Steel Strike Steel

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day" , congratulating the oil monopolies on bringing ashore the first North Sea oil.

Benn in his new job thus contin ues the role of confusion glossed over by left talk which has kept him his cabinet position and protected Wilson and Healey.

The British Steel Corporation plant at Port Talbot, South Wales faces total shutdown as the result of a strike by 3,800 steel workers fighting proposals to implement new work schedules, which would mean wage cuts for large numbers in the plant.

The new work schedules drawn up in cooperation with local trade union leaders are a result of the agreement made laste month by the Iron and Steel Trades Confederation and the BSC. The agreement, made unde the supervision of Wedgwood Benn, fraudulently proclaimed. in the capitalist press as a "reprieve" for steel jobs was a plan for rationalisation and speed-up.

In the Port Talbot plant the new schedules, by cutting out weekend working, will effective ly cut the wages of some workers by 30%. Average earnings will then be forced down by between £15 - £20 per week.

Despite the public "row" with Monty Finniston, BSC chairman, and his left posturing at steel workers demonstrations, Benn Hill, London NW5 1HR has continuously collaborated with the BSC board in preparing the present attacks. It was on his initiative as Industry Secretary that the present agreement was made for the destruction of existing manning agreements.

Steel workers must demand that those 'lefts' such as Benn and For urgently take up the defence of jobs and wages against the capitalist class and the Labour right wing or make way for those who will.

The demand must be taken un for the sacking of Finniston and the abolition of the BSC board. Committees of trade unionists at local, regional, and national levels must demand access to all accounts and information available to BSC management, with the right to supervise and contro their actions. This must be the first step to full workers' manage ment of the nationalised steel As the present cutback in demand for steel threatens jobs, the demand for work sharing on full pay must be fought for and the workforce retained in preparatio for eventual expansion of the industry necessary for a socialist planned economy. Only with these: perspectives can steel jobs be defended. The decision of the General Executive of the Newham NE Labour Party to recommend to the GMC that their extreme right-wing MP Reg Prentice be asked to retire at the next general election is a reflection of the hostility of the rank and file of the Labour Party to the betra als of the Labour Government.

This example should be follow. ed in all constituencies with right wing MPs and candidates (including Harold Wilson's constituency). It is in complete contrast to the way the 'lefts' in Parliament have refused to move to challenge Wilson, Jenkins and other Labour leaders.

continued from page 1 This fight begins on the shop floor but must be taken into the Labour Party itself.

In this fight those MPs, like the Tribune Group, who claim to stand to the left of Wilson must stand up and be counted. Their record so far is one of dismal capitulation on every question.

Those who refuse to lead the widest possible fight against Healey's spending cuts will share responsibility for them. The ¡lefts' must fight to remove Wilson and Healey from the Lab our leadership, and replace them with leaders prepared to defend the working class.