Jones Pushing for Phase 3 Vote

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Battle lines on a third stage of wage control have now been drawn with the publication of the agenda for the TGWU Biennial Delegate Conference to be held in July.

The position of Jack Jones and the TUC leadership is spelled out in the motion on Future Pay Policy submitted by the General Executive Committee:

"That this Conference considers that the trade union movement collectively has made a constructive contribution to the fight against inflation and recognising the sacrifice and restraint shown • by all workers during the economic crisis of the last two years, supports the view that an orderly return to voluntary collective bargaining should begin to take place this year.

Conference believes that in order to avoid a wages free-for-all which wold be injurious to weaker members of the community and which could destroy or jeopardise our long-term objectives, in a return to voluntary • collective bargaining the following matters should receive priority:

(a) the recognition and payment of satisfactory differentials to reward ability, effort, skill and responsibility and the correction of other anomalies and inequities;

(b) a continued and developing emphasis on improvements in basic rates and other special measures in order to assist workers on low pay and implement a Trades Union Congress minimum wages policy;

(c) measures to ensure that the flat-rate supplements paid under the Social Contract are incorporated on a phased basis into basic rates for the purpose of calculating overtime, payments by results, shift payments, etc;

(d) an expansion of sound mutually agreed incentive and payment by result schemes and genuine productivity agreements:

(e) measures to offset unemployment including shorter working hours and/or earlier retirement."

IMPOSSIBLE

Of course an "orderly return" to free collective bargaining is impossible. Wage restraint either exists or it does not. This motion is simply an attempt to establish a Stage 3 of controls, whatever the exact terms of that policy may be.

About six branch resolutions support this line. But about 100 branches have called in one way or another for a return to free collective bargaining.

And in the same section of the agenda (Future Pay Policy) there are five motions which point the way forward beyond simply an end to wage controlcalling for defence of living standards against inflation.

SLIDING SCALE

These motions call for a sliding scale of wages, and provide the basis for a fight for an alternative Also in this section is from the 4/159 branch.

"That this Conference demands the immediate resignation of the General Secretary, Deputy General Secretary and all Members of the General Executive Council because of their neglect of and failure to maintain and improve existing agreements, the standard of living.

There from tl supports Jack Jones, TGWU General Secretary holidays, wages and conditions of every member in the TGWU."

This is accompanied by a motion from the Cowley 5/293 branch condemning the Executive Council for committing the TGWU to Stage Il of the Social Contract against the decisions of the 1975 BDC.

This theme is continued in section 1 (b) of the agenda, which contains a number of motions which have come forward in response to the bureaucratic acceptance of Stage Il by the Executive.

In one way or another they criticise the GEC's acceptance of wage control without consultation with the membership. They propose various ways that this should be done in the future.

UNEMPLOYMENT

Only one motion on unemployment gives any lead on programme. This is from the 5/293 branch:

"That this Conference declares its intention to protect jobs and reduce unemployment and demands the books of any employer who declares redundancy or closure be opened to a committee of Union members at the workplace; that the available work is shared between the labour force and the full weekly wage is maintained; that any employer who refuses this is nationalised and the Government provide public works to maintain production and that this Union will support members who occupy their plant in defence of jobs.

A motion in a later section of the agenda on Economic Policy calls for "a giant programme of public works, roads, housing etc"

Surprisingly the section dealing with Equal Pay and Equal Opportunities for Women contains only five motions. Most of these are critical of existing legislation and the role of tribunals, and call for a vigorous campaign by the union on job opportunities.

DEMOCRACY

are 13 motions on Democracy. A motion Executive Council the Bullock Committee inquiry and nine other motions this to some degree.

APPENDAGE

the other hand, motions from the 1/1946 branch correctly condemns worker participation in Leyland where it points out:

... the trade unions have become a mere appendage to corporation policy"

Another motion from the Export Packing Services branch in Banbury (a factory threatened with closure • by a decision within the Leyland participation scheme) demands:

"That this Conference deplores undemocratic decisions taken within the participation committees and withdraws any support for the continuation of these committees."

Six motions in Section 2 (a) call for import controls-but there is not one motion against.

