N Cpsa & Nalgo Sell Out!
Socialist Press1977 1977-01-19Read it in the scan (PDF), scan page 1 →
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cations to South Africa abandoning the basic right of his members to strike.
MOVING RIGHT
All these betrayals are indicators of the rapid pace at which every union leadership is now moving to the right in order to avoid any confrontation with the Callaghan government's programme of Tory policies.
But it was in NALGO that the struggle to impose such a sell-out was waged most openly, at the union's Special Conference.
The NALGO NEC tabled a motion for discussion which not only accepted the continuance of the Social Contract but which was worded to ensure that no national action was initiated to halt the cuts which threaten the jobs of thousands of NALGO members.
The three amendments which called for a break with the Social Contract before it expires were all abandoned before the Conference even began. But even the flabby composite which was substituted for them, which simply claimed that the Social Contract had been broken by government policies and opposed a renewal of it after July was viciously attacked by the NEC - who are clearly already calculating the terms for Phase Three of wage control.
The NEC line was only narrowly carried by a 3-2 majority on a card vote, however, - an indication of the unrest among delegates who went on to overturn a series of NEC recommendations. As a result they adopted measures including a ban on overtime which, although inadequate to stop the cuts, are a sign of a membership moving in the opposite direction to their leaders.
ATTENTION
This was also shown by the attention given by delegates to speech by Dennis Reed of Mid sex Polytechnic branch who moved an amendment putting a correct | perspective for action instructing the NEC:
"to call a national strike of all NALGO members as from 1st March 1977, to continue until such time as the government agrees to reverse its policy of cuts in public expenditure and to restore public expenditure to the levels prevailing in 1972, adjusted for inflation. The NEC should seek the support of other public sector unions for this action."
Reed outlined the experience of his branch in struggling for a one day strike the previous day against the management policy of "natural wastage' to create redundancies.
Attacking those who claim that "the members won't support such policies" ; Reed turned the SORRY, WRONG NUMBER! and propaganda.
Throughout Western Europe, even the trade union leaders who support the week of action' want it to be the end of action against The Workers Socialist League -says that the call to action should be supported, but only as a beginning to an all-out campaign of concrete solidarity with the black workers and peasants of South Africa.
The demands of such a campaign should be for a complete boycott of all economic and financial relations with South
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WHAT! SOLIDARITY?