elements had been disposed of by Numeiry's firing squads. He added: 'We are grateful for everything offered or which will be offered by the

BOOKS • PERIO

Numetry—unions outlawed, Communist Its militants rounded up by the army—y of the Kremlin bureaucracy.

Soviet Union. We hope our re- lations will develop further every day ... I assure you that you have loyal friends in the people of Sudan who are full of appreciation and admi- ration for you.' In a commentary to mark the occasion, Moscow radio said that 'the experience of the past year [sic] testifies above all to the need for solidarity between all democratic and patriotic forces on the basis of struggle against imperialism and reaction [and, presumably, the local Communist Party!].'

It pointed out that the USSR had always backed the Sudanese and government spoke in particular of the 'pro- gressive aims of the revolu- tions of October 21, 1964 and May 1969'. This was the date at which military coup a brought Numeiry to power.

These progressive aims (un- specified-for good reason) were opposed, according to Moscow, the imperialists by who 'hatched plots to obstruct co-operation between the pat- riotic, democratic and pro- gressive torces of the Sudanese people'. As the most noteworthy 'plot' since May 1969 was the organized by attempted coup the left wing, this must mean that the Soviet Stalinists con- sider the Sudan CP was acting as an agency of imperialism in trying to oust Numeiry. This position has not been

• • PERIODICALS • NEWSPAPERS

ommunist Party I driven underground and still receives the backing @ army-yer-he put forward in public before, but it was advanced at a key session of the ultra- secret orthodox Czechoslovak • Com- munist Party Central Com- mittee by the servile Czech leader Vasil Bilak. Bilak was speaking less than four months after the execution of CP leader Ab- del Khaled Mahgoub. He accused the dead CP leader of':.. moving towards sec- tarian positions [in relation to] Numeiry's democratic revolu- tionary regime of progressive officers... Moscow's broadcast con- firms that Bilak was indeed speaking for the Kremlin when he put this line forward. Not only does it indicate the coun ter-revolutionary cynicism of Soviet Stalinism, it also impli- citly indicts the British CP.

This Party was on record before the 1971 coup with ex- travagant praise of the Num- eiry regime, but now claims to Numeiry's be opposed to atrocities. Periodically it car- ries from correspondence Sudanese CP members telling of the butchery and barbarism in the Sudan. But it has never carried any criticism of the Soviet leaders' diplomatic and commercial friendship with the Numeiry government. Until it does so its supposed support for the persecuted Sudanese commu- nists is an unprincipled fraud.

NOW OPEN

Mon, Tues, Wed, Thurs 9 aкт.-6 р.т. Fri 9 a.m.-7.30 p.m. Sat 9 a.m.-5 p.m. Workers Press, Thur Workers in the Franjo Kluz clothing facto The New Year opened with a cold economic blast for nearly a million Yugoslay workers and their families. They are the victims of the govern.

ment's wage-cut propo- sals which came into effect on January I. The proposals affect all in workers so-called illiquid enterprises-factories and offi- ces where the management has run into debt. The policy was first put forward last year, but implementation was postponed following union protests.

Some of Yugoslavia's largest industrial enterprises are deep- ly enmeshed in a network of indebtedness which could take long time and a lot of a money, to unravel. Meanwhile they have been ordered to cut all wages and salaries to 90 per cent of the 1971 level.

This will of course, auto- matically wipe out all wage rises won in 1972, cutting pay rates in some cases by as much as 25 per cent. To lessen the resentment of the industrial workers who are hardest hit by the cuts, the government has frozen wages of 1.2 mil- lion white-collar workers for six months. The workers' anger is un- likely to be cooled by this measure any more than a government promise to , 'slow down the cost of living' will be much comfort to families living on three-quarters of pre- sent income. The measures make non- sense of the supposed 'self- managing' character of Yugo- Slav industry, which in theory consists of innumerable auto- nomous collectives each con- trolled by the workers. In practice the workers had not control over the cuts. Already there have been a number of strikes against wage-cutting in factories where the management tried to jump the gun and implement wage- cutting on their own initiative.

At Elektronska Industriya at Nis, the workers struck and won the dismissal of the old management. The Tito government is nervously awaiting the reac- tion of the mass of workers to the New Year measures, and Party officials have warned that resisting the application of the measures will be met by police action. The government measures will not only hit the workers in the factories, but also other sections who depend for fin- ance indirectly in the indebted firms. These include, for ex- school- ample, students and children whose education is 308, Thursday January 11, 1873 PAGE 5 thing factory in Belgrade financed by factory grants or scholarships and even appren- tices paid compensation for their schooling. Until the firms in question have settled their accounts to the satisfaction of the govern- ment accounting service, they will not be able to pay more than 90 per cent on these items of expenditure either.

From January 1 these firms will also be barred from send- ing any of their employees on official journeys. Those em- ployees who do travel will not able to claim return their expenses, even for limited items. The state accountancy ser- vice is running daily checks on the financial state of the 2,000-odd firms which have officially been declared illiquid.

Their bank accounts are also under tight scrutiny. It is worth noting that the firms concerned include many of the largest factories and offices in Yugoslavia. They are victims of the frantic search for investment capital by managers over the past few Many have borrowed years. heavily to raise capital with- out. proper collateral. Their inability to pay their debts has in turn created pro- blems for their creditors, leading to a position where much of the commanding heights of the Yugoslay eco- nomy is in theory at least, bankrupt. Now the workers, who had little if any say in the matter to begin with, are being forced to pay. The trade unions, which are dominated by pro-Tito func- tionaries and have little inde- pendence from the state, have raised mild only protests against the wage-cutting policy.

Marjan Rozic, secretary of the council of the Yugoslav Trade Union Confederation, said the unions supported the stabilize measures to the economy, but added that the 10 per cent wage-cut was acceptable only where the en- terprises concerned were en- tirely or primarily at fault for getting into debt. With the average Yugoslav wage at only 1,636 dinars a month for workers in the social sector-that is the bulk of industrial workers—-the cuts will bring many right down to the breadline. On these figures, the origi- nal average wage is less than £50 a month and by the time it has been cut to 90 percent of the 1971 level, it is likely to be nearer £40. wonder the Yugoslav No government is worried about what the effects of the wage- cuts will be on the workers' tempers.

THE BIG DOLE QUEUE AT QUALCAST

PAGE 6 Workers Prass, Thursday January 11, 1973

BY PHILIP WADE

Ten ago many years foundries in the Smeth- wick area of Birmingham began taking on immi- grant workers as business expanded with the boom in the motor car industry.

Originally seen useful as a pool of unskilled and relatively cheap and pliant labour, the immigrants-mainly Punjabis- soon began to take an opposite view of things They organized trade unions existed before were where they were in existence but qulte weak, and were soon driving up wages and con- ditions. Tain in a decade on, with of its Britain the throes deepest economic crisis, Com- mon Market entry requires a restructuring and fundamental of all the main reshaping Competition is hotting up as the well Monopolies like Birmid Qual- cast-which supplies most the castings for the car industry —are beginning to rationalize production to prepare to fight European competition. this firm-based And it is in Smethwick-which has just inflicted a serious defeat on aday January 11, 1973 a group of its most militant workers. Birmid, with 13 works on has-with the open the site, agreement of the Transport General Workers' Union officials-been able to close its Middlemoor Lane plant, said to be one of the most modern in Britain. It employed over 300 workers, mostly Punjabis.

