first such all-out stoppage in the industry since 1957.
is due to be repealed?
Scanion's decision was a result of bureaucracy, The refusal of the leadership to fight for the national wage claim when the Tories were forcing a confrontation with the working class, and the complete sell-out at the National Committee, threatened to lose them the confidence of the militants, who elected Scanion to defend them against the right-wing.
A militant stand against the NIRC was the means adopted to try and retain this contidence. So, when Donaldson decided to force a coofrontation with the union, Scanion had no choice but to call for al-out strike action. A capitulation to the NIRC in the same week os the sellout on the claim would have damaged the relationship between the mounting problems of the AUEW the bureaucracy and the militants beyond repair. Even some of the right-wing delegates at the NC understood this.
CLIMB DOWN
The fact that Donaldson climbed down after leas than 24 hours shows that even greater gains could have been made if the advantage had been. pressed home. The engineers could have foreed the NIRC to sweep the Industrial Relations Act off the statute books there and then.
- If the strike had been made into the launching pad for a general strike to smash the capitalist counter-offensive, the repayment of all previous NIRC fines, the release of the Shrewsbury 6, the repeal of Phase 3, and legislation to protect could have been forced out of the Labour Government.
strike in the first place. Despite the weeks of warning given by Donaldson, no preparations were made, not even a statement that strike action would be taken.
the balance of forces has now been shifted in favour of the militants. Many, many workers will be asking why they were pissing around with one day stoppages when the kind of action taken last week could have stopped the Industrial Relations Act when it was still a Bill. And why was the employers" miserable offer accepted after two weeks of an obviously had the power to win much more"
the notion of a national strike When IMG militants in the AUEW argued for an all-out stoppage, not only against the NIRC, but for the national claim as well, this was union funds and the right to picket, But Scanlon never wanced the Within the ongineering industry NATIONAL STRIKE Scanion's action has legitimised.
SURETICE The strike may only have lasted for one day, but the police were quick to move in all the same. Four pickets were arrested outside the Ford plant in Dagenham. rejected by Scanion and Co. They argued that the support of the membership for a national strike could only be built up gradually. through linited action.
When the next pay claim is adopted later this year, how many militunts will believe the same old rubbisli? The strike has planted a time bomb underneath the bureauc-racy and the "social contract'.
The Morning Star hailed the strike as a great triumph. But before the strike the Communist Party condenned those who advocated such action. During the last one-day stoppage, CP militant Cyril Morton convenor of the Shardlows factory in Shetfield, said that those who auvocated such action without long prades. and careful preparation were living in cloud-cuckoo land. Now Scanlon is a hero for doing just that!
No doubt the CP will argue that their confidence in Hughie was justified all along. But the test will come when Scanion starts to argue for "moderation" in the next wage claim, in the interests of the social If the CP opposes holding back on wage demands, then they should
IN ALL THEIR PROPOSALS SINCE THE ELECTION, THE TUC AND THE Labour Government have made it clear, in practice, that they want the working class to bear the brunt of the economic crisis of capitalism.
Phase 3. A circular sent out by TUC General Secretary Len Murray on wages said The general pattern of settlements which has been established in recent months should continue for the present period."
But, because of the retreat of the trade union caders, all important wage settlements, with the exception of the miners", had been within the limits imposed under Phase 3. Therefore what the TUC is actually saying is that the policy laid down by the Tories must now be accepted. Murray spelt this out even more dearly at the conference of the white collar union APEX when he said, There will be no note special cases -What is more the Labour Government has been prepared to back this position up with scious action, Foot's refusal of the just demand of the NAIGO workers, supported even by sections of the ruling class, for an increase in theit London allowance is a good example.
FALLING STANDARDS The future looks no better. The TUC is calling for "reasonable' wage claims, which will only allow most workers to keep up with the cost of living. But in practice they are not even prepared to fight for this moderate aim. As we thall see, merely to keep up with the increase in prices, workers will need a wage increase of around 25% this year. The TUC is not suggesting anything like that sort of increase at all.
