Own must assume you wish to leave us and we will respond accordingly. In other words-work harder or get the sack!
Faced with this all-out attack, the trade union leadership on the plant wavered, After the initial fragmented resistance had derdloped into a united defenco of the agreement, a split opened up between the day and night shifts. Both shifts had agreed on three demands: no increase in the trick speed until mutual agreement on manning; no industrial engineers to be used while conditions remained abnormal and the movemont of labour agreement-abo hroken by the company -to be enforced.
In negotiations, forced on the management by a demonstration outside the directors" offices, the company offered delay for three days the track speed incrose, They promised to sort out the movement of lahour. They adamantly refused to withdraw the industrial coginCCE Deputy Senior Steward, Alan Thomelt, a member of the Workers Revolutionary Party, provented the first two offers as points won, This although the key question of mutuality had not been won arall, The night shift voted to go back.
Only when the industrial enginders turned up on the tracks at 2,45 am did the man spontaneoudy walk oat BACKED DOWN Later, with no mandure from the membership and against union policy, the sonow shop strwards accopeed a proposal from Alan Thornett and backed down again. They offered the company the right to use industrial engineers at any time. They made this conditional only on Paper workers punch was a run down in production and piecemeal redundancies. Their armageddonlike forcasts had the revense effoct of preparing for a striggle. When the day of imminent doom did not take place it led to a false sense of sourity among the WOrKETS When the workers themselves had taken strike action and the night shift had joined foroes with the day-workers, the WRP stewards began to discover what a critical struggle it really was, This again Introduced confusion in the ranks, who party* continue a strike over a breach of the The need remains for a policy that once into a counter-offensive against the company s allacks.
JEFF KING £400 the lay-off of 1600 Marina assembly line again coordinates all the workers" struggles bourne next week.
MORE Delegates will be in an angry mood when the conference of the National Union of Teachers meets at EastTeachers have been involved in numerous actions over the last yearTER HARRAP The IS-dominated NALGO Action Group has called a public meeting on the claim for 18 April at the Conway Hall, At this meeting militants will be discussing the way in which rank-and-file action can take the initiative away from the Ir democratically elected strike committees were to be set up, these could form the backbone of an allLondon organisation, and would create the basis for unity with other struggles, such as the teachers" London allowance campaign.
They would ulso be able to prepare action on NALGO's 20 per cent national claim, and would develop an alliance with other groups coming into struggle against Phase 3 and the Social Contract.
against low pay, teacher shortage, and disproportionate pension contributions. In the coming year they will have to fight the proposed £200 millions cut in the education budgat, a drastic reduetion in places at teacher training colleges, and a pea-size pay increuse of 8 per cent this year.
Feeling on the pay issue can be guaged from the fact that the Rank and File sponsored motion on salaries has been voted top priority by branches all over Britain. An emergency motion, initiated by TMG, which calls for a £500 award by 1 October has been supported by Hackney, Coventry, Colchester, NE Essex, and Birmingham brancbes DISCIPLINE A much-shaken executive will be lighting to re impose its buresucracic control. It will oppose the motion calling for local association autonomy to be restored, and will try to obtain greater control over the union's disciplinary committee, which is at present trying the Wandsworth Three for their milituncy at the Central Hall meeting during last spring s struggle over the London allowance.
The Rank and Pile organisation has increased its prestige by petting two members, Beth Stone and Tick North, and a supporter, Betty Coates elected to the executive. It will face the challenge of effectively moving the union to the left, instead of capitulating to the moderate' elecents as the CP has done.
Socialist teachers must be clear about the need tostrengthen their bonds with the rest of the trade union movement, at local and national level.
AGAINST CUTS
Education cuts and teacher shortages affect the whole working class, and they must argue for working class açtion through trades councils, local action committees, and conferences against all cuts in social expenditure.
Unfortunarely, important issues such as Chile, Ireland, and the Brockwell Park Three are unlikely to be discussed, und this tends to isolate teachers from the rest of the working class by restricting them to educational issues.
At this confereace socialist teachers will need to fight to break the NUT from its "professional' aloofness from the working class, To do this they will need to defeat the line of the executive, and move wider layers within the union into militant action
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E SHOP