Boilermakers: Officials admit phony ballot

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LEADERS of the Boileri makers' Society this week admitted in court that many ballot papers were forged in its Ju e 1980 election for General Secretary.

Merseyside .. organiser Barry Williams has taken the union into the courts in an effort to unseat right-winger James Murray, who was declared winner of the ballot.

The result was contested from the outset. At first Murray was declared the winner vy 4,vor vules w hur 9021 1,903. After protests this was altered to 1,841 to 1,435.

Then there was an appeal t the union's general couneil which produced yet a third set of figures - 1,795 to Murray as against 1,544 to Williams.

Since the union has 129,000 members, the level of participation is clearly abysmally low - particularly when it has now been admitted that not all of the votes cast were cast by rank and file members.

The union has declared that it will not contest Williams' claim that the 102 votes cast by the Belfast no.1 branch should not be cast in Murray's favour.

In fact only eleven members had been at the Belfast meeting which sent in 102 ballot papers.

And in admitting the fraud in Belfast the union leadership claimed at the same time that there was a 'serious doubt' over votes cast in favour of Williams at Dudley and West Bromwich.

Handwriting experts were called in to show conclusively the fraud in the Belfast ballot papers. • Here the Boilermakers' scandal differs from previous ballot-rigging seandals in the TGWU - where it is unnecessary: for branch officials to go through the laborious process of completing ballot forms, since only total figures need to be forwarded 'scrutineers' But the whole case highlights the basis of corruption and deliberately maintained inactivity at branch level on which whole sections of the right wing bureaucracy depend for their positions.

The struggle for democracy in the labour movement is not simply a fight for regular, open and democratic elections, but also a fight for increased rank and file involvement and for policies which can offer a genuine alternative to the line of the present leadership.

These issues will be at the forefront of the trade union conference on March 6 co-sponsored by Socialist Organiser and London Labour Briefing.

We urge readers to altend and to fight for their union branches and Labour Parties to send delegates to this conference.