Break Links with Toriesno!

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IT WAS a life and death struggle that established trade unions in Britain and internationally.

We now have a similar struggle to defend the trade union movement against the attack being led by Norman Tebbit. The unions are the basic organisation of the working class that defend our interests against the boss class. Without them we would be working in pigsties with slave wages.

In countries like Chile and Turkey where unions have been abolished, soldiers watch the production line to make sure there's no trouble.

Threatens

Norman Tebbit's new Bill on 'trade union reform' threatens the whole existence of the unions. It severely restricts the right to strike. It makes strikes in solidarity with other workers unlawful. If you join a solidarity strike your union can be sued for up to £250,000 for damages.

The closed shop, won after years of struggle, which is an agreement that everyone who works in certain factories or industries must have a union card, is under massive attack. They are encouraging scabs who want to reap the benefits of the union, while not being a union member.

Rip up

They are offering them up to £25,000 to defy the unions and rip up their cards and go to an industrial tribunal.

It also gives the bosses the right to. clear the militant workers out of a workplace after a strike. It means that they can pick and choose who they have back after the strike.

All in all this Bill, which has many mere restrictions than those outlined here, if enforced, would restrict unions to vocal opposition againsi any attacks.

We say this law has to be stopped before it starts.

In 1974 the Heath Tory government tried to introduce similar legislation -the Industrial Relations Act. It had many of the restrictions that Tebbit is proposing. That time, workers defied it. Five dockers were jailed. The strike action that followed forced the TUC to call a one day general strike. This strike didn't even go ahead. The Tories backed down immediately and the dockers were freed.

Unfortunately, it seems that the TUC haven't learnt the lessons from that struggle. Up to now they have only offered words against the Bill and are organising a pathetic fund to pay the fines incurred by unions as a result of the Bill. We could certainly do without this grovelling defeatism. It is time to fight.

While the Tories step up their attacks on the unions in this way, the TUC continues to sit on the National Economic Development Council, a union/ government body to discuss the economy. We say the unions should break off all links with the Tories — we have nothing in common with them.

We say that the TUC should be preparing a campaign of defence for trade unionists who defy the Tory Bill and go on strike, not through paying fines, but through supportive strike action.

Most of all we say that this Bill should not be allowed to become law. We say the TUC should organise a one-day general strike on the day of the final reading in Parliament, as the start of a massive campaign against the Bill.

We must all do our bit to fight this Bill. We must fight to get our unions and our YS branches campaigning on these policies and fight to put pressure on the TUC to organise action, not words to kill this Bill.

The Mobilising Committee in Defence of Trade Union Rights, initiated by Socialist Organiser and London Labour Briefing and endorsed by a 250-stri Trade Union Der cracy conference as v as a number of si stewards' committees South Yorkshire is fig ing for the policies abor Copies of their labr movement petition action against Tebbit ( be obtained from Oxf Trades Council, 167 Walton Road, Oxfor

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•"Fascism is not going away. We need to be defensive, but we must also go on the offen-& sive against racism and fascism."

Coventry North East YS members report able"), the Tories have to invite a speaker from in the YS a different per- the National Left Wing

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SOCIOST STRIKE STOP 00 ....