Wages were high and union organization was over 90 per cent. The Punjabis-all of whom have refused offers of labour- ing jobs at half their former money-are now all out of the gate and off the company's pay-roll. The company, led by the Marquess of Exeter, plans to reopen the Middlemoor Lane factory next year with labour another, older plant, from which will then be shut down for good. With the militant Punjabis on the stones, the company can now proceed to modernize the Middlemore Lane plant. There are said to be plans to introduce new, automatic machinery from Germany which will probably reduce the required labour force.

And when • the plant re- opens in a few months' time, as it definitely will, the labour ant force will have to begin afresh to build up shop-floor organ- on ization. sense the firm has got In a what it has been after for some time. In 1969, the right-wing leaders of the Labour govern- ment felt the working class was getting a little out of hand.

A strong wages offensive had begun and Wilson — at the request of the bankers — hit back with 'In Place of Strife', eventually the key which proved to be the one to open the door for the Tory govern- ment's Industrial Relations Act. At the same time-the ser- vile TUC bureaucrats wanted to show how willing they were to serve capitalism. There was no need for laws against the unions, they said.

Let us be the policemen-and we won't even ask to be paid for the job! All sides seized on the com- ponents sector of the motor industry. Here any sort of strike was deemed treasonable because it quickly brought the car industry to a halt. So the Labour government our instructed its pet anti-union Commission body, the on Relations, Industrial make to Smeth- an investigation of the wick subsidiaries of Birmid The CIR's brief was to in- vestigate the state of labour relations' the at plants, immediately putting every worker into the public gaze the Commissioners Among George Woodcock, ex were secretary of the general then CIR chairman; Alf Allen the shopworkers' from union,

USDAW;

and, last but not Will least, Paynter, ex- Communist Party member and former general secretary of the National Union Mine- workers. Three companies were studied: Dartmouth Auto Cast.

(DAC);

Midland Motor ings Cylinders (MMC) and Birming- Aluminium Castings ham

(BAC).

All three were subsidiaries of Birmid Qualcast, itself merger in 1967 product of a between Birmid Industries Ltd and Qualcast Ltd. The principal customers of the three - who employed 4,300 British- workers - were Leyland, Ford, Vauxhall, Rootes, Massey Ferguson and Perkin's. They had a near monopoly position, sharing production of the vital castings with only one or two other firms. Chairman of the components the Marquess of giant was the former Olympic Exeter, sportsman, Tory MP and one- time governor of Bermuda.

The Marquess, whose lineage can be traced to Baron Burgh- ley of 1571, is also a director several other companies. Master of a number of hunts in his time, the Marquess is also Lord Paramount of the Soke of Peterborough. The CIR investigation found that before the 1960s 'manage- ment was usually able to carry out decisions without formal consultation negotiation or with its employees. In fact, up to the end of the 1950s, the degree of union organization in the plants, it pleased. The company unashamedly turned towards immigrant workers when business boomed during the 1960s. Foundry work is by its nature carried out in unattrac- tive conditions, reported the CIR. 'As a consequence of these changes, the companies •.. turned to Indian and Pal Pu the qui rec par mo ing sen in for cer cru pla the cla sur cla W d pro ing me ste tio agr as

1gs her nts of pic ne- age gh- tor les. nts the ind ge- rry nal ion of 10N Its, ers, ent as dly ant ned its aL" the of ies and Pakistani immigrants, especially Punjabis, to find employees in the numbers they needed.'

Trade union organization quickly spread with the new recruits driving up membership 13 plants to between the 80 and 90 per cent. The com- tried panies to resist accom- modating such a move, refus- ing to recognize, for some time, senior shop stewards. paragraph the key rrodaoly in the entire report reads: The companies' OULOUl forms such a high proportion of the national production components that it is certain crucial to continuity of produc- tion in many motor assembly plants.' British employers finding the world moving into a period of intense and ever-deepening - desperately economic crisis - needed to establish some sort of discipline over the working class to stand any chance of surviving.

TRADE WAR

The strength of the working class organized in its unions was—and still is-the barrie standing between British capi- and its need ruthlessly talism and to reshape reorganize production to meet the grow- ing trade war In the end the CIR of shop training mended the in 'industrial rela- stewards and tighter procedure tions' But clearly this agreements. did not WOrK. -al least as lar as the Punjabis at the Middle- moor Lane plant were con- cerned. It is true that the number of strikes fell after the CIR But the shop-floor report. organization remained un- broken. Wages were high and the unity of the workforce very powerful. Rambir Singh, who was senior Transport and General Workers' Union

(T&GWU)

steward at the plant before its closure, takes up the story as it unfolded in the summer of last year: 'In August 1972 the com- pany tried to close the North Works. They told shop stew- ards it was old and dilapidated and the closure was for the "benefit of every employee" The Amalgamated Union of which Engineering Workers, represents most of the 400 there, said it was workers opposed in principle to the closure. 'Work was to be transferred to the Middlemoor Lane plant.

At that time we had an in- dustrial dispute at our plant in the moulding section. They had introduced new machinery which was almost twice as fast. We asked for more money. 'The company gave us the threat they would not concede more than £46 for a 40-hour week as the top rate. They ultimatum that if gave us an we didn't give in, they would close the plant. 'We had the threat on a Monday in early September.

ile- We were given 16 hours. We said we couldn't agree because the T&GWU district organizer, Don Higgs, was on holiday at the time. 'At a meeting on the and Wednesday we agreed acquiesced on that point. Then the company said we were too they had changed late and their minds. "They said they would now close Middlemoor Lane and keep North Works open, said. to Rambir. The plant is six years old, the most modern in the Mid- lands and one of the most up-to-date plants in Britain.

"Talks were continuing on the threat until November 3 when we found out they had already transferred i half the work to their Stirling Metals factory in Nuneaton. On the same day management met the unions and the unions said no to the closure. "Then all of a sudden the company said they wanted to reduce their six plants to five of the need for because "rationalization". They had changed their minds again.

Before that the loss of orders from industrial disputes was the reason given. 'On November 6 it was rationalization and they out a "proposed brought agreement" which said they wanted to reopen Middlemoor Lane towards the end of 1973.

'North Works No 1 was to close at the reopening of Workers Press Thurs Middlemoor Lane and the labour requirements would be met by the absorption of workers, most of whom are white, from the North Works.

'On December 6 the union officials accepted the proposals.

They said they had to accept "it would be disastrous" or We tried to get support from the North Works, but the shop stewards there told us they had been instructed not to support our fight,' he told me. Last Friday the entire fac- said. tory queued up to collect their final pay packets and what redundancy money was coming.

amazing scene,' said 'It's an English worker from one an of the neighbouring factories.

Why did the trade union leaders agree to the closure?

'That's a good question,' he replied. Although they have appealed for the Race Relations Board to intervene, not many Pun- that will achieve jabis feel anything. It is true that the workers at North Works No 1-=who will eventually be offered the jobs at Middlemoor Lane-are mostly non-Asians. But there is nothing to sug- gest that the union leaders would have hesitated in agree- ing to the Middlemoor Lane closure if the workers there had been white instead of Punjabi. Gurdev Singh, another former steward, claimed: 'In this plant we've fought for our wages and got our- selves well organized. But it Workers Prezs, Thursday January 11, 1973 PAGE 7 Left: Punjabi workers from the Birmid Qualcast in factory Smethwick line up last Friday i fo packe after the ineir unal pay Wh gre up tory was sacked • Right: group of workers study their redundancy notices. seems the union leaders don' want to see militant workers.

