As the economic crisis deepens the kid glove is coming off the iron fist of the social contract. Troops are moving in to smash the dustcart drivers" strike in Glasgow. The Government is firmly drawing the wage guidelines of the social contract ag ainst the power workers.
But the social contract has largely failed to cut back the living standards of the working class. Now the Government is looking for stronger medicine. With the budget just a few weeks away, both the Bank of England and the influential National Institute of Economic and Social Research have told Chancellor Healey that unemployment is his main weapon in curbing wages.
At a time when 790,000 are already out of work, with nearly 250,000 more on short-time, the Bank of England is calling for a deflationary budget which would accelerate unemployment. Meanwhile the NIESR speculates on "whether OCCUPATION has to be affirmative unless one way or another the unempl oyment itself brings about lasting changes in attitudes.' Its call for a 'broadly neutral budget would still send unemployment over the 1 million mark by 1976 at the latest.
of the massive confrontation this would provoke with the trade unions, the Labour Government is prepared to act like a latter-day Canute, hoping that steedily rising unemployment will produce the goods for the ruling class without provoking a mass response from Labour's base in the working class.
for policies of full employment and claiming the crisis isn't as bad as the capitalists make out. Meanwhile 300 workers at Crosfield's Electronics in North London, 200 white collar iney want a Lo basic wage increase and cost of tving nod on a money base. Ena s one or the most determined struggres Tol automatie compensation for inflation launched to date.
unemployment (has) to be kept permanently high. The answer Unable to implement any tough incomes policy because The Labour left has no answer to this other than calling NO CONCORD AT CONCORDE - Workers at British Aircreft Corporation factories at Weybridge, Surrey and Hum Airport near Christchurch are occupying thair foctories in pursuit of wage claims. The workers at Hurn want £55 basic, while at Weybridge industries, whose jobs are also under attack. must fall or unemployment will rise. workers at Hoover's headquarters in Perivale, West London, and 225 at Thorn Electrical in Hull were among those issued with redundancy notices last week. They join 3200 workers from Imperial Typewriters, and thousands employed by the multi-national Plessey and in the slumping textile and steel What is desperately needed in this situation is a class-wide fight for nationalisation to save jobs - without compensation being given to bankrupt capitalists- and for work-sharing without loss of pay in factories threatened with redundancies and short-time. The latter can be implemented by shop stew ards monitoring the amount of work available and dividing it accordingly. But the TUC provio.; noJead, In fact they accept the Labour Government's argument that living standards