Reinstatement fight exposes TGWU

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A SPECIAL 'SOCIALIST PRESS' REPORT Colin Carty speaking to pickets during the two week strike PS workers picketing the gates of the site Brazen collaboration between right wing TGWU District and Regional officials and management at the Export Packing Services plant was highlighted last week by the outcome of an Industrial Tribunal hearing.

Former EPS militant Peter Barnes had been sacked from EPS earlier in the year, accused of physically assauiting the plant's right wing TGWU convenor Reg Adkins.

But at the point where both: the company and the union bureaucracy were faced with the collapse of their case at the Tribunal, Barnes accepted a £1,000 buy off from EPS.

The company made this offer in order to attempt to end any further examination of the events surrounding Barnes' sacking.

Victimise In fact the sacking was one of the products of a desperate attempt by TGWU official Bill Morris to victimise those militants that had formerly held the leadership in the plant, and above all Colin Carty, who had been plant convenor prior to Adkins.

Carty and the left-wing dominated shop stewards committee had established a consistent record of struggle in defence of the interests of workers in the plant.

In the autumn of 1977, following the TGWU conference rejection of wage controls, they led an immediate five-week strike against Phase 3.

This was eventually sold out by Morris, who argued in favour of accepting the 12-month rule.

Shortly after this betrayal events began to take shape which bear all the hallmarks of a management/union frame up to remove Carty.

A few weeks after the strike management sacked a militant member of the TGWU branch committee.

Because of the recent sellout on wages, it was not possible to get strike support from the whole site.

But Morris quickly urged stewards to lead a minority action, picket the gates, and stop supalies in order to halt After a week of such action management began to whip up hostility among those still working by claiming that the strikers were endangering their jobs.

Morris then appeared on the site, called a mass meeting and a vote of no confidence was passed against the stewards. He then immediately ordered fresh stewards' elections throughout the site.

Right wing led

The result was a right-wing dominated stewards' committee, which then elected Adkins convenor.

But Carty and the militant stewards were still a force to be reckoned with, retaining a broad basic support on the site.

And this support increased teedil., as dha vinht aniMAl MIGra shown to be incapable of the slightest resistance to redundancies or the rundown of the site.

Morris and the management had to tackle this by attacking both Carty and the TGWU branch, of which he had remained chairman.

The point chosen for this coordinated victimisation was when Carty, as an officer of the branch, attended the election of a steward on the site..

Despite the fact that branch officers hiad traditionally attended such meetings, EPS management declared Carty had no permission to attend.

Suspended

They escorted him off the site and suspended him on full pay.

In this action they were fully backed by Morris. Arguing that Carty had no right to attend the meeting, Morris prevented the newlyelected steward from taking office-thus also forestalling the creation of a left-wing majority on the stewards' committee, which would have spelt doom for Adkins.

Suspending Carty on full pay was a move designed to minimise the chances of strike action in his defence, especially with the continuing threat of further redundancies in the air.

But management did not feel so confident as to sack Carty. After five weeks' suspension he was reinstated with "reprimands" on his record card.

Frightened

Despite this attack, Carty's support strengthened, and convenor Adkins became frightened to call a mass meeting on anything for fear of an inevitable vote of no-confidence.

Eventually the annual wage review last Spring made a mass meeting unavoidable.

Morris was brought in to chair the meeting. When the no. confidence motion was raised from the floor he ruled it out of order and closed the meeting.

This. bureaucratic move provoked heated arguments between the platform and several hundred workers before the meeting finally dispersed.

The convenor, with Morris, then went straight to management and complained that he had been physically assaulted by Peter Barns during the argument.

Management sacked Barns. Their main witness against him was TGWU official Bill Morris!

Vindicate

A large number of witnesses at once came forward to vindicate Barns. But management allowed only two to testify, in his defence at the appeal-which was rejected.

The witch-hunters of TGWU Region 5 then decided to press home their advantage. They instituted another of their notorious "inquiries" into "all aspects of industrial relations at the site"

Though clearly designed to pillory Carty and the previous leadership, this kangaroo court urse paroful to nive the accused no means of defending themselves.

No charges were actually laid. No individual was actualiy named. The Regional Committee F&GP simply sat in the plant and invited anyone to come along and complain about the previous stewards' committee or Colin Carty.

The F&GP concentrated their attack on Carty's refusal to recommend a return to work during the two week strike over the sacking; on the allegation that someone swore at a branch meeting; and the events at the mass meeting from which Barns was sacked.

The "inquiry" also attempted-without success-to drum up more serious witnesses to support Morris' allegations against Barns.

Travesty

The Regional Committee has yet to pronounce a verdict resulting from this latest travesty of an "inquiry".

They must know, however, that in the event of victimisation of Carty or other militants action would be taken on the site.

But alongside these frame-up proceedings, Barns was continuing to fight. his sacking, though denied any representation at official level from the TGWU.

Eventually, and wrongly, he made application to an Industrial Tribunal.

As a former member of the WSL, Barns should have had no illusions in the "justice" dispensed by such bodies.

One witness only But with the trumped up charges backed by only one witness-a TGWU official-and eleven witnesses to support his case, Barns clearly felt that the case could be won.

There is no doubt that, thouah turning to the Tribunal was a retreat, it did represent a real embarassment to the TGWU bureaucracy and to management.

A week before the hearing, EPS offered £600 as an out-ofcourt settlement. Barns turned it down, correctly insisting on reinstatement.

Minutes before the hearing opened this offer was upped to €800.

Two hours later, after fierce cross examination of the EPS personnel manager had led to their case falling apart, management increased their offer to £1,000. Barns accepted it.

This betrayal has let Morris and Adkins right off the hook. Exposing their collaboration with management would have weakened the bureaucratic moves against Carty.

Over a hundred years after Karl Marx organised a 25,000 strong march in protest against the hangings of the Manchester martyrs, the Prisoners Aid Committee is calling a national Day of Solidarity with Irish prisoners of war, to be held in London on November 26.

The mobilising leaflet for the campaign points out the vicious role of British imperialism in its defence of capitalist rule in ireland and goes on to demand the solidarity action that is the duty of the British workers' movement.

It calls on trade union and political bodies to pass the following resolution.

"We give full support to the right of Irish political prisoners to be treated as Prisoners of War and with the right of those sentenced in England to serve their sentences with their comrades in freland. We shall be supporting the Day of Solidarity with Irish Prisoners of War called by PAC for November 26 and we support the demands of that demonstration:

*Solidarity with Irish POWs.

*POW status and amnesty for all Irish political prisoners.

*Brits out of Ireland!"

We urge Socialist Press readers to take up this important campaign and do everything possible to ensure that trade union ard labour movement banners fuure far more prominently on this coming PAC march than on its July demonstration, on which only seven trade union bodies were represented.

Copies of resolutions passed should be forwarded to, and more information obtained from PAC, 2a, St. Paul's Road, London N1.

Assemble 2.30 p.m. Speakers Corner, Marble Arch, march to Clerkenwell Green..

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