Desperate Offcas Intimidate Strikers

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August 1-the official end of Phase 2 of wage controlis now behind us. But it is becoming increasingly obvious that if workers are to win the large wage increases is a hard fight ahead.

The TUC leaders may have been forced by obvious working class hostility to back off their original plans to impose a third year of wage cuts on their members.

But they remain determined to ensure that workers suffer another drastic drop in living standards, and will go to any lengths to sabotage independent wage struggles that seek to break Chancellor Healey's unilaterally declared 10% overall limit.

HEATH

Workers will remember that in exactly this way the TUC managed to uphold two and a half years of state control of wages under the hated Heath government.

For AUEW General Secretary John Boyd therefore to join the chorus of right wingers opposing big wage claims, using the argument that such claims could lead to the early resignation and defeat of "the best Labour PHOTO: Chris Davies (Report)

Government this century" is the most cynical attempt at deception.

Boyd and the right wing would oppose wage claims now, whatever government was in office. And in any event workers at local elections and by-elections have shown by their mass abstentions what they think of the wage cutting policies of the wretched Lib-Lab government.

But more important, Boyd is completely flouting his own union's policy, decided only two months ago, which instructed the Executive to "call for an immediate return to free collective bargaining at the end of the Cont'd Back Page, Col. 5.

That vote means that with its first anniversary only a few weeks away the Grunwick strike for union recognition has suffered a setback at the hands of the trade union bureaucracy.

Since the blacking of the company's mail by the Cricklewood sorting office work ers, the dispute has become a battle ground ot major political importance.

DEFYING

Defying the strongest oppos ition from their own leaders in the Union of Post Office Workers and threats of legal action against them by the National Association for Freedom and despite their subsequent lock-out by the Post Office the Cricklewood postal workers' resolute stand had been the basis for a huge movement of support throughout the working class, culminating in the mass picket of the factories on July 11.

It was the strength of this response and the successful challenge to the courts of the blacking action which forced the Tory leadership to pull back from their drive to challenge and overturn the Labour-Liberal coalition DANGERS At the same time, the union leaders themselves were drawing their own conclusions. They, too had recognised the dangers in such Scargill The meant firmly t bureaucı They win the knife it.

- must procede on Aug. 8 failure of the Tories for all-out confrontation the initiative returned o the UPW and APEX acies. took their chance- not dispute but to atte mpt In a carefully prepared plan, worked out almost certainly with government ministers, they centred their attention on ending the postal blacking and sabotaging the planned mass picket called by the strike committee for August At a 4 hour meeting early in the week between UPW full-time officials and the Cricklewood postmen's leadership, Norman the whole branch membership for the end of the week.

The union's executive was to meet in the meantime consider the next move.

Almost identical tactics were being pursued by APEX. The full Grunwick strike committee. which includes two TGWU members representing the drivers. were summoned to a meeting 9f the Executive.

COOLIT

Grantham, the general secretary, launched a bitter attack on the strike leaders plans for the August 8 mass picket, and insisted they should heed the call of Lord Justice Scarman, chairman of the Court of Enquiry, to "cool it" until its findings are published towards the end of August After this line was unanimously rejected by the strikers, who pointed out that it was only ine impact of supporting action which had forced the enquiry in the first place, Grantham turned from argument to outright intimidation saying that their t3 a week strike pay would be cut to £l2 unless they toed the line.

This sort of bullying is not new to Grantham. He had, on July 11, threatened to suspend strike committee secretary Mahmood Ahmed from union membership unless he ordered the mass pickets to leave the factory and join the Cont'd Back Page, Col 2.

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SOCIALIST PRESS. Wednesday 3 August, 1977

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necessary to regain and defend living standards there