The official justification for Labour's comes policy is that everyone will benefit from it. Minister of Sport, Dennis Howell, for example, speaking at the APEX conference, said that the Government had 'given concessions to the unions' and 'the unions must now make their response'.
The real situation is totally different. Something is taking place which should, if people thought about it, be seen as absolutely astoundng. In an industrialised country, in the second half of the twentieth century, the critir of capitalim it such that the living standard of the Bondag cars tactice rang This fall has now reached truly dramatic proportions, Even the working class consumption of healthy food is declining! Last year each person consumed on averago 7lb less meat than the year before, nearly I Ib less of fish,, Practically the first thing that the TUC did after Labour took office was to accept and eight leas ceas. This fall was obviously even more dramalic for families with low incomes. Meanwhile consumption of potatoes, beans, peas and carrots rose.
The situation is very clear. The falling standard of living of the working class, caused by price rises, is now forcing workers to cut back on decent food and substitute stodge and vegetables. Other basics such as bousing. and so-called 'luxuries' such as beer and cigarettes, are being cut back even more drastically. Labour's tiny food subsidies, which are paid for out of taxes on the working class and protect the profits of the monopolies, are just pinpricks in this situation. The standard of living of the working class this year, by all estimates, will continue to fall. The only question is by how much it will go down. The Financia Times expects it to decline by 11%. Economists of the London School of Business Studies expect it to drop by as much as 5% this year, This is the reality which cuts through all the Labour Government's sweet talk about reasonableness'. What Labour is actually proposing is the clection that, We need an incomes policy the prize must not always go to the strong.
RUBBISH
Jackson's views are, of course, rubbish. No that the working class should allow its standard of living to he slashed in order to help the capitalists overcome their crisis.
WAGE CLAIMS
Fortunately militants have shown at the union conferenoes that have been held so far that they are not taken in by Labour's talk. Some useful moles have been made on wages. at least on paper.
The National Union of Teachers has decided to fight for a £2,000 a year minimum wage, and large increases all round. The Yorkshire Area of the NUM has submitted a resolution calling for £13-20 increases, with a top basic rate of L65. The South Wales miners say the NUM should aim for 5,000 a year for miners in the near future. Altbough the decision on a new engineering claim has been put off until later in the year, there are already resolutions calling for a E50 basic - ElO more than the average wuge for a craftsman at present. The electricians' conference also delivered a rebuff to Chapple and Co. by demanding that the settlement reached under Phase 3 be renegotiated (although, with their usual contempt for union democracy, the ETU leadership is trying to wriggle out of this.
These demands are in fact very low, There must be no retreat on them. It is estimated that this year inflation will be running at 15-20%. With tax and so on pay rises must be much maies in manual work [and what about women? | should be earning less than £25 a week. More than 12 months ago the trade union movement stated that no adult worker bigger than the increase in prices to protect real wages. The Guardian newspaper calculated that, "To preserve their real standard of living unions would need wage increases af least 20 25%6 above the increase in prices.
This would mean that workers would need a 25% wage increure just to keep in the same place! To get an actual increase in real incomic wage rises of at least 30-35% must be won, For this rcason militants must raise the demand for at least a 30% increase in wages and no retreat on the full claimo. On an average wage of 40 this means a E12 increase.
But even with big pay claims put in, many other problems connocted with wages remain. First, how are wages aild wage increases to be protected against price rises? Second, bow are the weakly organised workers, and chose not in trade unions at all, to be protecled? Third, how are all the demands to be lought for and obtained?
These problems are closely linked with the rute of price increases. Workers face a new situation when, as at present, price rises of 15 or 20% are expectei. Very few are in a position to be sure of winning the 25% wage increases necessary to maintain their standard of living Even fewer can be sure of winning the 30% 35% necessary to increase their real income Under these conditions it is more ind more urgent that the working class find some more contnuous way of getting protection against price increases.
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'Scanlon's action has legitimised the notion of a national strike* LAST week's national engineering strike against the NIRC was the Why did the Executive Council suddenly decide to launch such a struggle-just a few weeks before the Industrial Relations Act
WA and