'The union leaders did not fight for us and now they will Middlemoor Jose members al Lane. The leadership has got to be changed, he said. What has happened at Bir- mid gives a glimpse of the future for the working class under the present trade union leadership. Meanwhile the Tories are busily preparing the framework for the corporate state, launch.

ing attack after attack on basic democratic rights to negotiate wage increases and to strike alternative leadership built in be the

MUSE HOW

unions, through the construc tion of a revolutionary party in the working class. Only such a leadership can take the working class forward to force the Tory government to resign and return a Labour which pledged to socialist policies of basic industrie like Birmid Qualcast under workers control and without compensation. Only this policy can guaran- demo- tee the jobs and basic, cratic rights to workers coloured and white--and their organizations.

PAGE 8 Workers Press, Thursday Janua

BY A SPECIAL ÇORRESPONDENT

When the engineers union executive refused to order its Sudbury, Suf- folk, branch to reinstate James Goad it did not take long for the Na- tional Industrial Rela- tions Court to order $61,000 of the union's funds to be seized. It is a somewhat different story, however, when it is em- ployers who refuse to accept the ruling of in- dustrial tribunals. This has proved particu- larly true in cases of unfair dismissal. There were some right-wing Labour and trade union leaders im- who tried to give the pression that the Industrial Relations Act is rather like the curate's egg--good in parts. parts, it One of the 'good' was said, was that for the first time employers could be brought to book if a worker could show that he had been unfairly dismissed. The Act laid down procedure either for his re-engagement or for compensation to be paid by the employers to a maximum sum of £4,160. The actual sums awarded, however, have rarely exceeded £300-£400. was going When the Bill through parliament, there were arguments in the House of Lords that the word 'reinstate- ment' should be substituted for 're-engagement': After all, it was pointed out, when a worker is sacked he loses much more than just a job. Apart from wages, he also loses all the rights associated with continuity of employment, entitlements, such as pension status and promotion prospects.

'Reinstatement' would ensure that he would get his old job on precisely the same back terms as before without the loss of these other rights.

Lord Drumalbyn, on behalf Tory government, of the explained that there was no need to change the wording.

'Our intention here,' he said, 'was to provide for both rein- statement and re-employment of the employee ... so it will be appropriate, in any case where a tribunal thinks it to be so, to recommend that an employee be given his old job back on such terms as if the never taken dismissal had place.' The Act lays down that if a recommendation for re-engage- ment is made but not complied with, this can affect the amount of compensation awarded: (a) If the tribunal or court finds that the reason for which it was not complied with was that the complainant refused an offer of re-engagement or engagement on the terms stated and in the recommendation, the tribunal or court considers that he acted unreasonably in doing so, the tribunal or court • • • shall reduce the assess- ment of his loss, or '(b) if the tribunal or court finds that the reason for which the recommendation was not complied with was that the the employer in question re- fused or failed to make such an offer and the tribunal or day January 11, 1973

ONDENT

court considers that he acted unreasonably in doing so, the tribunal or court shall increase that assessment to such extent (in either case) as in the cir- cumstances the tribunal or considers just and court equitable' It is, appropriate perhaps, now that the Act has been used in all its viciousness against dockers, railwaymen and engineers, and at the start of a year in which it will be used time and again against the union movement, trade to look back for a while and see how this 'good' part of the Act has worked out. In only about 2 per cent of the cases where unfair dismissal has been proved (less than 1 per cent of the applications brought before them) have the industrial tribunals recom- mended re-engagement. In have simply most cases they accepted the word of the em- ployers that they cannot, or will not, take a dismissed worker back. Where the company is en- gaged in a shake-out of labour and has taken the opportunity to declare redundant someone they wanted to get rid of for reasons, the tribunals other have invariably agreed that it impractical to in- would be sist on the worker getting his old job back. The only recompense left to the unem- ployed man is a few hundred pounds compensation. In several other cases the tribunals have, without de- manding any other proof than employer, the say-so of the that there is accepted no vacancy for the worker to go back to. When the personnel officer of GEC-Elliott Auto- mation, for example, told tribunal that there was no suit- able vacancy for a Mr Jones, been unfairly dis- who had missed, it was agreed by the tribunal that no recommend- ation for re-engagement could be made. In the case of Field v Leslie & Godwin, a tribunal decided that they 'had to consider whether to make a recommend- ation that the applicant should be re-engaged by the respon- dents. "The tribunal was minded to do so, but the respondents ted have argued that it would be impracticable for the applicant to be re-engaged having regard in particular to the fact that now no suitable there was We accept this sub- vacancy. mission.' In neither case was it con- sidered that the employers' refusal to re-engage men they had unfairly dismissed was un- reasonable. No increase in com- pensation was awarded. There have been other cases led to the order orkers wrow we• in which the employ to appear even the extent of stating no vacancies. When Grimwood Elements the fairly, noted that is practicable to commendation ment because the not be employers' that the accept the mendation was account in assessing compensation. In one case (Luml Pipes), a tribunal wa pared to help t suggested that th worker should less pay. The employers har had vacancies factory. this situation, tribunal replied, Mr Lumb maybe another part of th maybe to accept a lo and carry on in som ing managerial post the organization.' The employers accept even this sug situation solved by the employers' not seem to have their any noone One employer further. He said tha would, under norm stances, have been the dismisse take back, would 'under duress'. principle, he resented the case before the tribunal, reruse to re-engage Faced with challenge to its aut tribunal concerned decide to Cast. compensalon dsimissed worker. ] of the very few case increase such awarded against an In several cases missed workers to go back to thei compens however, been considerably re In some nave louna olner meantime. lucky ever, they have, all the rights of co employment which have had if they ha dismissed unfairly the CAV e employers do not have gone to of stating they have Grimwood Heating found to have Mr Maxwel un tribunal merely 'we do not think it le to make a re- for re-engage- the respondents ted that they would ared to give effect e was no indication ployers' refusal to tribunal's taken into assessing Maxwell's se (Lumb v Charcon bunal was even pre- the employers that the dismissed accept re- in another area at loyers had said they their le ideal solution in we think, the 'would be for to go. to rt of the country, ccept a lower salary n in some engineer- post elsewhere would not this suggestion and finally although once again attitude resulted made to pay out went even said that while he normal circum- been happy dismissed worker not do ss'. On a matter said, since e case being taken he would -engage him. direct the • its autnority, ncerned did, in this increase Ine awarded to the This is one few cases in which has been ainst an employer al cases where dis refused nave to their old jobs compensation has derably reduced. workers instances the are igh to do so, how have, of course, lost hts of continuity which would they ismissed from their ury factory. When their. AUEW union branch re of the union's funds to be selzed.

previous employment. This tends to be ignored by the tri- bunals, when assessing com- pensation, even when the loss is acknowledged. In one case, where a worker refused to take up his old job since he was hoping to get a better one elsewhere, the tri- bunal considered his decision as 'possibly unwise but not un- reasonable'. Nevertheless, com- pensation was reduced since it was not considered that he is entitled to have his loss of continuity of employment taken into account directly. This is a result of his own deliberate choice, since he has rejected whatever value that continuity might have had'.

There have been other cases in which the tribunals seem to have set themselves as judges on moral issues, quite apart from the questions they are supposed to be ruling on.

They then use their powers to reduce compensation as a punishment for what they con- sider to be 'bad behaviour'. A case in point is that of Dobson, Bryant and Heather v K. P.

Morritt Ltd. The three were dis- men missed for demanding either a wage increase or a sickness benefit scheme. They were given no notice, but summarily sacked. The tribunal recom- mended that all three should be re-engaged. Mr Heather stated right at the beginning that he would not go back to work at K.P.

