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THE MOBILISING Committee for the Defence of What has become dear from these meetings and Trade Union Rights developed out of a conference the general response to the campaign has been, the on trade union democracy held by Socialist Organiser willingness of rank and file members of the unions to and London Labour Briefing. Trade unionists at the fight the Tory onslaught, and anger at the TUC's conference decided that it was no good simply bemoaning the fact that neither the TUC nor the maj- In particular, women workers and public sector ority of trade union leaders have failed to do trade unionists have realised how hard they will be anything about the Bill. We had to start doing some- hit if the Bill is allowed to become law.

To that end the committee was formed, to alert The Mobilising Committee has made a start in cothe movement to the dangers of the Bill, to start ordination of that groundswell of support for action. calling our leaders to account for their failure to But we must broaden the fightback. You can help organise, and to say quite clearly that at the end of the day the only way the Bill will be defeated will be the same way that. In Place of Strife and the Industrial Relations Act bit the dust - through industrual With this aim, supporters of the campaign have produced leaflets and factsheets, and spoken at trade union branches, shop stewards' committees THE BASiC SOFTLY SOFTLY NORMAN TEBBIT NEGOTIATING TECHNÍQUE. gesting that they be ervised by union officials attempting to stop ons taking disciplinary ion against those who ak the lines.

Since 1906, when the ides Disputes Act overed the House of Lords gement in the Taff Vale F, union funds have not n lable to pay compenon to employers ano ers directly affected by awful industrial action. di cases have been fught against individuals. w they can be brought linst the union itself. This will be so when the ion which is unlawful has in authorised or endorsed | the union executive, ot er union bodies such as jonal, district or even wards committees or fullle officials which have hority under rule to do Now there may be argunts as there were under : Industrial Relations Act to whether shop stewards re the authority to take lustrial action. If they do, : union will be liable. However, there is a clear it for the union. If the ecutive repudiate the lawful industrial action as in as is reasonably pracible and don't take any ps which are inconsistent ih that repudiation then : union will not be responle. The decision in the urence Scott dispute, for ample, would not be any ferent under Tebbit's law. 'Because the AUEW ¡cutive had made the ike unofficial, they would held to have repudiated and the strikers themves would still be the vicIs of the legal process. However, if Arthur Snipe I taken legal action when would have had to repudiate the action. Would a statement be sufficient or would they have to cut off all support to the strikers? Or would they have done nothing?

In this unlikely event the injunction would have been granted against the AUEW. If the picketing then continued, the union would have been fined large amounts for contempt of court pressurising them to disown the strikers.

Damages

Moreover, the employer would eventually be able to go to court and get damages against the union for loss of production.

There is a sliding scale from unions with fewer than 5,000 • members who will have to pay damages up to £12,500 in each case to unions with more than 100,000 members who will have to face damages up to £250,000. In this kind of situation what do you think Boyd and Duffy would have done?

The aim is clearly not to bankrupt unions but by threatening to do so, to pressurise union leaders to take action against those who are trying to win a dispute. As we have seen, most of the means necessary to win a dispute are now illegal.

The long term aim is to push union leaders into what is logical: instead of having to have a 'repudation officer' proclaiming lack of official support for picketing and blacking which is essential but illegal, why not concentrate decision making on these matters at the top with the executive so that there will be no question of liability? even when • a dispute is official?

This would mean that all strikes would be run ineffectively. It would mean playing to lose. It would mean undermining steward autonomy. This is the Tory aim. The castration of union power necessitates the gelding of union democracy.

Unlike Labour's leaders, Thatcher and Tebbit are class warriors determined to fight for the interests of those who put them where they are. Where in 1974 the Labour Cabinet ran away from retrospectively. wiping completely clean the record of the Clay Cross councillors, where Roy Jenkins refused even to grant a pardon to the Shrewsbury Two, Tebbit rewards those who have suffered in the cause of the ruling class.

Cut here, cut there, but establish a £2 million fund to compensate blacklegs who lost their jobs between September 1974 when Labour introduced its closed shop legislation and August 1980 when Prior's Act became Reward Workers who had no legal rights under the 1974 legislation but who would have won their case under Prior's Act will be entitled to apply to Tebbit for a reward based on the actual loss they sustained with interest.

If a worker, once Tebbit becomes law, rips up his union card and is sacked by. his employer in pursuance of a closed shop arrangement then that worker will automatically win his case at an industrial tribunal unless the employer can show that in the last five years he has held a secret ballot of those thing about it ourselves. action on a mass scale.

and Labour Party wards.

WE HATE PINKOS!! WE HATE PINKOS!

YOU'RE GONNA GET YOUR N *@HO!! HEADS KiCKEDiN!! failure to coordinate action. by:

* taking action in support of the * affiliating to the campaign, * calling for trade union leaders and collaboration with the Tories, * calling for and supporting against the Bill.

CONTACT: MCDTUR, c/o 28 Middle Lane, London N8 8PL.

VERY GOOD! You'vE MASTERED -ToMORROW WE TRY iT WITHOUT THE KID GLOVES!

steve sell-_

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Organiser, 19 August • Mousing 1800