UCW leaders ioin sell-out
Socialist Organiser1982 1982-07-01Read it in the scan (PDF), scan page 2 →
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and Derby and Leicester.
-Even after the AGM decision we stayed absolately solid until the official resum-to-work time, and pickets stayed out. One group of workers lost £30 br staying out on Tuesday, but they did.
'If we'd asked them to stay out an extra day in -protest, I think they would here done."
Dave Lunts in Manchesles confirmed this: AN agreement was made between the leaderships of the NUR and the UCW that any mail not shifted by train during the rail strike would be moved by UCW members only and that no non-UCW labour will be used.
It did not seem to occur to the UCW executive that we should not handle mail affected by the strike at all!
Post Office drivers were asked by the management to handle this mail by working open-ended shifts and by single manning of lorries (during the ASLEF dispute earlier this year all lorries were double manned).
Drivers in Coventry refused to shift the mail unless double manning was agreed to. They understood they would have the full backing of UCW HQ.
Since then, UCW executive member Maurice Styles, has unilaterally agreed to single manning on all runs. As a result of this drivers in Coventry have reluctantly accepted single manning.
This will not be the first time that an agreement has been made without consulting the membership.
And in this particular case it shows the unwillingness of the union leadership to take up the issue of Solidarity action with other unions (both the Tebbit Bill an the Health workers strike were effectively kept off the agenda of the National Conference).
It also shows just how far the leadership of the UCW is out of touch with the needs of its own rank and file.
COLIN BARNES Coventry UCW their strike must strengthen the confidence of management to take on ASLEF and impose flexible rostering.
Apart from the view that the NUR dispute was some sort of fantastic conspiracy to "drop ASLEF in , the EC's excuses are not supporting the NUR were shameful and pathetic. For example, the NUR NEC had failed to turn up for a joint trade union meeting!
With this level of argument it wasn't long before the dreaded "machinery of negotiation" was wheeled out. The NUR had not gone through the machinery on the pay claim, so (once again) ASLEF could not support the strike