Morritt Ltd. The company agreed to re-engage the other both Dobson two, but later Bryant changed their and minds. They said they believed that life at work would be made very unhappy by the em- and Dobson ployers even accepted another job at £5 a week less rather than return.

The tribunal accepted that their fears were genuine and probably well-founded and awarded compensation. In the case of Heather, however, com- pensation considerably was reduced since the tribunal con- sidered that, although he had said from the start he would not return to Morritt's, he had made little effort to find another job. There is, of course, nothing in the Act which empowers industrial tribunals to base awards compensation on whether or not they consider a man is genuinely looking for work-only on whether he was unfairly dismissed in the first place and whether or not h branch refused to reinstate James Goad unreasonably in acted not wanting to return to his old employers. In another case the remarks made by the tribunal showed clearly that their sympathies were very much with the em- ployers, even though the appli- cant had been unfairly dis- missed. When apprentice Stanton was sacked by Wool- fenden's Cranes Limited, the tribunal recommended should be re-engaged so he would have the opportunity of completing his apprenticeship.

They went on, however, to issue a stern warning-not to the company which had un- fairly dismissed him, but to Stanton: 'We hope that he will bear in mind, 'if he is re-engaged, that he must respect authority of Mr Woolfenden and his senior employees or he may find if he does not carry out his work in a satisfactory manner that he may again find himself without employ- ment before his apprenticeship has been completed ... In only a very few cases have i re-engagement recom- back-dated mendations been to the time of dismissal, so that the applicant receives his wages for the time he was out of work. Otherwise, he receives no money from the time he left the company until he starts work again, which may take months. In the meantime, if the em- ployers tell the Department of Employment that he has been fired for industrial misconduct, he receives no dole money eir either. Far from being able to use the 'good' parts of the Act, more and more workers are becoming aware that they are little more than the jam used to hide the nasty taste of the Industrial Relations Act as a whole. Unions can be bankrupted for refusing to accept men in- to membership, workers can be jailed for carrying out normal trade union practice, but em- ployers, at the cost of a few hundred pounds at the most, can continue to sack workers at will. Those who tried to tell the working class that the Act could be used to our advantage were lying. The only defence workers have, as always, is the organized strength of the trade union movement. And the only way to protect from the that movement ravages of the Act is in the political struggle to force the resign Tory government to and make the next Labour * government repeal all the anti- union legislation.

POLITICAL ART

be used Can art treasures as symbols? In line political with the 'Fanfare for Europe' programme which the govern- ment is sponsoring so we can all 'celebrate' entry into the European Common Market, an exhibition of works of art from the various member-countries is being held at the Victoria and Albert Museum. Our philosophical reflections on works of art as symbols are prompted by news of the entry. Apparently, it French was originally thought that the French contribution would be to send over the Louvre's Mona Lisa. Reflecting perhaps, the smile of France's Giaconda diplomacy? Instead, however, the French galleries have apparently been instructed by their Minister of to send a painting Culture appropriate to a mood of ruling-class optimism about the European Common Market. At any rate, this is what we presume, as the painting being Victoria and shown at the Albert is a work by La Tour entitled The Gambler holding the Ace of Diamonds'. God did not ask Billy Graham his influence with to use President Nixon to stop the bombing of North Vietnam.

The well-heeled evangelist, who is on equally intimate terms with the President and with the Almighty, issued a statement to this effect after numerous requests to persuade Nixon to stop the bombing.

His statement was superb in its implication that if he had wanted to intercede, both his intimate friends would have listened. It said: 'While some may interpret an evangelist to be primarily a social reformer activist, I do not. or political An evangelist is a proclaimer of the message of God's grace and love in Jesus Christ and the necessity of repentance and faith.' Graham went on: 'Everyone that President Nixon knows and I have been personal friends for many years and that I believe him to be moti- vated by a desire for peace.

History will have to judge whether his decisions were right or wrong.' Although claiming 'con- a tinuing spread of business confidence, the private em- agency Manpower ployment forecasts little change in the level of joblessness in the first three months of this year.

A report just out from • the agency says that labour forces throughout the country are expected to remain stable with broadly a "no change" position'. The effect of a slight upturn in recruitment will be offset by seasonal trends, it explains. Manpower, which supplies staff to firms throughout the country, bases its quarterly report on employment trends on returns from its 2,465 client companies. Only 26.7 per cent of firms thought they might increase - staff during the January- March quarter. This would make hardly any impact on the 800,000 jobless total.

FRIENDS

General Idi Amin used to proclaim that his greatest friends were the Heath govern- ment and the British army.

Whenever he could corner a foreign correspondent he would rave about the gigantic quali- ties of both these imperialist institutions. Times have changed. Amin told a Press conference last week that his "best friend' was now East Germany. Welcoming East German trade dele- an gation, the bloody tyrant said he hoped the visitors would soon open factories for tractors and pharmaceuticals in Uganda.

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186a Clapham High Street, London SW4 7UG. Art review by a guest reviewer The greatest practical dis- covery of modern Europe is that man is a part- the highest and best part —of the natural world. One of the first cockpits of this discovery was the city of Florence in the 15th and 16th centuries. Turning from the attitudes which pros- medieval trated man before religious beliefs, the artists of Italy set out upon an inspired investi- gation of the world about son and imagination to into their works the beauty that grows in the human body and the forces of nature.

It was 'renaissance'—a the childhood of man in classical Greece, whose myths and art the Gods were brought firmly down to earth and became an idealized expression of man—his body, passions vices and all. Naturally, this process of re- birth required both concep- tion and labour, and these can in many ways best be studied in the drawings and sketches of the artists rather than their hinished works. An major, exciting selection of these drawings are being shown in the Queen's Gallery, Bucking- ham Palace, in an exhibition around Michelangelo, centred Leonardo da Vinci and Raphael. In Michelangelo's study of a male nude the muscles and step through the skin, bones showing the living structure that holds the body together.

It allows it to stand, move and be powerful. You see not so much what your eyes show you, but what you would feel.

Death also enters into the life of the figure: we sense that only Michelangelo, who had carefully dissected real muscles could recombine them together and resurrect a body as alive as this. But there is in the drawing something in conflict with ob- servation and experiment: the figure is also perfect! It was made to demonstrate to a pupil the ideal proportions of the Michelangelo human body. highly contemptuous was of the Flemish artists who, to him, simply according • what they saw before copied them. He believed that true beauty was to be found in ideal forms, more-or-less im- pertectly reflected in the real bodies around us. The task of the artists is not, however, to make some ab- stract attempt to carry the ideal form directly on to the paper, but actually to study nature-not as it is immedi- ately given, but in order to draw out of it the underlying content. Michelangelo had, in fact, a theory of his own con- scious processes. As he wrote in a poem, about ten years after this drawing: 'As my soul. looking through my eyes, draws near to beauty as I first saw it, the inner image grows, while the other the immediate one) re- cedes, as though shrinkingly and of no account? In his drawing therefore, as in any work of human con- sciousness, there exists this eternal struggle between the actual object and the concepts and feelings with which he grasps it. Since he is a genius this conflict is explicit and its resolution is supremely beau- tiful because (not in spite) of being the reflection of nature.

