Stalinists Stab the Great Day of Action Sel-out

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On Saturday January 27 TGWU Region 1 Secretary and leading Stalinist Sid Staden, and his. regional organiser Les Shorter, sat in the Garners Strike Committee rooms, whilst supporters' of the strike mounted an anniversary picket on all Garners Restaurants, with 200 massed at Oxford Street at lunchtime, and 200 at Whitcombe Street in the evening.

How many delegations did the Regional Committee mobilise from its 1600 branches and half-a-million ,members? How many Regional Committee members turned up to support the anniversary of a bitter struggle for the basic democratic right, to join the TGWU?

THE ANSWER IS OF COURSE-NONE!

The sole contribution of the whole Regional leadership came when Staden, Shorter and fulltime catering officer Abrahams crawled out of the strike committee rooms and crept around the picket lines, hoping to find the strike collapsing through FCE **8983 TRADE UNIUN lack of support, and intent on avoiding a confrontation with militant strike committee members and pickets.

This astounding act .of treachery coming at the end of a long record of sabotage by Stalinist Staden, now implicates the whole regional leadership of the TGWU in a sharp move to the right.

In the context of a national press witch-hunt against the lorry drivers' strike, the Garners strike is now on the receiving end of the 'TGWU national leadership's cringing betrayal of the right to picket. • Staden with the Regional Committee's consent, has already agreed with the police to limit picketing to six.

Saturday showed that they are now unwilling even to make a token show of attendance as on previous Garners demonstrations.

The same stand was taken by Staden's fellow Stalinists Durkin and Stiller on GLATC, Dunn, chairman of SERTUC, and Gordon McLennan, General Secretary of the Communist Party (who has stood on the picket lines just long enough to have his photo taken).

• Not one of these Stalinists Pickets on the Day of Action mobilised themselves-let alone delegations from the bodies they supposedly represent.

In contrast, there was a massive turn out by the forces of the state, who on Saturday protected Garners boss Margolis with a least 400 assorted police (twice as many as those picketing).

We warn the bureaucrats and time servers in the Region 1 leadership like Regional Committee members Nicholson, Rechnits, Kirby, Dorchester, O'Sullivan, Maher • and Westermann and full timers Blamerhauzer and Cavanagh, that everyone implicated in the sabotage of this strike will emerge-win or lose-with a record.

We intend to fight alongside the strike committee to ensure that their record of betrayal and sabotage will stand as an indictment of class collaboration for all workers and especially those in the TGWU to see.

The strike committee must draw strength from the fact that Saturday's turnout, which included delegations mobilised by the WSL from Brighton, Oxford and Sheffield, was large enough to prevent Staden and Shorter using it as a pretext for calling the strike off.

The strike committee must now carry forward their fight against Margolis and their Regional leadership who capitulate all along the line to him, by campaigning for suport within the TGWU for a national TGWU delegate conference, and a day of action on March 3.

In this campaigning they will have the full support of the WSL and its supporters.

The only problem for the striking haulage continues to be their official At a time when employers all over the country are collapsing by settling for the full £65 but without the 35 hour week, the TGWU is weakening the membership by negotiating different agreements in different areas:

Turned In Northern Ireland the officials recommended ассерtance of a £62.50 offer as what they called "the best that could be negotiated'.

This was turned down by a mass meeting of the membership.

in Hull the officials negotiated a £64 settlement.

But worst of all was the decision by the stewards in the Bristol area to accept a union negotiated agreement to return OH NO! THEY'RE EVEN GETTING TOGETHER NOW!

THatur END In DOWN PAY DOWN END WITH CONTE WITH LOW 5% 5% PAY.

AND THE NUR OFFICE... OF COURSE, YOU WERE RIGHT. RAY- BUT YOU WELL SID- NOW DO YOU SEE WHY KNOW HOW MUCH I WE MADE SUCH AN ISSUE OF HATE ANY STRIKES!

OUR BONUS CLAIM?

ASLET VUR The decision of the ASLEF executive to call off their programme of one day strikes and to submit their claim for a 10% bonus payment to the tender mercies of Lord McCarthy must qualify as the most blatant betrayal of the year.

Both the major blue collar rail unions ASLEF and the NUR are supposed to be pressing wage claims of up to 20% for their members.

Instead they have concentrated on defusing the wages pressure by squabbling over a much smaller diversion.

The strikes were called, not over the pay claim, but over a Sid Weighell to work 1 ih no money.

They ave agreed tr arbitratic by a 3-man tee.

Weighted

The committee-consisting of Frank Cousins, and' RHA nominee Geoffrey Jones, and chaired by Industrial Society Director John Garnett-is so weighted in favour of the employers that the RHA is now talking of settling nationally for the figure it recommends.

