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I wouk! like to take out a subscription to Socialist Jack Jones brought his personal touch to bear on the union battles against Trust House Forte in Birmingham, Sheffield and Oxford-by stamping out any question of national blacking.

The blacking of all Trust House Forte establishments had been called for by hotel strikers in Oxford and Sheffield.

They have been joined on their four month old strikes by workers at the Night Out night club in Birmingham after their shop steward was sacked But at the National Executive meeting of the TGWU called to discuss national blacking Jack Jones spoke strongly against it, quoting an agreement with the GWU as a reason for not implementing it.

The decision of the executive came after the trade group and the district committees of Oxford and Sheffield had backed the call for blacking.

In Region 5, which includes Birmingham and Oxford, blacking has been organised and Trust House Forte must face the drying up of beer and food supplies to all their main hotels.

But in Sheffield, where the regional secretary, Hayhurst, has abandoned the strikers to their fate, no blacking has been organised.

This is despite the fact that GMWU members at Allied Breweries have already refused to deliver to Trust House Forte hotels.

Toolmakers Slam Scanlon... negotiations with the toolroom workers' committee-which could only be interpreted as a major climbdown by the company, and will carry a commitment to at some point increase the rates of lower paid toolroom workers by up to £18 a week-crashing through Phase Two or any proposed Phase Three.

There is no doubt that any concession along these lines by Leyland would produce an upsurge of unofficial committees in every industry as workers attempt to evade the bureaucratic stranglehold of their union officials on wages and get directly to grips. with the employers.

In other words by attempting to settle one confrontation Leyland would merely stoke up the fires for a whole chain of further confrontations stretching far beyond the motor industry.

This is why some 'left' MPs are now attempting to find ways of defusing the militancy of the toolmakers by ensnaring their unofficial leaders in ACAS arbitration.

But the biggest danger of all to the toolmakers is the uncertain nature of their claim. Whereas the factor that interests most of those in struggle is the wage increases involved in levelling them up with other plants, the toolroom committee has centred its demands simply on recog nition of the committee itself.

This has grave dangers. By turning away from the wages EUROPE 6 issues. .£1.15 à in i 12 issues .....SA 24 issues :.$4.60 The strikers are now • being supported and encouragement, not by their local officials. but through contact with other hotel workers, who have formed themselves into Joint Shop Stewards Committee, contaming TGWU and GMWU members.

A meeting in Birmingham on Monday drew the strikers from the three disputes together with hotel workers in London. GMWU members at the Cumberland, part of the Strand Group bought by Trust House Forte, have applied for recognition, rejecting previous refusals.

In km a a new development last week a lightning strike by GMWU workers at the St. James Hotel in London, part of the Centre Hotel Group won a claim for extra Christmas payment after only two hours.

A lobby by hotel workers of Transport House in Smith Square London has been called by the Joint Shop Stewards Committee to demand that the national blacking be implemented.

The-lack of action by national officials over Trust House Forte allowed the Linton Lodge management in Oxford-where the strike is in its 18th week-to step back after making offers of partial reinstatement.

The chairman of the commercial drivers 5/35 branch Birmingham, Dennis Mills, self-appointed spokesman for the Night Out strikers has been declaring to any one who will listen that "the gloves are off"

With Jack Jones and his gang sabotaging these vital disputes the handcuffs are still firmly on.

Page One. question and claiming that their demands are not against the Social Contract the leaders cut themselves off from full-scale support from other sections of workers.

And by calling for corporationlevel bargaining as a section they are exposing themselves to the danger that even if their demand were accepted, they would be again subject to the dictatorship of full-time union officials over every wage demand.

After Friday's solid vote, the toolmakers leaders now have a great opportunity. They can strengthen their case by spelling out the wage demands their members are really seeking, and the fact that this runs flatly counter to Phase •Il and any Phase Ill of the Social Contract.

They can turn toolmakers towards the fight to protect wage increases against inflation through a sliding scale of wages rising to keep pace with the cost of living.

THREATS

And they must challenge the endless threats of closure flowing from management, government and the press. As the statement on the toolmakers strike by the Campaign for Democracy in the Labour Movement points out:

"Instead of closure being a threat to the workers it should be a threat to the capitalist class: if you create redundancies we will occupy factories. A policy should be put forward demanding work sharing on full pay.

If the employers say they cannot pay we must demand they open their books and those of the component firms and start the struggle for nationalisation without compensation of the whole motor industry."

In fighting for these demands the toolroom leadership will have ample opportunity to expose the nature of the union bureaucracy and the Labour government.

On such a basis they can confidently call on the mass of workers in every industry for support, and rally the growing forces in opposition to the union bureaucracy in the struggle to end all wage control.

In doing so they would help a new • leadership to replace the Scanlons and Joneses whose policies today threaten the living Meland of tha antiro munelina

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