Ironically it was this talent which earned for him from his contemporaries the compli- 'Michelangelo the ment: divine'. Workers Press, Thurs more 91C.7, Deluge'-da Vincl, c1515. Above : 'Ma Leonardo da Vinci was a less religious man than Michel- angelo. He was not only a painter and draftsman but also a scientist, an engineer and an inventor of machines. There exists in him the same conflict of theoretical conception and fidelity to the real world, but in a more abstract and de- veloped form. In his notes on painting he insists requires only the selection of beauty from it. He urges that figures should be varied, since: 'A man can be well-propor- tioned, if he is thick and short, or tall and thin, or medium; and whoever does not observe this variety will always make his figures on a single model, so that they will all look like brothers, which is greatly to be condemned'. But the artist is not only a scientist, he must also 'invent', starting not with any external standard but with his own creativity: "That divine power, which lies in the knowledge of the painter, transforms the mind of the painter into the likeness of the divine mind, for with a free hand he can produce dif- ferent beings, animals, plants, fruits, landscapes, open fields, abysses, terrifying and fearful places? In Leonardo's drawing of 'A deluge' this power of 'inven- tion' stands above any 'imita- tion'. In a few square inches he brings in front of our eyes the terror of uncontrollable forces. Man, as well as the water, is in the drawing, only not as but in the a human figure building which is being des- 53, Thursday January 11, 1973 PAGE 9 7A

LADY

bove: 'Male Nude'- Michelangelo, c1516 troyed by the flood. The destruction is expressed above all in the way the stones are caught up in the vortex of the deluge; but to do this Leonardo must contradict his own teachings on "imitation'— the waves are drawn in a most 'unrealistic' way, not fluid as they would spontaneously ap- pear, but formed and struc- tured to become part of the same moving pattern as the stones. The drawing is realistic only because it abstracts. Unlike Michelangelo, who shows us a body which is idealized but visually possible, Leonardo's drawing is a hybrid between pictorial depiction and a for- mula of physics. In this sense it is the more objective, it is an attempt to carry drawing beyond what can be seen and felt as physically present. It is because Leonardo is a less religious thinker than Michel- angelo that he starts from the necessity for a theory. As he writes: 'In fact, whatever exists in essence, in material form or in imagination, all this the artist has first in his mind and then in the work of his hand' While Michelangelo still thinks of the ideal as lying out- side himself, in God, Leonardo feels it as being his own crea- tion, and so to transform the world to its ideal form he must first—practically-become mas- ter of himself. To see the best of the draw- ings in this exhibition is to witness one of the essential steps of human consciousness on the road to scientifically understanding ourselves and our world. It is a humbling and exhilarating experience.

PAGE 10 Workers Press, Thursday January 11, 1973 12.10 Boomph with Becker. 12.25 Disc a dawn. 12.55 News. 1.00 Pebble Mill at one. 1.30 Trumpton. 1.45 High street. 2.00 Country walk. 2.30 Welsh portrait: 2.50 Workers at risk. 3.20 Children grow- ing up. 3.45 Countryman. 4.10 Play school. 4.35 Jackanory.

4.50 Blue Peter. 5.15 John Craven's newsround. 5.20 Brady kids. 5.40 Magic roundabout. 5.45 News. Weather.

6.00 NATIONWIDE. 6.45 TOP OF THE POPS.

7.15 Z CARS. Skin Game. 8.00 COMEDY PLAYHOUSE. 'The Rescue'. Peter Jones, Nicholas Parsons. 8.30 HOLIDAY 73. A Last Highland Fling? and Pamplona.

9.00 NEWS. Weather. 9.25 COLDITZ. The Way Out.

10.15 MONTY PYTHON'S FLYING CIRCUS. 10.45 MIDWEEK.

11.30 NEWS. 11.35 TAKE ANOTHER LOOK. At Bed and Breakfast.

11.55 Weather.

BBC 2

11.00-11.25 Play school. 6.40 BEHAVIOUR AND BELIEF. The Hidden Curriculum. 7.05 COLLECTOR'S WORLD. 7.30 NEWS. Weather.

7.35

THE WEB

OF LIFE.

The Living Savanna. 8.05 EUROPA. Man and Magic. 8.30 WAR AND PEACE. Two Meetings. 9.15 THE FANATICS. The Time Machine.

9.25

HORIZON.

Worlds in Collision. Dr Immanuel Velikovsky, an American scientist with unusual theories.

10.15 FACE THE MUSIC. 10.45 DUBLINERS. In Concert.

11.15

NEWS EXTRA.

Weather. 11.45

REAL

TIME.

get WORKERS PRESS Do you regularly? If not, why not take out a subscription now? £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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ITV

9.30 Season of Gilbert and Sullivan.

10.30 Riptide. 11.20 Homes of history. 11.35 Galloping gourmet. 12.00 Cartoon. 12.05 Inigo Pipkin.

12.25 Witches brew. 12.40 First report. 1.00 Jokers wild. 1.30 Crown court. 2.00 General hospital. 2.30 Good afternoon.

3.00 Generation three. 3.25 Rivals of Sherlock Holmes. 4.25 Voyage to the bottom of the sea. 5.20 Pebbles and Bamm Bamm. 5.50 News.

6.00 CROSSROADS.

6.55 FILM: 'CRACK IN THE WORLD'. Dana Andrews, Janette Scott, Kieron Moore, Alexander Knox. Science fiction.

8.45 NEAREST AND DEAREST. The French Disconnection.

9.15 DOCUMENTARY: 'THE CHASING GAME'. Steeple chasing.

10.00 NEWS AT TEN. 10.30 CINEMA.

11.00 COOKING WITHOUT TEARS.

Cooking for one-at speed.

11.30 WHAT THE PAPERS SAY. 12.15 LOVE IS DOWN AND OUT.

Napoleon (David Swift) enters Moscow only to find it difficult to on BBC 2. supply his troops in 'War and Peace' Fight Rising Prices Force the Tories to Resign/ Support the Engineers EAST LONDON: Thursday January HACKNEY: Thursday January 11, 'Festival 8 p.m. 11. Inn', Chrisp 7.30 p.m. The Parlour, Hackney 'The crisis of Street Market, E14. Central Hall (opp. Town Hall).

leadership in the working class'.

LEEDS:

Thursday January 11,

TONBRIDGE:

January Thursday 7.30 p.m. Peel Hotel, Boar Lane.

11,8 p.m. 'The Foresters', Quarry Hill Road. GLASGOW: Saturday January 13, Hardie Keir House, 10 a.m. Brougham Street, 'The KINGSTON: Thursday January 11, Greenock. 'The Arms' Common Market and Tory Wage Liverpool p.m. Cambridge Road and corner of Control.' London Road.

CENTRAL LONDON

(Press and Entertainments branch) SLOUGH: Thursday January 11, 7.30 Centre, Sunday January 14, 7 p.m.

Community Class Room, Farnham Road.

11 Floral Street, RSC Rehearsal Rooms, London WC1. Tory GLASGOW Thursday January Defeat Government the •The Build Councils of Action 7.30 p.m. Partick Burgh Hall.

Common Market and the wage Speaker: Philip Wade freeze'. (Workers Press) The Plymouth Fine Tubes This Christmas has been the and 53 It has imposed Strikers, their wives hardest of all. children have just spent their a great financial burden.

Now Christmas on strike with the 37 strikers face the rest of third little money. the winter with a depleted verhese men have waged a strike fund. January is always bitter a difficult month to raise money struggle for the most to further their fight. basic right worker can right to belong poss trade un Yet they are determined to fight on. This is a struggle the a trade union. Strike committee cannot afford to members working class travelled 100.000 lose. That is why the Socialist have over to sustain miles their fight. Labour League and the Work-

REGIONAL TV

CHANNEL: 1.15 News. 1.30 London.

