STOP THE should be the signal for a WEIGHELLING AND DEALING by Dave Lunts (Manchester NUR)

Scan page 16

tion for the NEC would get the NUM IT'Ş GETTING to the stage where we're not spending Special Fund: we're having them framed and hanging them Our comrades at Labour Party conference (see reports inside) showed that people are willing to contribute to Socialist Organiser. Our public meetings brought in collections of £100. On the last day we had a collection for our daily "Conference Briefing', and raised another f100. So it's time for local This week we make a special appeal for our duplicator. It is now in the final throes of its terminal illness, and unless you can help it will be the end for this poor little machine - and also the end of Socialist Organiser sending out duplicated material! Necessary repairs and overhaul will cost £327.

Before the "Save the Duplicator" appeal becomes the "Duplicator Commemoration Appeal", rush donations to us at 28 Middle Lane, London N8.

And if you sponsored the three comrades who ran 26 miles 385 yards in the Mersey Marathon to raise cash for Socialist Organiser, please send your ublished by the Socialist Organiser Alliance, 28 Middle Lane, London N8, and printed by East End Offser (TU: Registered as a newspaper af the GPO, Signad articles do not nacessarily reflict the viaws of the SOA.

paper at the GPO, Signed articles do not irds for unilateral nuclear disarmament.

groups to go out collecting too! money in promptly Rush da Socialist O 28, Middle LONDON N8 8PL THAT great champion of Weighell. "democracy, moderation and common sense" , Sid Weighell, has exposed himself to millions as the miserable anti-democrat that he always has been. investigative skills.

Last week at Labour Party conference he single handedly lost Eric Clarke of the NUM his place on the NEC. And as Weighell secretly cast - or didn't cast, as the case may be - the 180,000 votes of the NUR he knew tull well that he was breaking his own union's the NUM vote. mandate and delivering the NUR exec right wing another place on the NEC.

Back in June the NUR member lan AGM agreed to back Clarke for the NEC, partly as a Williams tol commitment to the Triple Alliance and partly because Socialist of the long-standing horse-trading of votes between the Organiser NUR and the NUM.

And who moved the NEC CONSTITUTIONALLY, it list with Clarke's name on it? all depends on whether Sid And who declared that the Weighell is prepared to allow NUR delegates should be the question of his behaviour mandated to vote for it? Sid to be put on the agenda at an executive meeting.

INI gramme to Blackpool last week asking for a meeting.

The Special General Meeting in Birmingham on the 13th and 14th will be decisive, but what Weighell will want to avoid is the executive making a decision and referring it to the conference.

the general secretary pending the General Meeting.

ly constitutional issue. Is the general secretary bound by any constraints at all, or can he do what the hell he likes?

survive all of this, it's going to be by constitutional manoeuvres and playing fast and loose with the rule book.

Jenny Fisher natior ganist Lane, Weighell - fexible balloting Weighell - flexible balloting The truth is somewhat Weighell was only dis- different. In fact Weighell covered to have broken this wrote to Lawrence Daly, mandate because of the the NUM General Secretary, recount of votes, together who was on holiday, and with Arthur Scargill's apparently never read the letter.

At no time did Weighell Weighell made no further inform anyone in his own attempt to contact the delegation of his intentions. NUM. At Blackpool, the After being caught his NUM delegation was four excuse was that he had tows away from the NUR written to Scargil earlier in and yet it wasn't within the year, to ensure the exist- Weighell's wit to lean back ing voting deal was still on and ask whether the agreeand that the NUR nomina- ment still stood?

Even if the NUM had not voted for the NUR nomination, ther = was still no excuse for wh at Weighell did.

Not only did the NUM in fact vote for the NUR nomination, but it seems that Weighell has told another massive he.

Tom Breakall, the rightwing EETPU candidate received a mystery vote of you've guessed it -180,000 (Morning Star, 2 October).

The depth of Weighell's deceit has shocked even his right-wing allies, and there The executive sent a tele- is no question that he is now fighting for survival.

Following the NUR delegation's unanimous vote of censure, the NEC meets this week to discuss his behaviour.

No doubt his fate will be decided at a special general meeting which takes place Officially we can suspend next week to discuss the McCarthy pay deal (the NEC can only suspend the In NUR terms it's a pure- General Secretary, according to the NUR rule book).

Every NUR member should be mandating their delegate, calling emergency if Weighell manages to meetings if necessary, to vote for Weighell's immediate dismissal. Nothing else will do.

the trade unions.

MANY OF the TGWU's delegation at Labour Party conference are ex-officio full-timers. Regional committee and trade group representatives are added by rotation.

Four members of the General Executive Council are elected by the Executive to the delegation, but the delegation is in no way a democratic reflection of the membership.

This delegation took it upon itself to flout the decision of the Executive and vote for the register. In effect, a few full-time officials decided 1¼ million votes.

The membership were never consulted. TGWU activists have had experience enough of bureaucratic witch-hunts against left-wingers in the union, and if branches had bad a chance to discuss the Labour Party witch-hunt they would surely have been This is a continuation of the method used on the deputy leadership issue. At the 1981 biennial conference I tried to move a proposal to decide the TGWU vote there, at conference, and the platform blocked it.

There may be one good side of this episode. Labour Party activists who might have seen Moas Evans and Alex Kitson as real allies of the Left will have had their eyes thor. oughly opened.

We need to fight for membership control over the whole unio the block vote - and over the whole union.

WS

----- pull-quotes -----

Weighell has resigned. This new drive for democracy in

by Alan Thornett