After the Bristol decision, TGWU Regional Secretary. Ron Nethercott said that these were:

"the first group of workers to say that the nation matters, and I am proud of them."

Shortage of parts

This attitude of many TGWU officials is shown by the events in Cowley this week where British • Leyland production is stopped because IN THE NUPE OFFICE...

THANK GOODNESS ALAN HAS INSISTED ON ONLY (SECTIONAL STRIKES- HELL KEEP THE REST HE'D NUPE GAMNU FINALLY, CONGRESS HOUSE. separate claim for a 10% bonus granted last year to guards on rural trains.

That claim had been one of the many side products of the union leadership's refusal to challenge the government wage controls head on:

It was Lord McCarthy's 'Railway Staff National Tribunal which told ASLEF last year that only drivers of high speed trains would get the payments.

Now Ray 'Buckton, • "left"-talking general secretary of ASLEF, has invited this arch fixer for the Labour gavernment to rule against his members once again!

This time however Lord •McCarthy is likely to come up with draconian measures for axing jobs-British Rail wants 20,000 slashed.

Although the ASLEF action has been presented as foundering on ideological differences between ASLEF and the NUR in general and Buckton and Sid Weighell (NUR general secretary) in particular, nothing could be further from the truth.

Both these men have fully accepted massive job cuts and neither has any intention of fighting the real battle for all round increases on pay way outside the 5% limit.

• Clashes HELLO LADS, IT'S LEN HERE -NICE WORK SO FAR!

JIM AND / WANT TO SHOW YOU OUR NEW SOCIAL CONTRACT!

• They are using the gladiator¡al' clashes between them to a common cause-diverting the members! militancy over wages up a blind siding. of a shortage of Llanelli.

The company have been trying to get the Morris's transport department to do what Leyland drivers are doing at Longbridge and every other plant-cover the work of striking Welsh RHA members.

The stewards refused to do this-rejecting equivocal. letters from the Welsh TGWU Regional Secretary George Wright.

But on Friday a letter arrived signed by both Wright and by the chairman of the Welsh central strike committee D. Driscoll.

This read:

"The policy of the Central Strike Committee of Region 4 (Wales) is that all 'own account" vehicles arè allowed to carry all 'own account' loads including work normally carried by RHA firms still in dispute. This. is to bring further pressure on the RHA firms to settle at £65 for 40 hours.

"Therefore tE T&GWU OFFIÇE..

SOCIAL CONTRACT Buckton Members of all three rail unions must demand that their executives call action now over the pay claim-action that unites railway workers instead of trying to divide them.

All-out strike action -not for one day but unlimited strikesis the only way for the claims to be won.

Councils of action

Members must also demand that their executives refuse to discuss the loss of any jobs.

One of the biggest nighmares facing Weighell-who wants no part in any action-is that the NUR has a policy of demanding this year an extra 20,000 jobs on the railways. This claim must also be ruthlessly pursued.

Strike committees must be set up which cut across union divisions and counter the officials' attempts to divide up the membership.

Rail workers called out on strike should link up with other workers to form councils of action to • coordinate the struggles against government wage control. above policy British Leyland drivers and lorries can move between Wales and Cowley all loads including anything normally carried by the RHA firms still in dispute on the clear understanding that RHA firms that settle at £65 for 40 hours their mormia tork returned to Their norma work.

After. checking that the letter had been endorsed by the local strike committee in Llanelli, Cowley transport section stewards reluctantly agreed to authorise the movement of the material.

But before the convoy of vehicles reached the Welsh plants, an objection was raised by the local lorry drivers' strike committee in Oxford, who stated that the dispensation had not been cleared with them.

The vehicles turned around and returned to Cowley empty. * As we go to press it seems that the RHA have used the Bristol tribunal as' a device to make a new offer of £64 - a settlement of over 20%.

JUST AS WELL ALEX .. AND OUR SEPARATE HAS GOT TO WORK SETTLEMENTS SHOULD BREAKING UP PICKETS! BREAK EM UP A BIT MORE!

TAGWO RIGHT LADS - I NEED YOUR AGREEMENT NOW...

REMEMBER: UNITY TIS STRENGTH!

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SOCIALIST As the Bakhtiar regime in Iran provokes new hostility every day through its repression and massacres, so the ST number of indications of their support for the Shah-appointed Bakhtiar government and also of their • pititess cruelty-with hundreds shot dead or injured.

But they have still failed to gain much political control over violence in Nottingham

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TGWU OFFICIAL STRIKE

RECOGNITION UNION DUES

Victory the -Corners strike! ERE

Train PHOTO: John Sturrock, Report