2.30 Women today. 3.00 London. 4.20 Lottery. 4.25 Follyfoot. 4.50 Elephant boy. .20 Doctor at large. 5.50 Lon- News. 6.10 don. 6.00 averick. 6.3. Crossroads. 7.00 Film: "Raw Edge'. 8.15 This is your life. 8.45 London. 10.30 Smith family. 11.02 Cinema. 11.35 Scales of justice. 12.00 News, weather.

SOUTHERN:

10.00 10.15 Twizzle. Guideline. 10.45 Name of the game. 12.00 News. 12.05 London. 2.30 Wo- men only. 3.00 London. 4.25 Land of the giants. 5.20 Cartoon. 5.25 Cross- roads. 5.50 London. 6.00 Day by day.

"Cool Million" Doctor 7.00 Film: 6.30 charge. 8.45 11.00 London. 11.15 Film: News. 11.10 Guideline. 'Bride of Frankenstein'. 12.35 Weather.

HARLECH: 12.05 London. 2.30 Date- 5.20 Chuckleheads. line. 3.00 London. 5.50 London. 5.25 Crossroads. 6.01 6. 1 R Film: Wahe Tru30 Report West. Sky's the limit. About Spring'. 8.45 London. 10.30 A poet's mother. 11.00 Spyforce. 12.00 Weather. ANGLIA: 9.30 Gurkha. 10.30 Cook 11.00 Edgar Wallace. 12.05 Lon- don. 2.30 Katie Stewart. 3.00 London.

4.25 News. 4.30 Land of the giants.

5.20 Flintstones. 5.50 London. 6.00 About Anglia. Crossroads. 7.00 6.35 "The Fake'. Survival. 7.30 Film: 8.45 London. 10.30 Bygones. 11.05 Cinema.

growing! 11.35 Living and 12.05 Frighteners. Film: 'Ac-

ATV MIDLANDS: 10.20

Rendered'. 11.20 Jungle count fighters. 12.00 Today. 12.05 London.

2.30 Women today. 3.00 London. 4.25 Land of the giants. 5.20 Julia. 5.50 London. 6.00 Today. 6.35 Crossroads.

7.00 Please sir. 7.30 Film: 'Charge of the Lancers'. 8.45 London. 11.00 Gardening. 11.30 Film: Sweet, Sweet Rachel. Weather. ULSTER: 12.00 News. 12.05 London.

2.30 Cartoon 210 Rom 4.2 lephant London. News. Elephant five. boy. 4.50 Phoenix 5.20 General hospital. 5.50 London. 6.00 Reports. 6.35 Crossroads. 7.00 Protectors.

7.30 Film: "The Black Dakotas'. 8.45 Lon- don. 11.00 What's it all about. 11.20 Champions. Lidsville.

YORKSHIRE:

9.30 9.55 Fiddler the road. 10.35 Cartoon. on 10.50 Dick Van Dyke. 11.15 Vaughan Williams. 12.05 London. 2.30 Farm- house kitchen. 3.00 London. 4.25 Funky phantom. 4.50 Rovers. 5.20 Partridge 5.50 London. 6.00 family. Calendar. 6.35 Crossroads. 7.00 Film: "Mysterious Island'. 8.45 London. 10.30 Sport. 11.05 Cinema. 11.35 Mod squad.

12.30 Weather. GRANADA: 11.00 Felix the cat. 11.15 Bush boy. 11.40 Lidsville. 12.05 Lon- don. 5.15 Smith family. 5.50 Lon- don. 6.00 News. Police file. 6.30 Sky's the limit. 7.00 Film: 'California Holiday'. 8.45 London. 11.00 Danger man. him.

TYNE

TEES: 9.25

They met 9.30 Lidsville. 9.55 Fiddler on the road. 10.35 Cartoon. 10.50 Dick Van Dvke. 11.15 Vaughan Williams.

12.05 London. 2.30 News. 2.31 Let's face it.

3.00 London. 4.25 Funky phantom. 4.50 Stingray. 5.20 Partridge family. 5.50 London. 6.00 Today. 6.35 Cross- roads. 7.00 Film: 'The Fast Lady'. 8.45 London. 10.30 Sport. 11.00 Police call. 11.05 Cinema. 11.35 News. 11.50 Scales of justice. 12.20 Greatest fights the century. 12.30 Lectern.

GRAMPIAN: 12.02 News. 12.05 Lon- don. 4.25 Skippy. 4.55 Merrie melo- dies. 5.20 General hospital. 5.50 Lon- 6.00 News. 6.05 Try don. for ten. 6.35 Crossroads. 7.00 Film: •Flaming Feather'. 8.15 Stuart Gillies show. 8.45 London. 11.00 Frighteners. 11.30 Scales of justice. 12.00 Meditation.

WATFORD: Monday January 15, 8 p.m. Watford Trade Union Hall, Woodford Road, opposite Watford Junction station. WANDSWORTH: Tuesday January 16, 8 p.m. Selkirk Hotel, Tooting Broadway, SW17. 'The fight for a living wage'. BRISTOL: Tuesday January 16, 7.30 p.m. Building Design Centre, Colston Avenue (opposite SWEB building) . January HOLLOWAY: Thursday Hall, Seven 18, 8 p.m. Co-op Sisters Rd (near Finsbury Park tube). LEICESTER: Wednesday January 8 p.m. 24, Queen's Hotel, Rut- land Street. MIDDLESBROUGH: Sunday Janu- ary 28, 7.30 p.m. Settlement Com- munity Centre, Newport Road.

ers Press wishes to make a special appeal to all trade unionists to take collections in their factories and branches for the Fine Tubes men in order that their heroic and determined action can be car- ried forward. All money should be sent to: Fine Tubes Treasurer c/o 65 Bretonside Plymouth, Devon.

No backing for Scunthorpe steel sparks Workers Press, Thursi NINE HUNDRED elec- employ not been told of any safety An 8p-an-hour rise nego- sacked men plumbers' problems tiated tionally has been frozen by the union workers at Scun- trical said: If they had brought it thorpe's Anchor site, who 08101 me, tne chances are tue lory governments pa were dismissed walked out ifter 38 men strike could not could have solved it in five standstill. after electricians were sacked, have failed it minutes support because decided to work Electrical work the strike breach of understand the men backing called to get December agreed procedures. be working to maxi- site s nearing completion from men in other trades: as a protest against safety

ILAY

mum safety of and the final labour run means conditions. äs a The British Steel Corpo- But

EPTU

Scunthorpe putting pressure on isC to down is expected to begin official Mr O. H. Hancock ration has refused to re- Mr Hancock said he had increase their pay. in about two weeks' time.

BY A WORKERS PRESS REPORTER

PRESIDENT POMPIDOU called for the ending of the floating pound and the return to fixed parities 'in a relatively short time' at his press conference on Tuesday. Replying to a question from 'The Times' correspondent, he said: 'I strongly regretted that Britain could not return to a fixed parity before January 1. I thought I could rest assured on this point, and I regret it'.

Referring to a letter from British Prime Minister, Edward Heath, saying that the floating pound should not dis- turb the working of the Common Mar- ket or its agricultural policy, Pompidou insisted 'this situation cannot go on for long'. He went on to say: 'The decision taken by the Paris summit to take the step towards economic and monetary union implies fixed parities. So I hope sterling will return to one soon. Otherwise it would raise problems for the Community and for Britain's role in it.'

