Kelly, Peach, picket: CLASS JUSTICE

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Eg law protest After this flurry. of highflown stuff, it's back to naked self interest.

"If on the Times we had been able to rely on an informed public opinion, our agreements would not have required fifty weeks, not fifty days, not fifty minutes.

«People would have been pressing for higher producticity as the only conceivable way to raise pay and secure jobs.

"It is the employer who does not instal new technologies against whom reasonable men would strike."

Not that this perspective of the destruction of the trade unions has taught the Times chapels leadership the rules by which the employers are playing.

In a token and plaintive piece by Barry Fitzpatrick, chairman of the all union liaison committee, we can find further references to what the 'nation needs' and appeals to use "the energy and expertise solutions, that exists on both sides to develop and expand our [!) business."

Kingdom this century."

While this is undoubtedly true, the exclusive focus on this particular "restriction. of press freedom at a time when almost every month reveals the massive level of press censorship of news on the war in Ireland certainly exaggerates the existing. "freedom of the press".

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The Campaign circular points out that the new Bill (introduced through the "back door" of the House of Lords), would enable Ministers unilaterIn three brazen deciarations of class justice last week the Tory government, courts and police revealed the extent to which British capitalism is prepared to go to protect its armed agents and strikebreakers.

On Friday November 9, a scab lorry driver knocked down and hospitalised a picket at a Manchester direct works department.

But police refused I to prosecute the scab-arguing that the incident took place on a ally to decide what information| was likely to cause "damage to the nation"' , and would effectively outlaw all public discussion and reportage of security, defence, and intelligence matters.

And it would become an offence for anyone to complain publicly that his/her telephone was being tapped!

The fight against this Bill must be urgently taken forward in the labour movement, which must declare its willingness to take action in defence of anyone victimised under the proposed new laws. "private road" , and that it was therefore an accident"

4,500 building workers have been so angered by this clear bias against pickets that they called protest strikes last Friday and this coming Tuesday.

As convenor Walter Wainwright pointed out if the pickets had dragged the driver from his cab and assaulted him the police would immediately have moved in to arrest him.

On Wednesday Home Secretary Whitelaw brushed aside growing demands for a public inquiry into • the murder of Jimmy Kelly, a 53-year old worker: arrested by Merseyside police on his way home from a pub and beaten to death in police custody.

The case has been sufficiently outrageous and well publicised to raise even the careerist corpse of Sir Harold Wilson to demand a public inquiry.

But Whitelaw has pointed to a seemingly interminable and undoubtedly worthless internal police inquiry being carried out Chief Constable Gerty, which has allegedly been going on for 2½ months.

60 statements And on Thursday Widgery, the Lord Chief refused to allow a jury inquest on the murder • Lord lustice f Blair Peach by police Special Group thugs at Southall.

He also refused to allow the counsel for Peach's family to see any of the 60 statements collected by the police "inquiry into the killing.

The Director of Public Prosecutions has declared that there is "insufficient evidence" for the prosecution of any of the Special Patrol Group officers who carried out the baton charge in which Peach was clubbed to death with a blow from a weighted truncheon or cosh.

Widgery stated that the Peach murder did not qualify for a jury inquest because it did not fit the category of:

"circumstances, the continuance or possible recurrence of which would affect the health and safety of the public"

Of course for those members of the public that seek to exercise their democratic right to demonstrate life will be neither safe nor healthy as-long as the police and SPG remain in existence.

Widgery's ruling merely confirms that, while such legal battles can expose the limits to democratic rights under capitalism, only decisive action by the working class to bring down the Tory government and establish a genuine workers gover where rights can be guaranteedthrough the disbanding of the police and the SPG.

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Representatives of the temporary tenants handing petition to a On December 8th the Coventry Labour Council is hosting a conference of Labour councils to discuss a campaign against the Tory cuts.

Below we print an interWhat is the Coventry Temporary Counci Tenants Association?

For years Coventry Council has had a policy of placing people in Part Ill or temporary accommodation which is supposed to be on a temporary basis.

People in this type of accommodation are usually there because of rent or council mortgage arrears. They have been evicted and placed in temporary housing.

We have argued all along that there are good reasons for these arrears, and that the Council's allegations of wilful refusal to pay arrears' are wrong.

Many people get into arrears because of unemployment, redundancies, sickness or, in some cases, family bereavements.

There are a lot of one parent families-for instance wives who have had to leave their husbands for safety.

It's the husbands that are in arrears. The Council is biased against women.

