Sirs Rides Thetiger

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When dealing with the trade union bureaucracy the capitalist class always knows the kind of men it confronts. As news came over that steel union lead ers had agreed a programme of mass sackings the capitalist press along with BSC officials were sympathetic to the task faced by Bill Sirs, ISTUC secretary who has to sell the scheme to his members.

The Financial Times write for instance:

Union leaders agreed to the deal, which foresees the dismissal of several thousand men and drastic cuts in the earnings of numerous others, because over the past few months they have been genuinely convinced want to secure its survival.

But the capitalist press, unlike the bureaucracy, know that there can be no protection of jobs through speed-up and closures - indead the same article goes on to say many of the 135,000 BSC workers "are being asked to make considerable sacrifices now for what at best can be uncertain future gains."

ORIGINAL SCHEME

The author shows how, under the original six-point speed-ip scheme agreed between ISTUC chiefs Wedgwood Benn and BSC chairman Finniston, many workers stool to lose up to 33% of their previous earnings in the name of "securing the siva!" of British Steel. This w.... · OR local officials refused to cooperate with the deal, preventing its implementation.

Now Sirs has the task of imposing what he estimates as 6 000 compulsory redundancies on his own members, while telling those left in work that he has agreed the guaranteed working week can be "waived" by management, throwing temporarily "unwanted" steel workers on to the dole.

As a BSC official told the Financial Times, "I am sorry for the man, his job is like trying to rise a tiger between Scylla and Charybdis". In other words Sirs a diehard reformist, refuses to challenge capitalism and must balance between BSC and his members.

The need for new leadership in the steel industry has never