BY ALEX MITCHELL

Pompidou's attack on the floating pound reflects CECIL Harmsworth King; French that Britain's role fears inside Com- the International Pub- neaa of Market United work

WITO

lishing Corporation

(IPC),

has the plan for European monetary slates to disrupt fallen on hard times. union aimed at the dollar. Once he could air his views the largest newspaper chain the world. He had editorial control of such mass-selling pap as the 'Sunday Cecil King (I) with Ethical Society secretary 'People' and Re Peter Cadogan on Tuesday night.

cord' in Scotland. King would pontificate to bered their chairs publication his his of the of diaries-King on about the controversial King everything from Ted ens 01. 'ethics of inflation'. appears only 1o have the the state of the Vietnam a sad was come down of the Ethical Society. war, to politics, cal for the Fleet Mr Runer! the economics. Murdoch, who once aspired high high-flying Australian news- But he got the push from office in a self-styled well busi- paper tycoon, might IPC three years ago. nessmen's Mr case hasn't And his audience King, There is a moral in it ning was onered a peer dwinded. At the age on two occasions (or for him at the Conway Hall, Lon- was it three?) and place

FOOTNOTE:

Other guest don, on Tuesday night, 'Lord Exports'

POMPIDOU

speakers at Cadogan's five King Wilson's government. was speakino on the week-long seminar include Bitterness over the pound shows the tremendous subject But he preferred to wait George Young of the Mon- His lecture for the economic crisis Club, contradictions which orga- day economics are Du one up Inside the nized by the Ethical I Society the chance to each 'partner' struggles to journalist Paul Einzig, whe common Marker laNe the trade improve its Mr Pete the has made flattering in war. ana is secretly Supero bostons in Behind Cadogan. Only 50 turned corporatist Britain. marks about Mussolini, the ballyhoo which greeted British and up! Since his fall from office right-wing Tory MP Huat lnere Is deep suspicion that britain will act This die-hard band slum- and trom Trojan horse representing American interests grace because as a Europe as well as blocking mover asalnot unt dollar. A further devaluation of the pound would sharpen British competition the Common in Market and also alLi 0IU- keep out recove •evice LO European imports. Most of the issues dealt with press conference con- Corica internal Donces marked the entry of the President into the election campaign tended the to win support for

RHODESIA

has closed the Zambesi river frontier on Mon- could not be a passive observer.

allists. border with Zambia in day. an While attempt to stem a mounting the Rhodesian

HOL

тетения government border closure, Kaunda said that spokesman said that Zambia guerrilla campaign aimed at had Britain could re- been warned Smith that measures to overthrowing the sponsibility the 'unfolding

SOME

950

T&GWU

members tratic restric „vorcer would who have been strike for the Rhodesian tragedy'. on logan. taken "terrorists' were per- mitted its week ol The border is closed to all operate from 'We welcomed the "No" reday. The Essex, returned to work road and rail traffic except cop- Letitoly dict given by the today. dispute Pearce Com. was VYaL through _Rhodesia About 50 per ver cent of Zambia's

MISS OR

wHose visi maracenrenl enrecuve unal which highly-lucrative months ago rekindled anew IS change should be carried tyre Or Come troudodes a This the spirit among the workers significant excep- territory, including equipment for out non-maintenance tion demonstrates the weakness the copper mines. at the sufering masses. under the of a Leills parliament Lusaka, ductivity deal. of the Rhodesian economy.

opening o • Three Africans have been Kaunda resident nennelo The workers walked out Smith's forces sentenced to 12 months in security are Zambia described southern I prIson January men were scouring the trontier areas in as a den of iniquity and Bindura. WIll lare laDour In suspended for refusing to do the giving assistance to •OWi alertias mass exploitation'. kinodesia. tor The management has now are raiding farmsteads and guerrillas The case Work. who was agreed to six the planting land He mines on remote said that the liberation behind closed doors for security had they during their dirt roads. Three South Africar SUSa soulnem nunca must de regareed reasons will were five unfinished task de- men and details of their activities.

Dension. pouncemen injured by referred to arbitration. à landminé near the coloniżátion and • that Zambia were not revealed. 38, Thursday January 11, 1973 PAGE 11

ABOUT 3,800

engineers and electrical workers took part in a one-day strike at Hoover's factory in Cambuslang, Lan- arkshire, yesterday. They were protesting against a management offer of £2.90 a week in answer to a claim for a £4 rise. The workers, who have also imposed an overtime ban, are threatening, to strike every Wed- nesday until agreement is reached.

A management spokesman said: 'The stoppage is 100 per cent. It is a token one-day strike which is completely unofficial.'

A MOVE to end the week-old strike at the Goodyear tyre in Wolverhampton tactory failed yesterday. Only 87 of the 250 mill work- ers in dispute turned up for a meeting called by local Transport and General Workers' Union offi- cials. peace proposals which So emerged from union-manage- will not ment talks yesterday now be put to the strikers until a meeting they themselves have arranged for Friday morning.

The dispute, over the com- to discuss pay pany's refusal during the freeze, differentials has stopped Goodyear tyre pro- duction and 2,500 other workers have been laid off. TALKS to end the three-day old unofficial strike by 200 Mersey- side dockers broke down yester- day and will be resumed on Friday. The dispute between and the British and Irish ferry line is over manning. It followed the withdrawal from service for overhaul of one of the Dublin car ferries. Dockers claim has meant a loss of work

TODMORDEN

Monday January 22 'Stalinism' Monday February 5 'Trotskylsm'

THE WEAVERS' INSTI-

TUTE,

Burnley Road, 7.30 p.m.

HULL

Nednesday January 17 Stalinism and Trotskylsm Wednesday January 24 Aarxist theory and the revolu lonary party

WHITE HART HOTEL

Alfred Gelder Street (near Drypool Bridge) 8 p.m.

DONCASTER

Sunday January 21 What future for the labour movement. Sunday January 28 The crisis and the socialist answer. Sunday February 4 The revolutionary party in Britain. Lectures given by Cliff Slaughter.

SPREAD EAGLE HOTEL

Westlaithgate 7.30 p.m.

Airports and Social Security hit by civil servants walk-out We'll not be kicked PAGE 12 Workers Press, Thursday Jani

THERE

were airline traffic delays at Britain's main ter- minals yesterday white as walked out in collar workers protest against the state pay laws. About 200 government workers staged meeting in a lecture at Heathrow's Queen's room Building creating big bottlenecks, particularly at passport control in Terminal One. OVER 2,000 civil servants London's Central Hall, Wes pledge 'total support for whate proposes is necessary to achie 1eni The resolution also con- demned the 'action of the government in again breaking the civil service pay agree- ment'. General secretary of the 200,000-strong Civil and Public Services Association, Mr Bill Kendall declared that civil servants were not going to be kicked around any longer by their government employers.

'We are serving notice on the government as our employers that be kicked not going to we are around in the future,' said Ken- dall to loud applause from the meeting. 'We are telling the government that the freeze is legalized rob- bery,' he went on. 'We are developing national in- dustrial action for the first time in our history and I think we can be proud of that.' And Kendall added: 'We are telling the rest of the trade union movement that we have a moral right if necessary to ask for wider industrial action from other affi- liates of the TUC.' Feeling at the meeting was overwhelmingly in favour of in- dustrial action to secure "justice' from the Tory "government on the issue of the civil • service fair- comparison pay award which was . due on January 1, 1973.

