Workers Socialist League

Socialist Press, Trotskyism Today and the Trotskyist International Liaison Committee, 1975–1984

of Picketing down workers' throats

Socialist Press no. 149, 9 May 1979 · scan pp. 11–12 · about 1,187 words

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But this understates the real majority, as it was the larger branches that threw out the deal most violently. Branches receive one vote for every ten members.

On this basis, the result was only 2,700 votes in favour of the Executive recommendation, with a massive 17,008 votes against.

Barbed hook

The Executive held an emergency session last week to work out some way of getting off this unpleasantly, barbed hook. This year's crushing defeat for Jackson's decades-old policy of collaboration was ensured by the so-called 'efficiency' agreement.

In this clause partial consolidation was traded off against the introduction of part-time staff and a 'work study' scheme of speed-up preparations.

Jackson and his band of bureaucrats decided to put this part of the deal on ice, and press ahead with demands for the rest of the agreement to be met by Post Office management.

This is only a stalling manoeuvre. Jackson's main concern now is to avoid the alarming possibility of a strike.

Management, clearly determined to launch a widespread attack on manning levels throughout the Post Office, is unlikely to concede any significant ground at this stage.

At the same time, the scandalous offer recommended by the Executive has provoked anger and fierce militancy throughout the UPW. There is little doubt that the present deal would have been accepted two months ago, if it had excluded the 'efficiency' agreement.

No confidence Now Jackson can have no such confidence. The annual conference later this month will certainly see unprecedented attacks on the sordid betrayals of the union bureaucracy.

In this context, Jackson will have to puil out every stop to UNION DUES The London Regional Committee of the TGWU meets this Tuesday and Wednesday.

On the agenda will certainly be the fate of the 16-month long dispute for union recognition at Garners Steak Houses.:

Before the General Election rumours spread and bureaucrats made open remarks revealing their desire to sell out the heroic group of strikers.

Despite the fact that union rights and the question of police limits on pickets will now be an even more central issue than before, the full time officials such as Shorter and Sid Staden, refuse to organise the militant picketing and blacking action necessary to secure a basic right.

However, a sell-out is not so TGWU DELEGATE CONFERENCE The Garners Strike Committee is calling a TGWU Delegate Conference on Saturday 9 June. For more information write or phone Garners Strike Committee, IGW Room 84, 12/13 Henrietta Street, London WC2. Tel: 01240 1056.

Feball AT THE easy to engineer since the strikers have shown a real determination to fight on.

A Day of Picketing-organised with no aid whatever from officials-led to effective picketing all day on Garners restaurants in the West End last Saturday.

And a conference for TGWU members (see advert below) is still planned by the Strike Committee for June 9.

At a lobby of the Regional Committee the measures necessary to win will be demanded.

And it will be made clear that any moves to stab the strike will be met with resistance so sharp as to deal hammer blows at any remaining credibility of TGWU Region 1 bureaucrats in the eyes of their membership.

Shorter WON'T STAND O'FISHALL! THE MEMBERS FOR IT... EVEN THE HEATH GOVNT WAS A DISASTER CHAOS...

...THOUSANDS OF THE BUGGERS RIGHT...

THIS IS THE MOMENT OF TRUTH, BROTHERS!

British Leyland management have taken an important initiative in their drive to force in their corporate bargaining package.

They have declared that five of BL Cars' 34 factoriesCowley Assembly, Cowley Body, Swindon, Common Lane and Llanelli-have met management's unilateral and very obscure productivity criteria and thus qualified for the first two stages of 'parity' payments -averaging about £5 per week for each worker.

The payments they said would be 'banked' on behalf of each individual worker and only paid when every group in the plant had accepted their highly contentious new grading structure-which downgrades large sections such as direct production workers and creates a differential from top to bottom of £20 a week.

This set the scene for Cowley Assembly Plant management to inform Senior Shop Stewards that they intend, following the craftsmens' strike to implement the new grading structure-which is key to their corporate bargaining plans-with or without the agreement of the trade unions on the piant.

In order to increase the carrot-the, lump. sum in the bank-they also announced that they have unilaterally introduced the incentive scheme which was rejected by mass meetings a year ago.

This, they said, had paid out per week in March and £2 'CANDLE-LIT WINTERS...

AND THAT TOFFEE-NOSED BITCH COULD CAUSE US EVEN MORE PROBLEMS!

IT'S NOT ON!!!

..SO WE WANT SECRET BALLOTS, LAWS AGAINST PICKETS, AN END TO THE CLOSED SHOP AND A CLAMPDOWN ON UNOFFICIAL STRIKERS.

ISEEM TO HEAR IS THIS EVERY TIME THAT I COME TOL. ALL? HMMM NUMBER TEN. NICE WINE (BUT FISHALL -THATCHER'S WON! per week in April in addition the parity payments.

To facilitate the forcing in of the grading, management invited all three unions on the plantAUEW; TGWU and EETPUto what they termed a "job slotting" exercise at the end of last week.

The exercise was a means of claiming that they had had some consultations before forcing the grades in.

The AUEW and the EETPU accepted the invitation but the TGWU refused to attend.

Two weeks ago negotiations on the parity package broke down at BL National Negotiating Committee level wheń management refused to honour the principle of mutual agreement on productivity criteria.

The deadlock was referred to the Executive Committee of the Confed, which then met with BL management at the highest level.

The result of this meeting was a joint recommendation to the LCJNC to accept new broductivity criteria mutually agreed between management and the Confed.

Although the „ LCJNC accepted these proposals by a majority of 14-12, talks broke down again when it was revealed that the productivity target that must be attained by manual workers to trigger the parity payments had been inflated to include financing payment to supervisors and staff employees in BL, as well as the whole cost of paying rises to manual workers arising from the recent national agreement on premium rates.

This information resulted in the matter again being referred to the CSEU Executive.

The Cowley management initiative has gone ahead despite this deadlock and reference back.

Condemned. ' They claim to be acting on a commitment they gave to the convenors of the craft unions in the plant at the end of the craftsmen's strike.

A meeting of TGWU stewards on the plant has condemned the actions of the craft unions in allowing themselves to be used as a tool of management policy.

There is little doubt that semi-skilled workers will resist the implementation of the new grading when the company make their next move.

If they don't, management will certainly use their success at Cowley to force it in throughout the rest of BL Cars.

OH!. REALLY?

GET ME MY BRIEFCASE!

YES WELL, ER (BURP) I THINK WE CAN, ER, "COOPERATE" IN PUTTING BRITAIN BACK ON HER FEET!

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SOCIALIST

← Contents of Socialist Press no. 149, 9 May 1979