ISTC goes unilateral

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Calls for unilateral nuclear disarmament and a withdrawal from the Common Market were carried against opposition from the platform at last week's conference of the steel union ISTC.

The union's traditional stance has been to back the right wing call for multilateral disarmament, and to seek only i referendum on the question of withdrawal from the EEC.

But the conference, changed in mood and composition by the wholesale redundancies sweeping through industry, reflected the leftward shift on such policy issues that is is running through the workers movement.

But the union's right wing Executive Committee had by no means lost control of the conference.

They successfully held the line in opposition to the Wembley conference proposals on Labour's electoral college. And they defeated moves to have the conference decide whom to support in Labour's deputy Bill Sirs leadership-leaving the decision in the hands of the union's right wing Labour conference delegation.

This defence of right wing positions was not matched by any marked enthusiasm from delegates, however, as shown by the handful that turned out to a fringe meeting addressed by Dennis Healey. Even the Financial Times felt obliged to point out that this was "sparsely attended"

Unusually militant On other issues even ISTC leader Bill Sirs was driven to make unusually militant noises in order to head off growing militancy.

To applause, he announced that the union's executive had submitted a resolution to both the TUC and the Labour Party conference calling for the renationalisation without compensation of "hived off" steel plants.

And he won support for his call on the TUC to break all links with the Tory "I have a clear message to that sleeping giant the TUC. We should dissociate ourselves from the government; we should fight them."

But Sirs' fight is restricted to strong words: on the urging of the union's executive a resolution calling for a general strike to halt the Tory offensive was overwhelmingly defeated And while many crocodile tears were shed over those made redundant while ISTC officials have contented themselves with haggling over compensation, the executive successfully intervened to ensure that. i motion calling for full union rights to be extended to unemployed members was remitted rather than carried.