The Moring Srar has been telling us rocontly that the National Committee meeting of the AUEW held two weeks ago, was a big victory for the left.
It is true that the NC successfully disposed of moves by the right-wing to allow the union to delend itself in the NIRC A future Labour government would be urged to repeal it, and no recognition should be even to the Act meanwhile. familiar call went out for the TUC to set up a fund for unions penalned under the Act.
But in the absence of any commitment to industrial action in solidarwith those workers victimised the Act, whether engineers or othetwise the real significance of move becomes clear.
om leaders want to spread their aes until the benevolent Mr. Wilcan come along later. It may ot he too impertinent to suggest chat this omission is linked to ScanNAME:
OCCUPATION:
Fled Weekly 1 May 1973 Page a lon's failure to retract his remarks about negotiating amendments to the Actine-recognising it in return for the Tories putting it on, ice thereby clearing the air for a TUC Government deal over paythen the left, dominated by the CP, "omitted' to drag up this embarrassing affair.
TALKS Scanion defended himself against A the accusations which nobody would voice, by reiterating his opposition to the Act. The Morning Star editorials tried once again to convince us that Hughie had been the victim all along of a sincar campaign by Fleet Street. manding that EC members should have no more talks at ult with the Goverament, somelow. surve the compositing proccis and find its way on to the NC agenda. Instead, Scan on Goverment, on matters ather than pay. This means that when Line TUC is talking with Heath about is to leave the room whenever Feather or Heath are rude enough to mention the word "wages.
In spite of the Morning Star, ScanHut lon revealed at the NC that the TUC pay the hospital workers were made a chango with the But a motion de- said of the 1972 Autumn talks:
failed to houses in order.
CLAIM The most important motion passed was the claim for a Eld wage increase, 35 hour week and equal pay the economy at Chequers, Scanion had recently made further offers of restraint to the Government ($3.50 this time). This is all of a piece with Scanion's support for the TUC pledge to discourago other unions from breaching Phase Z if special case. Scanian is no man of principle when il comes to incomes policies, and principles don't usually calendar. As he a 12-month agreement would have given a breathing space for putting our (the TUC and the Government)
Faster. administration. all you can'. dence of his class FREEZE The Red Ladder Theatre Group perform during the London Conference Aguinst the Freeze, heid at Central Hall, Westminster, on 14 April The con Terence acos a small but real step forward in bringing together militants from different industries and unions in London to disers the next steps forward in the struggle against the Government and its policies. It was agreed that the immediate priorities should be to mobilise for the May Day strikes and in support of the Shreasbury building workers.
for women to bu lodged in August, This is clearly going to croate difficulties for Mr. Scanlon, who will be busy at Chequers over the summer working out how much the con omic indicators of British capitalIson will allow his members Fortunately however. some invisible hand made sure that a motion calling for a national struggle on the claim miso failed to reuch the agenda along with the one on taiks. leaves the question of tactics up to the EC. If the EC then repeats the tactics of 1972, hargaining plant by plant on the national claim. then the union membership will be divided, strongly organised pirce-rate men on the one side and weakly organised flat-ratems on the other.
This would result in anolher disNo doubt the Horning Ster will frown at this cynicism. Yer after the NC refused even to discuss the Fine Tubes strike (where workers H.R. Haldeman, his chief of staff have heen on strike for 3 years) on the grounds that the struggle was "not unpent', one disgusted delegare summed it all up: If Scanion and the NC refuse to break one antianion omployer in M'ymouth, how can they lead a campaign against the government over our pay claim? Well, let us all put Mr. Scanion and the Morning Star to the test. Lal us have a national mecting of shop sewards from throughout the enpneering industry to discuss The concrete steps to make the (national? sinke i success. Let us have an overtime han straight uway so as to run down the employers supplies in advance, Let us invite T&G and TASS stewards to the conference and invite them to give is their concrete supporl in what would surely be the claim to spear head the class And then. Mr. Scanlon will no doubt make it absolutely dear to us all where he stands DE