The next few weeks could prove to be of crucial importance to the 28,000 telephonists of the U.P.W. Next week the Telecommunications Staff Association (T.S.A.) goes before the National Industrial Relations Court (N.I.R.C.) in an attempt to gain recognition that will give it an agency shop in the Post Office and hence the sole negotiating rights for the telephonists. At present the situation is as follows: the TSA has registered under the Industrial Relations Act, the UPW has not, however, the Post Office has rejected the TSA's claim for recognition and state they will give evidence on behalf of the UPW before the NIRC. If this is to be believed and at present there is no reason not to, then the chances of a TSA success are slim indeed.
The TSA claim to have a membership of 9,000 (with 14,000 promised, depending on the court's decision!) but how many of these are employed by the Post Office is not clear as the TSA also recruits from commerce and industry. The bulk of their membership consists mainly of ex-UPW members disillusioned by the scant treatment given to telephonists by the UPW, ex-members of the now defunct Telephonists Guild and "scabs' of the 1971 strike who rather than obey the call to strike resigned from the UPW and joined the TSA, who recommended their members to work during the strike. Even though the chances of a TSA success look remote, the UPW is taking the challenge seriously. Whether they suspect double dealing by the NIRC or the Post Office is not known, but at a recent meeting of telephonist shop stewards, the executive urged them to boost membership by reinstating "scabs'. Despite bitter and at times emotional protests from the delegates, it was finally agreed to "invite the scabs back, in principle at least. If the UPW emerges victorious from this struggle, let us hope the union leadership learns a lesson from it and instead of neglecting the telephonists as in the past, put all their support behind local branch officials, and help them build a strong and militant membership equal in spirit if not members to that of the postmen. on the wages question which is harmful to the entire working class movement. It is not a policy designed to defeat the miners or the power workers but one to register a defeat on the entire working class movement and I would have thought that the power workers themselves could have recognized the dangers in accepting the percentage norm laid down by the Tory government. In spite of that, however, I believe the working class movement will have setbacks, continual setbacks, we've had setbacks ever since we've had a trade union movement. I don't think this should deter us from the central struggle which should be first of all to defeat the Tory government, secondly to establish a socialist system of society that will be in the interest of the British working class movement. On the road to that society what we have to do is to fight the individual battles that take place on wages conditions and other ques. tions that affect the individual trade unions. It would obviously be ideal if all the trade unions could come together and demonstrate solidly that they were intent on defeating the Tory wages policy but of course, if that could happen it would mean sensibly that the Tory Party itself would be defeated and we would have a socialist system of society. So what we have to do is context. There are a number of things i'd disagree with The Red Nole upon and some of these are on tactics and application of po licy. I believe that the end product is right, I believe that we both want to see a socialist system of society, the mechanics of achieving it may be different from the point of view of The Red Mole and from the point of view of myself, but I honestly believe that we can achieve this. For example, at the dispute we've been having here this week. Out of a miners dispute that would seem a central issue for the miners and the miners alone it could have turned into a completely different issue. What could have taken place there was a situation of confrontation with the Tory government which would in fact have involved the whole of the British trade union movement. I think that people in high places saw that this confrontation could take place, and as they did with the sell out of the power workers, avoided it. It is a situation like this I suppose, in the future, which will bring about the kind of unity in the trade union movement that is necessary to combine the whole forces of the British labour movement to bring about a socialist revolution.
Interview by Mike Archer and Chris Pailthorpe