CPSA leaders cop out

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out strike, and a neglig- right wingers during the For most of the right hold a consultative exer- action. give any kind of lead. wing on the executive this cise in the first place. It is absurd to argue There was no motion on NUPE workers fight to hold Labour to their promises ed to the membership P, est of margin: SATI THE CPSA ram. nd iseif in ahemia tatt. i. ihe recent consultative exercise.

The voting went as follows:

• For all out strike ion, 45,336.

• For escalating selective action, 24,124.

• For accepting the offer, 33,744 Over 60% of the membership voted.

There was therefore a quite clear majority in the CPSA to go for allible vote for giving in.

AMBETH was the wrong result. The consultative exercise had fairly obviously been a manoeuvre to engineer a return to work vote — or at worst a close result on a low poll, that could then be discounted.

This much had been obvious from contributions made by several NEC debate on whether to AGAINS CUT ed to the membership Fortunately for the right wing, the other eight unions on COCSU came to their rescue, as every one of them rejected the call for all-out action. This allowed the senior vice-president, Pat Womersley (in the President's absence) to make a ruling forbidding any discussion of CPSA going it alone with all-out action.

Her reason for this was that this was a COCSU campaign and members had voted for an all-out strike of all civil servants, not just CPSA members! THE Tories have cut 37,000 civil service jobs and plan to cut 65,000 more. There will be even harsher cuts if the Tories win the present struggle over wages.

But the cuts didn't 41. -start in 1979. The previous Labour government blazed the way.

How can civil service workers make sure that the next Labour government does not continue the cuts? How can they avoid the cuts struggle becoming just one long fighting retreat in face of aggressive governments?

Paper promises from notorious arch-cutters like Denis Healey mean nothing.

Strong industrial action is vital. But by itself it is not enough: the state is a strong, centralised empest of margins.

On being challenged, her ruling was upheld by 13 votes to 7. (Len Lever, the only 'independent' on the NEC, voting with the UNREAL The debate which followed on from this ruling therefore took on a quite , unreal air as, in spite of the large majority of members in favour of all-out strike, the NEC were not allowed to discuss such action except in hange loyer, able to choose the time and place for battle.

The industrial action must be clearly linked with political action.

The fight for Labour democracy is all about getting a government committed to the labour movement's policies and willing and able to carry them out. It is about making the conference decisions on better public services not just pious soft soap, but binding commitments for a future Labour government, backed up by mechanisms of accountability which have real teeth.

That's why the civil service unions should be affiliating to the Labour Party and throwing their weight behind the fight for democracy..

Most crucially the right Most crucially the right the context of bringing out all COCSU unions.

The NEC were not even allowed to discuss a motion calling for a deferrment of all-out action pending further discussions with the other unions CPSA members have shown clearly where they stand on the issue of furthering the fight on pay. PACK UP They want all-out DE GIINE that CPSA members were saying they would come out only if everyone else did. It that was the case we may as well pack up now. It doesn't take a genius to realise that the FDA or AIT or even IPCS are not going to go down that line.

The right wing NEC have been completely out of their depth throughout this whole dispute. At CPSA Annual Conference this year they failed to the conference agenda from them pointing the way forward and in fact they opposed every single motion coming from branches that called for any stepping up of action.

EXERT

If we are to win this campaign, CPSA members will have to exert the maximum pressure possible. The result of the ballot was a good one but it will be wasted if it is merely left up to the NEC to make the decisions.

The ordinary members up and down the country will have to lead by example. It will be the only way to win this campaign.

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