But incongruously we find a later section on International Trade Yardley equal pay strike by Ti Conference agenda section on Union Links includes six motions calling for the strengthening of ties with other sections of the trade union movement throughout the world.

STRIKE ACTION

Seventeen motions in Section 2 (b) attack government policy on the cuts in Social Service spending. Several call for support for strike action and one, the 5/293 branch calls for:

*a sliding scale of public service expenditure to offset further erosion by inflation".

Section 4 (a) of the agenda deals with the general objectives of the Social Contract rather than specific aspects such as pay policy.

An Executive Council motion calls for "continued cooperation between the industrial and political wings of the labour movement"

Motion 360 from the 1/1383 branch (the closing date for motions was in February) demands that:

"This Conference is totally opposed to the formation of a Coalition Goyernment or Government of National L'nity".

On balas: 20: oze of the ten motions calls for the recognition of the right of self-determination for the Irish people.

Most of the motions support the Irish Congress of Trades Unions campaign for 'A Better Life For All' and support for peace organisations.

One motion, from the 1/1881 branch in London calls for the "withdrawal of our [!] troops from Northern Ireland".

There are four motions on South Africa. One from the 5/293 branch calls for a total black to be imposed on all trade with South Africa, support for the national liberation struggles of African workers and their right to independent trade union organisation.

Almost at the end of the agenda come two more motions from the 1/6 and 10/75 branches which reflect the problems of democracy and corruption within the trade Handle Nes:

GWU members-only five motions in women's rights. union movement.

They call for the ending of QUANGO jobs-government committees with fat fees which are handed out to trade union officials.

But the best commentary on the state of democracy within the TGWU is motion 538, third from last, calling upon the decisions of the conference to be upheld:

"That this Conference that the 1977 BDC policies are upheld and pursued to the benefit of the members of the Transport and General Workers' Union."

Under rule, the conference is the highest body of the union. while the Executive Council is in theory came y bound by conference decisions!

There is no doubt, however, that the size of the TGWU, with 1.8 million members, the scope of the agenda and the timing of the conference, two weeks before the expiry of Stage 2 of wage controls makes it a conference of enormous importance to the working class.

It is essential that a developed and coordinated fight on policies to defend the working class takes place at the conference, and wherever possible delegates are mandated to vote for a principled line on the central issues raised. Post Park The redundancy proposals designed by union officials and employers to usher in new technology to Fleet Street newspapers have been resoundingly thrown out.

Members of the National Union of Journalists did not even have a chance to complete their ballot on the package (entitled Programmes for Action).

This was because while the NU ballot was still in progress it was announced that members of the three major print unions- NGA, NATSOPA and SOGAT- had voted to reject the package, killing it outright.

Another print union, SLADE, had refused from the outset to take part in the collaborationist unionmanagement talks which led up to the drafting of the proposals.

The scale of opposition from the rank and file can be guaged from the fact that in the NA only 889 voted to accept the deal as against 3,778 against.

Fleet Street electricians also voted down the package.

Such a growth of feeling from the rank and file seriously challenges the authority of the print union bureaucrats. They had strongly recommended acceptance of the proposals, threatening that compulsory redundancies were the only alternative-but workers clearly do not agree with this.

It is the emergence of such militancy that underlies the recent high-handed bureaucratic dictatorship over his members at the Times by NATSOPA General He expelled from the uníon 120 workers who dared to stand their ground and defy his instruction to return to work while their pay dispute still remained unresolved.

The fight on jobs and wages on Fleet Street is now combined completely with the fight for new leadership and for democracy within the print unions.

PICKET

John Deason, National Organiser of the Right to Work Campaign faces serious charges arising out of the police attack on the Right to Work March at Hendon last year.

There will be a national picket of the Old Bailey, in London on Wednesday 4 May at 9.30 am.

. APOLOGY In our report of the CDLM conference in our last issue we wrongly captioned a picture of Roland Sherritt as Stewart McClellan.

Our apologies to both comrades.

MORE DETAILS 1 wo uld like more in formation about the Worl Socialist League Name. .

Address Run mod Hil 1HR

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PRESS, Wednesday April, 1977