The straple at the Standard Tee wuch included the continuation of thre sholds and cqual pay is now over. Last Friday a mass meeting accepted an offer from manapement, against the recomm endation of the joint shop stew ands com mittee, which goes nowhere near achieving the objocts of the struggle.
The offer was an increase of E6,50 for semi-skilled workers and £6.00 for skilled workers, 92% of equal pay in January and 96% in July, There is to he no cont inuation of thresholds, The only small gain which has Been made is that female grades as such have been abolished, and the wages of the woren will now be defined purely as a percentage of existing made grades. The management, no doubt, want all the women to go in the lowest male erades. so against their plans.
This must not simply be left up to the shop stewards committee, who have fought a pretty half-hearted struggle so far, It is necessary for all the women in the factory to nicet to make sure a real struggle a painst management is waged.
CORRECTION We wish to apologise for an stoplan ate eror which crept into the photo cap ton which accompanied last week's arricie on the 3TC dispute, referring to the strike by black workers in summer 1973. This should have read The racin leadership of the utions in the factory during that strile! and not 'the racist leadership of that strike: RED BOOKS, 97 Caledonian Road, London N1 9BT.
Last week at an extraordinary press conference, NCB Chairman Sir Derek Ezra, NUM President Joe Gormley, and Vice-President (and CP member) Michael MeGahey all affirmed their belief that the miners could meet the target of 120 million tons, "solidarity at the top', and suid this would be supported by visits to the coal fields by 'national leaders of management and unions", Gormley said that they 'rcalised their oblig ations. Nodding his approval at McGahey be added: "Michael and I have said we will go with the chairman of the NCB to an area and even to individual collieries to encourage them to meet the targets. CAMPAIGN Board organised a vicious campaip The miners have decisively rejected the Coal Board productivity deal. But as JEFF KING explains, the NCB are not letting the grass grow under their feet in seeking new ways to boost production at the expense of the miners.
Jahour force:
Eura talked about demonstrating shall pay for it.
IMPOSE The present crisis of British cap italism cannot he solved by piecemeal reforms. The ruling class will cither force the workers to pay tor the crisis or the labour movement will mount a chailenge to impose its own solution. One of the ways the left in the NUM bave to do this is to fight for the control of the coal industry by the miners. That means fighting Ezra and his colleagues not going on productivity jaunts with them.
Furthermore it means that the miners have to have their own plan to meet the energy crisis and that must be done in alliance with workens in other sectors of the energy industry. Unless the NUM lett are able to convince their own members that there is a working class altero-