First casualty shipyard

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The TUC Congress last week set its face firmly against mobilising mass action to defeat and bring down the job-slashing Tory Decisions were made to press ahead with talks with the Tory government, to maintain the reactionary voluntary restrictions on trade unionists embodied in last winter's Concordat, and to throw out even a token campaign of regional demonstrations against Tory policy.

in short, the stage was set for another year in which union leaders will attempt to prevent independent struggles by their millions of members against the attacks on jobs, social services TUC FIGHT THE CUTS SHIPYARDS on future Labour governments to carry out Labour Party policy was manoeuvred out without a vote when Clive Jankins of ASTMS moved 'next • • - VIT VIITY business' Yet while union leaders manipulated the agenda and formulated demagogic but TALBOT VAUXHALL KELLOG ELLESMERE PORT jobs The first major industry to suffer the full brunt of the Tories' job cuts and the TUC policy of collaboration in these attacks is shipbuilding.

The decision of the recalled delegate conference of shipyard unions at Blackpool last Tuesday to abandon the fight to save 6,000 jobs in the industry marks a major betrayal for shipyard workers.

By deciding to lift the ban on overtime which had been the immediate response by workers to the employers' cutbacks, and allow the ships which are part of the Polish order to be lounched, they have dropped all pretence of a struggle to retain the threatened jobs.

Hostility

That deep seated hostility to this maneouvre is present among shipyard workers was expressed in the anger of the delegates from the Robb Caledon yard in Dundee who stormed out of the meeting vowing to continue the sanctions, and the subsequent mass meeting vote to do just that.

Right wing Boilermakers' leader John Chalmers, who was instrumental in selling the deal, admitted afterwards that the 6,000 jobs might still go. :

Indeed, whatever window dressing Chalmers and other union leaders may create, there is no hiding the fact that the jobs hove been ditched. Chalmers himself has appealed for an improvement in voluntary redundancy payments -to minimise the numbers that are compulsority sacked by British shipbuilders.

Impassioned

In an impassioned ples on behalf of the employer to the Robb Caledon workers to end their resistance, Chalmers last week declared:

"I apper to Dundan to lift restrictione on the Polish ships or, by God, we lie. British hipbuilders!] are in vary serious trouble".

Now that British shipbuilders have the measure ofi such leaders, they will certainly ruthlessly procead to implement the full 10,000 cut in the labour force they aim at by the and of next year.

Spurred on by the demands of the Tory Government that the shipyards must break even the next 18 months, they will swing the axe with & vengeance now.

All the talk of placing Scotstoun Marine and Scott Lithgow facilities at Bowiing Continued page 11