Welfare in the USSR

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In an unprecedented move, Alan Thornett, a shop steward in Leyland's Cowley Assembly Plant for the past 16 years, chairman of the TGWU 5/293 Branch, and elected by shop floor ballot only last December as deputy TGWU convenor on the plant, has been recommended for expulsion from the union.

The proposal comes from the Finance and General Thornett US miners occupy union... back Dada & Surrealism reviewed Defence of USSR ..... Comecon economic performance To make matters worse drivers' unofficial leaders had begun the fight half-heartedly, by calling not for all-out strike action but simply for a ban on overtime -which would inevitably take weeks to have any effect.

Rejigged

Under these conditions Shell management took the initiative, rejigging their earlier offer in such a way as to satisfy both drivers' stewards and the Lib-Lab coalition government.

The lesson-a parallel with that from last year's unofficial strike by British Leyland toolroom workers and the later work to rule by power workers-is that militancy and "rank and file" organisation are not enough.

Power workers-who are the major section next in line for a similar struggle-must take note.

They must turn to the construction of a revolutionary leadership capable of fighting not only the employers and the government-but also resisting the treachery of their own union officials.

At the same time, along with every section of workers, they must fight throughout the trade union and labour movement for action to break the wage-cutting Lib-Lab coalition and throw out those Labour and trade union leaders whose actions keep it in office.

The TGWU officials make their moves against Thornett at the same time as Leyland management-who refused to recognise him as a deputy convenor after his election in December.

The latest determined thrust follows a long line of failed attempts.

Since Fryer and Thornett were bureaucratically removed from the plant leadership in April 1974 numerous efforts have been made to stop them regaining office.

Disbanded

The Joint Shop Stewards Committee was disbanded when Alan Thornett was elected chairman.

The Automotive District Committee was disbanded when the left wing gained a majority.

The 5/293 Branch-originally created in 1974 as a right wing rubber stamp for Parsons-was itself split last summer when, with Thornett as chairman, it began to fight to defend workers in the plant.

It is essential that this latest move by the extreme right wing TGWU bureaucracy is defeated.

TGWU members must ensure that Branches and shop stewards committees express outright condemnation of the kangaroo court and the Regional Inquiry, and demand the trumped up charges and disciplinary recommendations are abandoned.