Officials gang up on steelworkers

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The real face of Concordat-style leadership is being exhibited by leaders of Britain's biggest steel union, the Iron and Steel Trades Confederation (ISTC).

General Secretary Bill Sirs is one of the extreme right wing rump on the TUC that signed the document A Better Way, advocating permanent wage controis.

Steelworkers are likely to start paying the price for this policy this year if Sirs has his way.

The IST's pathetically small 8% claim-garnished with a series of other demands including a shorter working week, extra holidays and a 4½% payment for past productivityhas been turned down flat by British Steel management, who have offered only 5% plus a productivity deal.

NION DUES HITT Sirs-who opposes class struggle-has responded to this insult ... by calling in ACAS!

The scene is therefore set for a pay deal which will leave 90,000 steelworkers worse off than they were a year ago.

But there is also little chance that there will be anything like 90,000 steelworkers this time next year. BSC's rationalisation programme, which has already axed thousands of jobs, now threatens 1,700 jobs at Scunthorpe and 2,300 in the closure of the Bilston steelworkers.

"Better way"

Bilston was temporarily reprieved last year after Sirs got up at the ISTC conference and noisily threatened an all-out steel strike in its defence.

Not this year. Now he has found "A Better Way" . Accordingly, ISTC leaders meeting last Friday made no decision even to fight the closure until they had heard more details of their members' case!

Presumably therefore it is noW necessary for ISTC members to argue with union leaders why they should keep their jobs!

With the advanced level of union "participation" alongside BSC management, a meeting with Sirs and the ISTC execu- PHOTO: John Sturrock, Report tive must seem like an interview with the CBI.

But the pinnacle of Sirs' squalid class collaboration so far must be his invitation to "people's prince" Charles Windsor to address the ISTC's delegate conference in Bournemouth in June.

While the fellow feeling between Sirs and his fellow parasite and reactionary is probably not unique, there are few union bureaucrats more in need of a royal decoy to divert attention from their total betrayal of the membership.

EXCUSE ME OFISHALL - BUT THIS YEAR'S ISTC CONFERENCE WILL BE EVEN SMALLER THAN TLAST YEAR'S!

OT2I WE'D BETTER FEATURE A SPEAKER WHO WILL SLAM YOUTH UNEMPLOYMENT AND SLATE THE BOSSESBE SERIOUS!! OR WE'LL END UP WITH THAT SHOP FLOOR RABBLE UP ON THE PLATFORM PUTTING THE CAT AMONG THE PIGEONS... TH'MMM, YES, THE REDUNDANCIES MAY HAVE HELPED BALE OUT BSC.-BUT THEY DONT HELP OUR MOMBERSHUP FIGURES!. YOU'D BETTER CUT THE ORDER FOR LUNCHES..

Sirs LAST YEAR?

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Of tall AT THE

(A REAL SCOURGE OF MANAGEMENT! HOW ABOUT YOU, BILL?)