Shrewsbury Two

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The debate on the Shrewsbury pickets, one of whom is a member of the T&GWU, was left until the last day of the conference.

There were two resolutions before the conference. The one supported by the Executive proposed that the 'campaign' be continued. The other called for strike action to obtain their release, and condemned the leadership's 'abject failure' to take adequate action to free the men.

The strike resolution was moved by Ted Gates from London docks. He said that "as far as we are concerned the Executive are not above criticism. The criticism we are levelling is that these men are still in jail"

Seconding the resolution Pat Evans, convenor of BLMC Service Division in Cowley, said the time for talking was over. "We have either got to put up or shut up".

He said the Shrewsbury pickets were not in prison for violence or affray. These charges were dropped. They were put in prison for conspiracy, under an act never before used in an industrial dispute.

He said the problem with the confernece was that the Executive would oppose anything which pro posed action. He recalled that the previous day a resolution was carried supporting the blacking of South African goods. After the vote Jones had realised that they had been committed to action. He had intervened, the vote was taken Warren and Tomlinson- jailed for picketing. again on his and the resolution defeated recommendation.

REACTIONARY POSITION During the debate some extremely reactionary position emerged. One speaker, opposing strike action, claimed that the Shrewsbury pickets had been violent. Standing to the right even of the law courts, he listed alleged acts of violence and damage to property.

A big section of the conference emerged in his support. When his three minute speech time came to an end the conference voted for suspension of standing orders to allow him to finish his blistering attack on the pickets.

He was answered by a building section delegate who described the real violence of the building sites, carried out by thugs hired by the lump operators to beat up workers organising trade unions.

Replying to the debate on behalf of the Executive, the national officer of the building trades section witch hunted those fighting for strike action. He called the strike motion a "scurrilous attack on the | Executive" and went on to say "if certain people keep on telling lies about us we will tell the truth about them"

The no-strike motion, in effect condemning the Shressbury 2 to serve their sentences and allowing the state to establish the precedent of the use of conspiracy laws in industrial disputes was carried by a substantial majority.

The 135 day long sit-in of workers at the Imperial Typewriters factory now faces its sharpest challenge.

After prolonged "studies" by the Department of Industry, the Labour government has announced it cannot find a buyer to continue typewriter manufacture, and that two of the Leicester IT factories have been sold to a clothing manufacturer for warehouse facilities.

Immediately after this news came the employers' all out attack on the Hull occupation - taking out High Court writs for possession of the Hedon Road factory, so that they could sell it off.

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