Demand Halt to Scanlon's Phase 3 Talks

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emerge from the present Loyalist strike.

Initiated by the United Unionist Action Council(UUAC) and led by lan Paisley and Ernest Baird, the strike has as its central demands the reintroduction of "tougher security measures" against the IRA, and the ending of direct British rule over the area.

In practical terms this would mean the restoration of the old Stormont with all the instruments of repression-army, police and judiciary-in Loyalist hands, the reintroduction of internment and a fresh offensive against the Catholic minority.

CONFLICT

At the moment such demands conflict with British imperialist plans for the north, and for that reason alone Labour minister Roy Mason has announced his intention of using the "security forces" to ensure the defeat of the strike.

As we go to press there have been no signs that Mason will actually brak the strike.

All reports show the army are maintaining a "low profile" leaving control of the situation in the hands of the RUC But even if Mason does move against the Loyalists it will not be because he is acting in the interests of the Irish working class.

On the contrary it will because imperialist interests Ireland demand that the strike broken.

Revolutionary socialists can give absolutely no support to RUC or army moves against the strike.

Instead, we must continue to agitate for the immediate and unconditional withdrawal of troops and for the disbanding and disarming of the RUC and UDR.

At the same time we fundaPaisley mentally oppose the present strike, because it seeks to restore Unionist ascendancy and to trample the Catholic minority underfoot.

We call on all workers to ignore UUAC demands that they come out on strike.

But in a situation of mass intimidation by right wing paramilitary outfits like the UDA and UVF, such a call will go unheeded unless coupled with the demand that the trade union movement in Northern Ireland establish armed defence squads to protect workers. from both Loyalist and army attacks.

By themselves these defence squads will not unite the working Claportant step in can prove an the formation of a principled, anti-imperialist unity of Catholic and Protestant workers, The fight for the creation of such defence squads will necessitate a sharp political struggle.

The method and programme of the only force at present fighting British imperialism, the Provisionals, leads them to effectively abandon the Protestant workers to Loyalist reactionaries.

And leadership of the Northern Ireland trade union movement is steadfastly pro-imperialist.

UNION LEADERS

The pro-imperialist policies of the trade union leaders was shown most graphically last Tuesday (May 3) in a statement issued by the Northern Ireland Congress of Trade Unions (NICTU) in which they called for a very firm response from the security forces" to UDA threats.

In this they received totally unqualified support from the Stalinists of the British and Irish Communist Parties.

The political committee of the Northern Area of the Communist Party of Ireland (CPI) also issued a statement on May 3 in which they said:

*It is essential that Roy Mason stands by his pledges to maintain the workers' right to work. We demand that the roads are kept clear, that transport is available and that the tactories are protected against the intimidators"

And a Morning Star editorial of May 4 said:

"It is up to the British authorities to act as they have talked. Intimidation by these powerful groups lie. UDA, etc.] demands Cont'd page 2 Coll.

Wounded, but not dead. That is the state of the TUCgovernment moves to impose a third round of wage control, following last week's 50-2 vote of the National committee of the AUEW.

The resolution instructs the Executive to:

"call for an immediate return to free collective bargaining at the end of the second stage of the Social Contract".

The wording is of course all-important. The motion falls far short of calling for an immediate return to free collective bargaining -or even actually mandating the AUEW to reject wage control.

Instead it calls for:

"every effort to be made to have this adopted by the TUC in 1977 in the event of our policy not being adopted by the TUC, the national committee instruct the executive council to recall them to decide our position.

When we remember that there is a built-in majority on the AUEW National Committee, the resolution can be clearly recognised as laying the groundwork for a completely sham fight.

AUEW leaders can now talk of opposition to wage controls. They might even vote against the Phase 3 deal at the TUC Scanlon But all the while they will know they have the safety net of a recalled National Committee, which can quietly capitulate to the "majority" decision of the TUC, now being stage managed at summer conferences.

The real feelings of these senior bureaucrats was shown not in the 50-2 vote for this resolution but in the earlier wafer thin 27-25 defeat for Scanlon's Phase resolution, which called for "an orderly return" to free collective And a later amendment calling for an immediate return to free collective bargaining at the end of the Social Contract was defeated 29-23—showing clearly the continued opposition of the AUEW leadership to a fight against wage controls.

There is no doubt, however the fine print is worded, that the decision comes as a damaging setback to plans for further wage control.

DOUBLE TALK

And it is no accident that the pressures that forced this resort to double-talk emerge most clearly in the AUEW, whose members have been at the forefront of struggles against Phase 2most recently in the Leyland toolroom strike and the Heathrow pay dispute.

But it would be a major mistake to see this pressure as sufficient to force a return to free collective bargaining.

The working class was overwhelmingly opposed to Phase 2 of wage control-this did not deter the TUC leaders from imposing it. And brushing aside the setbacks they are now proceeding hell-bent on drawing up and enforcing a Phase 3 deal.

AUEW members must now ensure that the NC resolution is translated into action-demanding Scanion is forced to withdraw from the TUC's Phase 3 talks.

And in other unions the fight. must be stepped up to oppose all forms of wage controls and for wage claims both to catch up for eroded wage packets and to compensate wages against future inflation by linking wages to price rises as assessed by trade union committees.

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Page 2 SOCIALIST PRESS, Wednesday 11 May, 1977 1974. 25 April. Military coup overthrows 50 year fascist regime to general rejoicing. Led by the 'Armed Forces Movement' which set up a 'Junta of National Salvation' with right-wing General Spinola at the head. 1 May. 100,000 marchers in Lisbon greet the coup. 9 May. First Provisional government set up including Soares of the Socialist Party and Cunhal of the Com30 May. Communist Party attacks striking July. Second Provisional Government under Vasco Goncalves set up, without SP. COPCON, an elite force supporting the coup, set up under Otelo de Carvalho. ¡munist Party.

las 'fascists'