No lead from Liaison Committee

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Liaison Committee conference last Saturday, 27th.

HOWEVER predictable the decision of last Saturday's Liaison Committee for the Defence of Trade Unions (LCDTU) Conference to effectively duck out of any serious opposition to Tebbit, its effects are no less damaging to the labour movement.

In a conference which lasted for only 2¾ hours, and with an audience who were overwhelmingly Communist Party members and their supporters, the organisers were able to bulldoze through a resolution which avoids any serious call for action to stop Tebbit before the Bill becomes law.

• Its only positive call was for support for the lobby of the Conference of Executives called by the TUC on Monday April S. Instead it amounts to acceptance of the TUC 8-point formula and limits its call for action before the Tebbit Bill is enacted to a call for locally based two-hour stoppages and a lobby of Parliament.

Formula

Of the 8-point formula, says the following:

'The TUC meeting of Executives called for Monday 5 April, will have before it an 8-point recommendation. Most of these recommendations are good, although they can be interpreted as accepting the payment of damages. Experience at the time of the Industrial Relations Act was that non-payment of damages and the subsequent industrial action ended the fining of trade unions and buried that Tory Act."

The conference appeared to be held more as a token mar an no tion. The TUC's proposals are:

ment Bill."

stickers, but no action.

ment Bill. "

Wing regular ballots. to show that the LCDTU still existed in a period of anti-trade union legislation than as a serious conference to mobilise. The LCDTU, after all, rests on its (largely false) reputation from its role in 1969 and 1971.

The organisers were determined from the outset that the CP would be in the majority and that no alternative resolutions or recommendations would be allowed.

Delegates to the conference were strictly controlled and a new Standing Orders produced which allowed delegates from shop stewards committees and work-place based trade union branches only.

The conference was deliberately held in one of the smallest halls available.

In the organisers' words they set out to be "extremely selective" and they certainly were. This "selectivity" extended to an exclusion of all AUEW branches from the conference, including a Reading branch which had submitted a resolution based on strike action to stop Tebbit.

A letter from Kevin Halpin, (reproduced), gives restricted seating as a reason for this.

The new standing orders were also used to rule out of order a resolution from the BL Cowley Assembly TGWU 5/293 Branch calling on the conference to support a policy of breaking all links with the Tories now and for a one-day strike on the day of the Bill's Third Reading.

Attempts by myself as the delegate to raise a point of order on its exclusion were ignored by Kevin Halpin in the chair, as were calls by other speakers such as Pat Lally from Oxford Trades Council, who called for a decision to be taken on the policies in the resolution.

À Scottish delegate who pushed from the floor for the resolution to be put, was IND ADVANCE -PHOTO: JOHN HARRIS quickly told down" to "sit by Halpin.

The four platform speakers who included Derek Fulwick, President of ASLEF, and George Willoughby of SOGAT, were very weak. Peter Cavanagh, national officer of the TGWU Building Trades group, livened it up a bit by calling for general strike action but did not say how or when.

A notable absence of some of the traditional CP speakers at such events was matched by the near total absence of the revolutionary left with the exception of Socialist Organiser supporters.

Roger Cox, a leading member of the SWP for many years, spoke on behalf of a small group of Socialist Workers Party members..

He made a depressing contribution far to the right of the line currently put by Socialist Worker on the Tebbit campaign. aedare on rear acuon ugurrse 1 antinn norinet Tohhit Whilst making no criticism of the conference declaration, he spoke pessimistically about the ability of the working class to respond to Tebbit, predicting a fightback in 1984.

Sort "Some sort of action" however, was necessary he said, and went on to denounce the TUC 10p levy designed to pay fines after Tebbit's Bill becomes law; and proposed instead a 5p "rank-and-file levy"

The final speaker of the day was Ron Halverson, national chairperson of the Communist Party, who argued that it was wrong to be too critical of the TUC but "we have to say they need to do a bit more" -It may however, still be possible to influence the LCDTU onto a more positive path.

*Move *Move resolutions in your branch and Labour Party Closing the conferen Halpin referred to the fi point in the declarati which called for more tra union bodies to sponsor 1 LCDTU and for a meet of sponsoring organisati "as early as possible April" which would furt discuss the campaign agai Tebbit.

clearly action

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Tebhit reports on the