S&K go back on picket duty

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WORKERS at the Sandhar and Kang cash and carry warehouse decided to return to the picket line four and a half weeks after stopping them under the threat.of a court injunction introduced by the bosses.

Over the past few weeks, solidarity pickets have been held with the intention of getting local trade unionists, especially those from the T&GWU, to give support and raise the issue throughout all levels of the local T&G.

Despite considerable efforts to get the local T&G acPAUL VOLCKER, the USA's chief banker, thinks that we have reached the end of inflation. Geoffrey Howe reckons that regular yearly wage rises should be a thing of the past, now that prices are stable.

Not even the capitalists believe them. The Financial Times wil venture no more than: "Inflation ... is expected to remain under 7% for a substantial part of next year before creeping up again"

Retail prices fell margin. ally between September and October, and the year. on-year inflation rate now stands at 7.3%. In the advanced capitalist coun tries overall, average inflation has dropped fron 12% two years ago to aboul seven or eight per cent now. But that's hardly very low.

So much for Volcker anc Howe. But what eis the cause of inflation? Why has it decreased? Why won't il tive, the response has been weak. Therefore there has been only limited pressure on the local T&G officials, who still refuse to back the strike.

Attitude

Disillusioned at the attitude of the local T&G, the strikers have decided to restart daily pickets by the strikers, despite the fact that the strikers are named in the court injunction.

Although they have received legal advice which continue to decrease?

The causes of inflation in modern 'capitalist economies are a complex matter, an issue of much controversy among Marxists.

My own view is that there is a lot of truth to the 'monetarist' view that inflation is generated by rapid growth of the stock of money put into circulation by the government and the banks. However, the 'monetarist' conclusion that inflation is a product of feckless or spineless bankers, and that a firm hand on the cashbox will cure it, does not follow!

Excess

The 'excess' supply of money is itself a symptom - producea by the moaern capitalist state's efforts to manage crises. The wild inflation of the '70s and '80s was started off by the US government pumping millions of dollars into the world economy as it paid for the Vietnam war, but i: is not at all clear that it is reversible.

There is no contesting that a government determined to 'deflate' can evenmay allow them to get round the legal restrictions on picketing, this decision runs the serious risk of prosecution and imprisonment.

What is important is that the pressure on the T&G to make the strike official is stepped up and not relaxed.

The solidarity pickets will continue as befere on Saturdays, with strikers themselves picketing during the week.

Messages and money to: The S&K Strike Committee, c/o 88, King George's Avenue, Coventry. tuany reauce milanon. Int question is - by how much, before the accompanying slump and business bankruptcies force a pause? And how long will it last?

In the current slump the major capitalist states have resolved to 'sweat it out' rather than 'reflating' as they did in the 1974-5 slump. The policy of Thatcher and Howe is only typical. And its results are typical, too: inflation edges down, and unemployment has bounded upwards avarvwhere.

There is another side to it. Especially in a country like Britain where a quarter of all goods are imports, inflation depends a lot on world prices. Oil prices have stagnated recently, anu vasic nod hasin POTT mataral prices have dropped sharply - by an average of 8.3% (in the f) over the last year.

This drop in prices -caused by the slump in demand - hits hard at the Third World countries which rely on raw materials for much of their exports. Result: foreign debt crisis, inability to import what they need, slump, misery

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by Martin Thomas