Garners Strike Faces Official Attack

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In the next few weeks strike on January 27 the labour movement can expect a torrent of lies and distortions from the London Region leadership of the TGWU.

In a week where their 12 months of treachery has resulted in massive fines for supporters arrested on the picket lines, the Regional leadership has been desperately manoeuvring to split the Strike Committee and intimidate them into silence over Regional Secretary Staden's notorious agree. ment with the police limiting the picket line numbers to six.

À week ago last Monday, the Strike Committee, summoned to Regional Headquarters, suffered a ferocious attack from Secretary Staden.

This onslaught began with Staden (a Communist Party member) attacking the strike committee for issuing a bulletin after the mass picket on 8 December which criticised his secret agreement with the police which had led to the arrest of 14 pickets including Staden's fellow CP member, Brent Trades Council chairman Tom Durkin.

Deal with police He stated his position that the agreement with the police would stand, that the TGWU would not. support anyone arrested on a picket line with more than six people on it.

This, he said, "included Tom Durkin or anyone else". In future the Regional Committee (meaning Staden and full time official Les Shorter) would block official support for policies not vetted by themselves.

He repeated the threat that the "union would reassess their support for the strike after the 27th."

The tactic is the traditional one of all bureaucrats.

They hope to gag the strike PHOTC: Andrew Wiard, Report 1647 TGWU branch meeting at the end of March 1978, mass picketing on Saturdays has always been the policy of the Strike Committee.

But once enough confusion had been sown, the Strike Committee eventually split 3-3 on the issue.

Staden will now try to exploit his successful manoeuvre by calling off the mass picket planned for Januarty 27.

He will use the same pretext that APEX leader Grantham exploited in August 1977 at Grunwicks, arguing that the Strike Committee backed the decision to call off the mass picket planned for August 8.

Unfortunately for Staden, this manoeuvre came too late to prevent the Garners Support Committee from issuing a leaflet, backing the mass picket and correctly condeming Staden's agreement with the CON STRIKE4 GARNERS HORKERS LNINRICOGNITON SAY NOVA The significance of last week's meeting is that Staden has now openly admitted for the first time that there is an agreement with police and that he is sticking to it..

We challenge Staden to publicly argue against a mass mobilisation on the 27th and defend in front of the labour movement the fact that he has sold the right to picket for arbitrary limits imposed by the Those on the Strike Committee prepared to take up the fight against their own leaderon March 3.

The Strike Committee must take up Durkin (who has personally protested to Moss Evans over the Region's treachery) and demand he supports the call for a mass picket on 27 in the London District Committee of the Communist Party and the Greater London Association of Trades Councils.

In particular CP chairman Mick MeGahey, who joined the picket line briefly last week, should state openly the attityde of his organisation on this ques. tion.

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leading up to the first anniversary of the Garners