Foyles fight- official?

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Ads for Socialist Organiser events and many campaigns are carried free. Paid ads: 5p per word, £4 per column inch. Send to: Socialist Organiser (What's On), 28 Middle Lane, London N8. TURKEY Turkey Solidarity Campsign Democratic Platform Speakers' Tour Mechesca, March 24 11am THE FOYLES dispute seems to be made official - but the General Secretary's not télling. Jeremy Corbyn came to our office on Tuesday morning and said there had been a report given on Foyles to the London Labour Party executive on Monday night which had said that the USDAW National Executive Committee had decided to make the dispute official.

But on Tuesday afternoon Siobhan Lanigan, the sacked shop steward, still didn't know. She'd been phoning up the General Secretary Bill Whatley of USDAW all day to find out and he refused to tell her on the phone. It had to be done through the official channels - she'd get a letter!

Now that the dispute's official - when that's officially confirmed - the 16 sacked bookshop workers must get the support of mass pickets on the shops, with USDAW members from allover London attending, and blacking of the deliveries must be extended Donations and messages of support to Foyl s disponai c/o Collets Int Bookshop, Charir g Cross Rd., London WC2.

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Miserable day for NHS pav LAST THURSDAY, March 11, the 220 workers involved in the occupation of Plessey Capacitors at Bathgate voted almost unanimously to reject the proposals put to them as a result of an ACAS The basis of these proposals was that 80 jobs were on offer - and improved redundancy payments were to be made to the others.

Having failed to sell that, management are to try again. Direct negotiations between management and the stewards took place on Tuesday 16th.

This was the first time the two sides had come together since the sit-in began. Any improved offer will, like the first, be put to a mass meeting.

The original offer was not refused simply because 80 jobs out of 220 was not good CIVIL service union leaders are hoping that the arbitration tribunal will come up with an offer of 6% to 9%, and thus pose the Tories the problem of whether to accept arbitration or put the pay increase to a parliamentary vote.

Apart from this, the contingency plans of the Council of Civil Service enough. This was made clear at the fringe meeting held by the Plessey workers at the Scottish Labour Party conference on Saturday March 13. Strike leaders Ina Scott (AUEW) and George Wilson (TASS) spelled out further complications in the offer.

The 80 jobs were not even definite, but dependent on negotiations between Plessey and Arcatronies, a new company set up in Holland.

There was, however, an implication in the strike leaders' speech that a more solid offer of 80 jobs would receive serious consideration. But acceptance of such an offer would be nothing short of a defeat for a workforce which was united and determined.

No-one should underestimate the workers' strength of feeling. There were large redundancies payments awaiting anyone who didn't fight. Most of the women have been employed for 15 or 20 years, and many are approaching retirement age. They are fighting not only for themselves, but for the future.

Delegations

But there is no question that the expectations of the workers have diminished. This is not because of a shortfall in the efforts they themselves have put in. Delegations have gone out, Scotland has been well covered, and inroads have been made into England as well. Good contact has been kept with the other Plessey plants, and every effort has been made to use the combine committee.

by Da Millik And yet the dispute is not really hitting Plessey hard.

The main culprit here is the leadership of the AUEW, whose members form the majority of the occupying workers.

The women I spoke to today (March 16) had not heard of the proposed conference promised over two weeks ago by Duffy, nor are they likely to; because the tactics being employed by the leadership are solely negotiations - negotiations conducted with one hand tied behind their back. If they do not escalate the dispute, just how do they expect to negotiate a better deal than is already on the table?

The answer is probably that they don't, and moreover lack the will for it.

So readers of this paper must push hard. If you are an AUEW, APEX, TASS, or EETPU member (all these unions have members involved), pass a motion demanding action. If you are in TGWU, try to ensure blacking of products, particularly by dockers, as over 50% of Plessey products are exported.

Blacking

If you are in POEU -then British Telecom, as one of Plesseys' main customers, could severely damage the company's profits by blacking.

If you are a member of the Labour Party, make sure your Labour council does not buy Plessey products (most of them do - traffic lights).

Nothing less will win this fight for the labour movement.

Messages/money to Mary Murphy, 30 Main St, Fauldhouse, West Lothian. THE BIG day in the bureaucrats' fight for more than four per cent for Health Service workers came and went on March 15.

It was a cold, miserable and wet day's lobby of Parliament - which just about describes the. fight that the trade union leaders are prepared to wage over this year's pay claim.

Health service workers from all over the country came to queue - in some cases for over two hours -to speak to their MP or to listen to what politicians had to say in meetings. There was a meeting with Labour MPs, a meeting with Conservative MPs, and an 'all-party' meeting (which no conservatives attended!)

The mood was very angry and there was talk about strike action from the workers, but of course not from the leadership. They CONSIDERING the occupation they serve, the leadership of the National Unare content to address meeting while their members get drenched and freeze for the privilege of telling an MP why they should earn a decent wage.

Pay in the Health Service is a scandal and yet union officials are doing nothing. While inflation rises and the government's offer stays at 4%, the leaders sit around talking about deals and negotiations and wooing the media, but do not even think about mobilising for strike action.

This week has seen two management side 'offers' - for nurses and for ancillary workers.

The management's offer for nursing staff was so complicated that the negotiators had to go away and figure it out. It should have been rejected immediately. It is 4% for all nursing grades, with a minute extra payment to ward sisters/charge nurses (£59 per year), student and pupil by Peter Flack members as a local dispute, i.e. over whether local authorities will agree to support the demand for Organiser, Thursday 18 March, ncustria by An Camp nurses • (£45) and auxiliaries (£45).

No, doubt this extra will be taken away from either another section of workers or account for through unfilled vacancies and other cuts in services.

Ancillary workers have been offered a straight 4% in line with the government's cash limits, with no improvement annual leave or shorter hours.

The Tory tactic is 'divide and rule'. It will probably make the RCN happy, as they see nurses as 'more deserving' than other workers.

It will also please the press - the Sun has already slammed Alan Fisher for daring to suggest that ancillary workers deserve the same rise as nurses. nurses' rses nesegotiators is the negowalors on March 23.

It is likely that the pay offer will be accepted, as the RCN and other professional' bodies have the balance of votes on the staff side. This happened last year, and apart from angry words the TUC-affiliated unions did nothing.

The ancillary offer was rejected outright. There is no time to waste in preparing for industrial action from April 1st. Every branch should be getting ready now for strike action

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WHAT'S ION

HÜT OFFICIAL nUT STRIKE DEFICIAL STRIKE