[The revelations came from John Power, delegate from…]

Scan page 1

DOCUMENT

The revelations came from John Power, delegate from the Service Division, who said that, although he is not on the ad-hoc committee he had seen the management document.

The shop stewards in his factory had met and had rejected the proposals.

He told the meeting that in return for certain fringe benefits management were asking for a no strike clause.

This would mean that almost all the fringe benefits would be disqualified if more than four hours strike action took place in any three month period.

These are proposals on the lines of the infamous Ford agreement where holiday entitlements for the whole Ford labour force were wiped out if a strike took place in any one plant.

REBUKE

Power's sharp intervention brought gasps trom the meeting but a rebuke from the chairman Communist Party Stalinist Derek Robinson - who is on the ad-hoc committee.

He accused Power of sharp practice for revealing the plans and made it clear that he would not allow the meeting to vote on the issue, Confidential documents have become a feature of so-called "participation' in Leyland.

It is clear that withölding Continued bottom of page 11 The ruinous policies of the right wing Labour government the succession of wage cuts, spending cuts, sackings and speed-up, all enshrined in the Social Contract- have brought the Labour Party two shattering by-election defeats, and driven some workers to the length of a protest vote for the Tory Party.

RESPONSIBILITY

The responsibility for this must be nailed fairly and squarely on the right wing Callaghan-Healey clique that dominates the Cabinet whose every policy starts from the preservation of the profits of private employers - no matter what the price paid by the working class they were elected to represent.

And while the Labour right wing wields the axe on workers living standards to the delight of the International Monetary Fund and British employers, the Labour *lefts' stand by: mute and impotent - trooping obediently into the Parliamentary lobbies to vote support for every aspect of Healey's economic and industrial policy, taking occasional time out on weekend anti-cuts rallies to mouth phrases on 'socialism'.

Their loyalty far outpaces that of the right wing who have shown they, will, without hesitation, withdraw their support from bills disagree with.

Even the crushing defeats at Workington and Walsall could stir not the least spark of resistence in the lefts' , or bring them to voice what must now be the central political demand within the Labour and trade union movement: FORCE CALLAGHAN AND HEALEY TO RESIGN!

Instead, while the left" mumbled embarassed calls for conciliation, it was Healey who went on to the offensive - to blame the lefts' for the defeats Gormley, and to demand they toe the line already accepted by the TUC leaders.

Healey's hard line was taken up also by right wing miners' leader Joe Gormley, who expressed the unease of the wage-cutting TUC leaders, struggling to contain rising resentment and militancy among their members when he called on Healey and Callaghan to either control their lett wing or to "clear the air" by going to a General Election!

SACRIFICE

Gormley of course has been in the forefront of the TUC leaders calling for sacrifices to "save the Labour government"

But he clearly now senses that this appeal has worn away to nothing within the working class - where day after day the impact of the Labour government implementing Tory policies is eroding living standards and building up a real hostility to the Social Contract.

In this, if nothing else, Gormley is right. The Tories should take no comfort from the votes they acquired from Labour in these seats.

NO SUPPORT They may be votes of confusion, but they are votes which reflect not support for the Tory programme of more cuts and more unemployment -but a rejection of these policies implemented by a Labour government.

This can be assessed by the more open manifestations of working class militancy - the pressure on the wages question inthe factories; rank and file resistence to management ultimatums UNION JACK