After our campaigning, the Council is now interviewing all tenants to find out the reasons for their difficulties.

The Vice-Chairman of the Housing Committee, Mrs. Laken has told us that out of all the tenants she has so far interviewed only one or two didn't have good reasons.

This substantiates we have said all along.

The Temporary Tenants (TT) was formed to represent our interests collectively.

How did the TT get started? Tenants in Smith St. got in touch 18 months ago with the Coventry Workshop.

The Trades Council agreed to survey the temporary accommodation last September 100 out of 150 known properties were surveyed.

In these 100 houses there were a total of 300 children. A majority of the houses were without basic amenities-bath, hot water, inside toilet.

90% were in a state of substantial disrepair, eg. missing doors, ' dampness, crumbling plaster.

Where repairs are done they are very shoddy-and this is a conscious policy on the part of the Council view with Tricia Doyle, Secretary of the Coventry Temporary Council Tenants which exposes the depths to which the hypocrisy of these supposed defenders of working class interests has (although I should stress that the Council workmen are not at fault)?

Most of the kids had suffered serious illness such as bronchitis and asthma.

There had been a number of suicide attempts by women, and marriages had broken up.

A meeting was held by the Trades Council last November: This led to the Temporary Tenants being formed.

How did you campaign? We organised a petition to the Council asking for an end to different categories; full modernisation of all basically sound Council houses; a crash programme of new Council house building; and abolition of Part III houses or any other policy which treats people as third-class citizens.

The Association has now added a further three demands-an end to council house selling; expansion of the council's direct works department and an end to evictions.

We were not recognised by the Tory Council.

Councillor Sawdon, the Chairman of the Housing Committee labelled us as "anti-social" and undesirables"

The Bishop of Coventry suggested that a committee be formed to look into temporary accommodation.

This led to the formation of an Ad Hoc Housing Committee. sunk.

Further information about the Temporary Tenants can be obtained by writing to:Coventry Temporary Council Tenants Association We weren't represented but we got hold of the Minutes-part of which was a confidential document admitting that 101 out of 103 temporary houses were in a state of disrepair, six wére unfit for human habitation and four were irreparable.

Where did you go from there?

into some airect action families went to the office of Mr Lomas, the Director of Homes and Property.

We went in at 10 a.m. and decided to stay there until all 15 families got keys to decent houses.

The Housing Officers were scared stiff-they moved typewriters and even potted plants.

We knew we wouldn't get keys and demanded a meeting with Housing Chairman Tim Sawdon.

We met him at 6.00 p.m He was very sarcastic to the tenants.

Although we were there as an association he simply went into individual cases, bringing up things like rent arrears: So we left.

• We decided to picket the opticians' shop where Sawdon is the manager.

When we arrived we were met with a temporary injunction which named specifically • our chairman Dave Leggat. He wasn't even there because he was in bed with a back injury.

We argued with the police that if we couldn't c/o Coventry Resources & Information Centre, Cox St. Coventry:

Funds, help and encouragement for their important struggle are always needed. stand outside the shop we would walk up and down.

That was, on Saturday. On Monday Dave received a summons to appear in Court in London the next day!

He was still ill so he didn't go. Sawdon was awarded costs against us of £400. We have not. paid it fighting the case.

You have brought cases against the Council. When did these start?

In late February three tenants issued sum Ionses against the council Section 99 of the 1936 Public Health Act. We were faced with continual adjournments.

What difference did the local elections make? None. On May 3rd the Labour Party won control of the Council. We thought that they would abolish temporary accomodation. We were so pleased we went out and got drunk to celebrate.

We to group to ask them to plead guilty. We were given five minutes to speak and were then shouted down. They said we were 'sub judice' We went there because Arthur Waugh Senior (leader of the Labour group) had. actually been photographed in one of the houses back in February or thereabouts and made statements attacking Tory policy and supporting us.

So what did the Labour group decide about the cases?

They didn't agree to concede, and the first case was heard in June. It was mine, and the council fought it on a legal technicality.

because they were modernising the whole street. The Council's solicitor said that because of this there was no case to answer.

Our solicitor said it was a criminal case and therefore the council still had a case to answer. The magistrate found the Council guilty.

A month later 40 temporary tenants went to the Housing Committee. At the end of the meeting Councillor Cairns, the present chairman, said they would discuss the cases in private. We wouldn't leave-so they did!

We took over their seats and convened a meeting of the TT. We sent a hote to the chairman of the Committee (which had recon-

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I had, been moved out of 12, Mason Road in April