Camden Day of Action: fight

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Camden Labour Left member Graham Shurety interviews John Seymour, NUPE shop steward at Camden's Cressy Road refuse depot about the March 4 Day of Action.

What actually happened on the was taken at a NUPE mass meetOur union secretary estim- direct opposition to the ated that 50% went into work council's policies in dealing with and 50% stayed out-with Heseltine's decision to cut the certain sections such as the rate support grant. gardens, meals wheels, The idea of the strike was to boilers, remaining absolutely combine NUPE, NALGO and solid. UCATT together in a mass The decision to go on strike protest against the Council's Conference Saturday March 21 from 10.30 am. to 5.00 pm.

Islington Central Library, Holloway Road, London N7 Details and credentials from: SO/CDLM Cuts Conference, Poor chairmanship, which to the miners' victory and men. allowed a minority of backward tioning the occupation of other and cynical elements in the factories at Gardners and Lee meeting to ridicule and heckle Jeans in passing, failed to spell the speakers, further contribu- out : unambiguously the A WSL leaflet put into the occupation of the factory, or factory argued strongly for the place .any. demands on the following: union bureaucracy. plant to prevent' management for the members to "back the selling off equipment and stewards' call today and get machinery. ready to fight".

TGWU district official, organs the official's line of not occupy. ise blacking of all Courtaulds ing. So what does all this add up 3) Demand the opening of are to fight-and how?

Camden Labour Council plunged deeper into crisis last week as their budget proposals for 1981-2 were thrown out last Wednesday.

At the special rate fixing meeting called on 4 March, ten left councillors abstained in protest at the reactionary package of cuts in jobs and wages, rent and rate increases which being proposed by the majority in the Labour Group.

The Tories, seeing the possibility of forcing even more cuts out of the Labour leadership, voted against the budget.

This stalemate leaves Camden Council in an unprededented position. What happens if Camden fails to set a rate by April 1 is not clear. There is a strong possibility that the Council will be unable to borrow money to cover its expenditure if there is no guarantee of income from rates coming in.

Even i they do manage to raise loans the high interest paid on those loans would be a further addition to council expenditure.

Of course it is doubtful whether the Labour leadership will allow the Council to go bankrupt, with receivers handing: over control to central There will be desperate attempts to cobblę together a deal with either the ten left wingers or the Tories in order to remain in office.

In fact the majority of the Labour Group have already attempted to buy the Tories? vote by introducing cuts in services of £2.2 million.

This wasn't enough to satisfy the Tories who it is rumoured are demanding £1 million more cuts and a 4% drop in the rate (equal to a further £4 million in cuts) to buy their vote.

To ally with the Tories on these demands would be disastrous for the right wing. They would face further isolation from the Labor Parties in the borough in a situation where two GMCs have already passed resolutions condemning their actions.

Despite the weakness of the union's response to the call for a one-day, protest strike on 4 March (see interview with John Seymour) the Camden labour movement has not been defeated. It is only just beginning to mount a campaign.

If the left councillors are to play any role in that campaign they must not be a party to the Council's betrayal, but must. hold out against any pressure from the majority on the Labour Group to accept minor concessions on the budget in order to allow the rate fixing to proceed.

lled joi ntly March 4 Day of Actión?

POLICIES TO STOP by the Campaign for Democracy in Socialist Organiser Gc/0 66 Brokesley Street, London E3. w/wwwdruinuolywartoo,uurmuntyo.

OW Wing. The day's strike was. in the Labour and jobs on the working class.

The day after the mass meeting on 17 • February, • the NALGO• membership rejected their exacutive's call for solidarity strike action on March 4.

This gave opponents of the strike within NUPE some leverage to argue against the strike.

But the most damaging blow to solidarity on March 4 was the UCATT leadership's reluctance to persuade their membership to join the campaign outlined by the Joint Shop Stewards Steering Committee.

• This ' was despite the fact that UCATT members are number one target for the Council, with 600 jobs going out of 1300.

What form did that reluctance take?

The building workers shop stewards committee had done very little up to 4. March in resisting the cuts.

A mass meeting was called on March 3 with a recommendation for all-out indefinite strike action.

Having played a very small part in the joint unions' campaign, it is not surprising that when the leadership (under Communist Party member Vic Heath) put the vote for'indefinite strike action it was heavily No fall back position was put to those workers. The resolution was presented as an ultiThe first mass meeting at the Courtaulds nylon plant at Aintree to discuss the closure of the plant involving 1600 jobs was a fiasco.

In addition to the poor organisation of the meeting in a room too small and with no public address system, 'the "leadership"-in the • form of TGWU official Lamb-presented no perspective for action.

Instead the membership were presented with an abstract resolution to "fight" the closure -as at Tate and Lyle and all other closures in Merseyside to date. intentionally designed to fail.

It was essential that a resolution was carried in support of the campaign of selective action, outlined by NUPE, starting with support for the March 4 strike.

The fact that this wasn't passed further undermined the NUPE strike.

At my depot most of the men went into work. They were largely influenced by UCATT's decision-it tipped the balance for the waverers.

How do you see the role of those councillors who have fought the right wing?

Up to now their record has been principled. They have fought the right wing openlyfor example Counciliors Neil Fletcher and Anna Bowman pledged their support to NUPE workers at the mass meeting on. February 17, they came onto the picket lines, and they have fought to swing the Labour Party against the right wing.

They have had the support of NUPE in voting against the Labour majority's reactionary package of cuts in the Council Chamber.

Despite the appearances of weaknesses among public sector unions on the one-day strike it seems to me that the campaign is just beginning.

It would be a mistake to see March 4 as the end of the fight. I would call on' the Labour councillors who so far have defended the working class to 'continue their stand. the company's books and those of their international bankers to , an elected committee oi workers to see where the profits are being hived off, and as a necessary prelude to workers management.

4) No to redundancies. For work-sharing on full pay.

5) Link up the struggle with all plants in the textile industry threatened with closure and also the Tate and Lyle refinery at Love Lane to form a Council of Action."

The leaflet also attacked the reactionary policy of import controls advocated by Lamb.

An SWP leaflet, while makino cortain unlid roforannos necessity for, the immediate Instead they called lamely But the stewards supported to? When do the SWP think we SOCIALIST DRESS WENI