Civil Servants Step up Fight

Scan page 8

дихотяті u annae ine carrot-ayer to boilermakers.

The strikers were evicted from their initial sit-in at the Scott Lithgow shipyard, where lagging work is being done by Bestobel on the 'Isolair' support vessel.

They then occupied the company's offices. after the first injunction was issued against pickets under Prior's so-called Employment Act.

With union officials time and again proving. themselves completely unwilling them in their stand, and action mobilised against any further legal harassment.

Messages/money to McKenna, c/o TGWU, West Regent St: eet, Glasgow.

At their annual conferences last week the Civil and Public Services Association, the Society of Civil and Public Servants, the Inland Revenue Staff Federation and the Civil Service Union all voted overwhelmingly to step up the pay campaign to bring out more members on selective strike and to build for a week long all-out strike in the near future.

The key debate was held at the CPSA conference in Brighton where delegates representing nearly half the trade unionists in the civil service met for their annual conference.

Emergency resolutions tabled for the pay campaign ranged from simple demands for escalation of the action through to calls for all out indefinite strikes.

: Opposed The National Executive opposed all the resolutions and offered no proposals for stepping up the fight-revealing the blend of tactical idiocy and .. simple incompetence that they showed al! week (see full conference report, page 10).

Eventually all sections of the left had to pull in behind the position put by Militant supporters and moved by Dave San of Liverpool Customs and Excise Branch.

This called for all-out indefinite action in the Workers Socialist League ports, airports and passport offices; for the maintenance of all other selective strikes (such as the computers now out); for an increase in the strike levy; for a national, all-members five day strike with a national demonstration and lobby of Parliament; and for emergency benefit payments to be made in the DHSS and Department of Employment sections.

Discussions

The resolution also instructed the NEC to begin discussions with the other civil service unions on the need for an all out indefinite strike.

It was clear that the leadership was in for a major defeat as speaker after speaker hammered home the need to step up the action and bring the government to its knees.

Even Ken Thomas, general secretary and normally faithful mouthpiece for the right wing, refused to bail out the Moderate Group dominated NEC.

It was left to Marion Chambers (fresh from being voted off her own section executive) to attempt to do a King Canute and turn back the tidé of anger.

Foolishly she challenged delegates who could deliver more than 60% support in their branches for all-out action to come down the With delegates streaming forward, the President, Kate Losinska, went as red as her carrot-dyed hair as she Ken Thomas screamed tor order.

Clearly the problem now is to force the Council of Civil Service Unions leadership to respect their mandate and act.

With the campaign into its tenth week there is no signiticant crack in the resolve of the membership. Indeed unofficial all-out action is beginning to break out in some areas.

The government, though it has been hit severely in terms of its income, is still trying to demoralise civil servants by stonewalling.

Against this background the union bureaucracy is faced with quite a problem. If they. cannot get the government to budge even a little by the end of May then an all-out strike for a week seems inevitable.

But there will be strong sections of members who will simply refuse to go back to work after a week s strike-and the leadership will rapidly lose control over the whole campaign.

What seems clear is that any improved offer above 7% (probably with promises of arbitration next year) will be put to the membership.

The fight for all activists must then be to secure a massive rejection of any such sell-out proposals.