Strike to save

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Lyle Action Committee are The 'long-term' threat to axe the unique Elizabeth Garrett Anderson (EGA) women's hospital in London became a short-term reality last Wednesday when the hospital's Hampstead maternity annexe was closed.

Whilst the local NUPE branch was discussing in one part of the hospital how to fight the projected closure, the management were organising a fleet of ambulances to evacuate the eleven remaining patients out of the 38-bed annexe.

COHSE and NALGO stewards at the annexe were informed of the closure only after the transfer of patients was already under way.

Now, however, the anger resulting from the closure of the EGA maternity annexe has led to six unions represented on the district The same report imperialist language says:

in the long term, affluent nations risk little by developing a trade in cane sugar. Their farmlands will grow many crops and the possibility of increasing beet production can always be used to neutralise excessive pressure from any cane cartel. A little short-term exploitation [!] and inconvenience is the most that the affluent countries would have to bear. The world development argument is strong and logical."

Rival proposals for exploiting workers that are no less strong and logical are being presented to the Government by the BSC. This is based upon expanding beet production in England and refining it at the BSC's own refineries at York and Peterborough.

No attempt has been made to bring the BSC workers into a joint yet the danger to the jobs of obe defence of all sugar workers Port Refinery workers lies in the low level of trade union organisation at York and Peterborough.

Using a small force at their refineries BSC turn their workers into fitters, painters and general maintenance workers out of season and take on cheap imported labour at harvest time to prevent union organisation.

In the face of these cheap labour costs Tate & Lyle would have no objection to the Government taking over its refinery section provided it was left with its other sugar activities from which last year it made profits of around £50 million.

joint stewards committee threatening strike action if the annexe is not reopened.

Plans to spread the strike throughout the Area Health Authority have been discussed.

At a meeting on Saturday of ASTMS delegates from 50 hospitals throughout London, a motion was carried calling on the national officials of ASTMS to approach the other_NHS unions to jointly organise a London-wide strike to demand the re-opeping of the EGA maternuty annexe and the full restoration of facilities on the main EGA site, a developer's paradise, near Euston station.

Significantly, this motion which challenged the ASTMS leadership to call positive strike action to back their militant posturing against. the cuts, was opposed by CP and IS members at the conference.

Despite the alleged common interests that the Tate & Lyle management and union leaders proclaim, John McLean admitted that the company had denied them access to the company's accounts; "the union needs to train accountants and economists to read these books so that we know what they're up to.

But instead of seeing this as the first and immediately necessary move in a struggle for workers control John McLean relegated it to a distant and hazy future after the present business at hand was dealt with: "As secretary of the Action Committee my main interest is to work myself out of this job and get back to proper trade union work as secretary of Stewards Committee « Joint Shop NOT SEPARATE But unfortunately the two cannot be separated for the manner in which the Action Committee is wound up could well determine whether or not there will be a joint Shop Stewards Committee to go back to.

Indeed the fight to open the books, which the management will resist straight away, exposes the false unity with the workers which they propose.

The Action Committee must take up the fight to open the books of all the refinery companies and involve the BSC workers for a single nationalised sugar industry.

Open the books of the refiners!

Work sharing oll full pay!

Occupy the plant to oppose all redundancies!

Fight for a single n sugar industry!

mittee other bureaucracies nationally).

In the past two years the rightwing have split the 5/55 T&GWU Branch; repeatedly and unsuccessfully tried to wind up the Cowley Assembly Plant Joint Shop Stewards Committee; and enlisted the TUC bureaucracy to try to ciose down the Oxford Trades Council when they lost their majority on that.

Each time their tactic has been the same " provoke a confrontation and then claim "disruption"

What they mean by "disruption" is dissension.

In other words if you keep your mouth shut and agree with them there is no problem.

The problem for the bureaucracy is that their actions don't go unnoticed by the working class.

A growing number of workers are learning very solid lessons as to exactly what the trade union bureaucracy represents.

This understanding ensures that any successes the bureaucracy may have can quickly be turned into