Cheering and clapping erupted throughout the hall when CPSA for the Environment secretary Department, Mr John Ellis, told the meeting that any threats of disciplinary action against mem- bers who took part in yesterday's action would be met by an im- of all CPSA mediate walk-out staff in the Department of Envi- ronment. Mr Kendall also told the meet- ing that in spite of the fact that the TUC Economic Committee had rejected a meeting of public sector unions on pay in favour of going to see the Tory govern- ment, they were going to go ahead with preparing such a meeting. He was disgusted, he said, with the TUC's 'weakness of approach' and its 'submissive attitude' to the government. The possibility of strike action, said Kendall, would be condi- tioned by what was said in Phase Two of the government's White Paper on pay legislation. It would also be conditioned by meetings up and down the country and by the support civil servants got other unions similarly from placed. Mr John Dryden, secretary of the 60,000-strong Society of Civil Servants which was also involved in yesterday's action, declared: 'We are not protesting solely about the present situation-we are protesting because this is the fifth time in the past 10 years that the government has broken its agreement with civil servants?

Civil servants, he said, were due to have a further fair-com- parison pay settlement from Jan- uary 1, 1973. 'We know now we shall not get one penny and we Registered as a newspaper at the Post Office. Published by Workers Press, 186a Clapham High _ Street, London,

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rsday January 11, 1973 At Gatwick, London's second airport, Civil Aviation Authority staff attached to signals centre walked out at 10 a.m.

At Prestwick, near Ayr in Scotland, air traffic control and teleprinter operators walked out to attend a rally at nearby Kil- marnock. An official spokesman said that delays at Manchester Airport were 'minimal. But a protest meeting was held rvants voted unanimously at Il, Westminster yesterday to r whatever action the executive to achieve justice' in their pay The civil servan shall get no retrospective pay- ment either.' Over the past two years, said Dryden, the living standards civil servants have gone down 20 per cent. 'At the end of the freeze, if we do not get justice, then mood of the civil service will be of far greater protest than it is today. 'We will go on until we get.

satisfaction in our fair and just demands,' he concluded. LONDON DOCKERS yester- day picketed a union inquiry into the conduct of five men during a mass lobby of dockers' delegtes last August. The five men-from the river- side and enclosed docks - face from the possible expulsion Transport and General Workers' Union if the inquiry finds them guilty of misconduct under the union's rules. Placards carried by the 20 or so dockers picketing the inquiry condemned the organization of a 'kangaroo court' by the T&GWU leadership. Most of the pressure for an inquiry came from the Tory Press, the dockers pointed out.

The five men-Con Clancy, Ray Halsey, Tony Merrick, John Ray Holmes-were Hatton and called separately into the inquiry, which was conducted by a sub- committee of the union's No. l regional committee. All five said no specific charges or evidence had been laid before them. But the questions they had asked" been were similar-cen- tering on whether they had been involved in a disruption of the workings of union headquarters.

of more than 3,000 staff from the Department of Health and Social Security. A union spokesman said that Giro payments to the public "The would not be disrupted. action is to show that we are disgruntled. It is to show what we could do if we wanted to' than 300 Manchester More customs officers walked off the docks in protest, while at York 200 defence ministry civil ser- vants stopped work and went on ivil servants' Central Halls meeting votes for ac!

BRITISH-LEYLAND'S pre-tax profits for the vear September 30 were £31.9m £2m higher than most City experts expecting. The news sent the company's price up to 37p as against an overnight price of British-Leyland made £32.4m the previous year, but this year According to the union's rules, the committee of inquiry will report back to the regional com- mittee on whether it thinks there is a case against the five dockers.

The regional committee's decision will then be referred to the national executive. THE GOVERNMENT'S decision to slash West End actors' pay by £12 under the laws banning wage increases is expected to have its first major effect today.

Thursday is pay day at most of the West End theatres and actors, particularly those many working on the existing minimum of £25 will be put back on the old pre-November 13 minimum of £18. The anger at the first cuts is expected to strengthen the cam- paign for industrial action preparation for a special meeting actor's union, of the Equity, scheduled for January 28.

Some theatres imposed the cut last Friday, affecting in particular members of the chorus of many big London shows.

parade at Imphal Barracks square to hold a protest meeting.

Over 3,500 Civil Servants attended a mass meeting at the city hall, Candleriggs, Glasgow, yesterday. A further 2,000-strong overflow meeting was organized to cope with the numbers who turned up. The meeting was followed by a demonstration around the City Hall and George Square. Reg Williams, of the CPSA tes for action were hit by miners' and en- gineers strikes. This year's figures were also affected by a loss of £4m by Leyland's South African com- pany. Group sales for the year hit a record £1,281m, compared 1971 figure of with the €1,177m. During the year British- Leyland sold 935,000 cars, an increase of 83,000. But sales of trucks, buses and vans were 13,000 lower at 180,000. Agricultural kept tractors level at 12,000 to make a total of 1,127,000 vehicles of all types against 1,057,000 in the previous year. • Over 20,000 British-Leyland car workers at the Cowley assembly-line plant expect a reply this month to their claim for increases of between £5.80 and £7. The cuts are the result of gov.

ernment orders issued under the anti-inflation legislation.

which would take the minimum up to £30 this week and also cancel a £7 increase paid from November 13. The cuts will also affect actors with parts in long-running shows and plays. Rehearsal pay has also fallen from £20 on Novem- ber 13, to the old £12 minimum.

With the latest increase, rehearsal pay should have been £25.

The Equity Council is expected to meet next Tuesday or the Tuesday after to decide whether to recommend any course of action to the special meeting which is open to all members.

national executive told the meet- ng he wouldn't be opposed te ın all-out strike of civi servants, but that he would want to see it fully prepared. He called for selective strikes and pointed out that prices had not been frozen and that all the sham committees in the world couldn't change it. Social security payments offices were among government depart- ments hit when about 2,000 civil servants held protest meetings in Bristol. Swansea civil servants closed down a new computer depart- ment when they walked out.

In Aberdeen three separate meetings were held, attended by Civil Servants from the Social Ministry of Security, Forestry, Defence, Torry Fishery Research Station and the Customs and En- vironment offices. In the Midlands, more than 3,000 downed pens at 46 Social Security offices. Skeleton staffs stayed on duty, but payments of disable- ment, sickness and supplementary benefits were delayed for up to two hours. About 800 civil servants attended a Birmingham city centre rally. Hundreds left their desks in Cardiff to attend two separate meetings in the city.

12,000 Customs and Excise men joined the strikes. Jack Morrish, general secretary and Excise of the Customs Group, said: 'We cannot rule out possibility of industrial action. Warnings have been given' Press

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AT £209.85 WE ARE still a long way behind raising our £1,750 target for this month. Let's press ahead as never before and push our figure right up. We know we can do it. There is still time to pull the situation around. Civil servants, gasmen - sec- tions of workers who have not been Involved In struggle for years—are now taking up the fight for wages. Everywhere new sections of workers are being drawn into the battle to defend their basic rights. Workers Press is needed more than ever before to prepare these workers politically for the decisive fight against the Tory govern- ment. Only our paper warns of the continuous treachery of this trade union leadership struggles to bulld instead a revo- lutionary alternative. Give us all your support. Help us make a very special effort for January's Fund. Raise extra whereve, you can. Post every donation Immediately to : Workers Press • January Appeal Fund 186a Clapham High Street London SW4 7UG. At the Council meeting Tuesday acall for industrial action and a demand on the TUC to recall a special congress to organize a campaign to force the Tories to resign was rejected.

Average earnings of performers have barely risen over the past five years, while the cost of living has rocketed, according to just survey published Equity. The average for men is f20 a week and women f12-making among the very lowest actors paid in the country. The figures are respectively £16 and £8 less than the average of all earnings shown in Depart- ment of Employment figures for April 1972.