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Subscribe! THE strikers at Air India offices at Heathrow airport and New Bord Street, London, are maintaining their pickets.

They have discovered that lorries have been issued with 'air side passes which allow them direct access to the airport apron via any of the hundred or so entrances. As the apron is a restricted area, the strikers have not been able to mount effective pickets on these lorries.

Customs officers in the OPSA voted not to issue any more airside passes for Air India and no passes have been issued for the past week.

Air India management postponed a meeting with the strikers at ACAS planned for November 23. The meeting will now take place a week later.

The refuellers at the airport, who could ground all Air India flights by taking action in solidarity with the strikers will not be meeting to discuss the dispute until after the meeting at ACAS.

Support, especially financial, is still needed. Money/messages to: Air India Strike Committee, c/o TGWU, Transport House, 7-9 South Road, Southall, Middlesex. Cheques payable to "Air India TGWU!

IDOr Rates: £5 for three months, £8:75 for six months, and £16 for a year.

Bundle of five each week: f17 for YUV.

three months.

Bundle of 10: £21 for three months.

Name.

Address I endose £ To: Socialist Organiser, Lo Middle Lane, London N8 8PL. Pleasant in Calthorpe St., the Grand in Southampton Row, and the London Park at the Elephant and Castle.

They' need regular support on these picket lines, and donations - to be sent to the strike committee at Camden Labour Centre, 8, Camden Road, London NW1. (485 1100)

THE National Union of Students has ground to a complete standstill for the first time in 60 years A MEMBER of the strike committee told Socialist Organiser: "We think NUS Executive members are under a clear obligation to instruct their management to convene negotiations when all the points can be discussed as quickly as possible, and when the dispute is over, to ensure that the bullying and intimidation cease."

Only three NUS Executive members have refused to cross the picket line. All the National Organisation of Labour Students members, and also, Sarah Veale, a Labour Party member elected to the Executive on the Socialist Student Alliance ticket, are crossing the picket line.

Student Labour Clubs should write to NOLS condemning these actions and demanding that the Exec members don't cross the picket line. Exec meetings to discuss the dispute should be held outside the NUS offices; if the building has to be entered, it should only be with the agreement of the strike committee.

Jane Ashworth THE FIRST mass picket in support of the 200 striking clothing workers at Raindi's in Smethwick was held last Friday, 19th.

About 400 attended the picket, which was a good turnout considering that the final decision to go ahead with the picket was taken only about 48 hours The picket was arranged to coincide with Michael Foot's visit to West Bromwich and the timing to suit NUT THE National Union of Teachers executive is fast getting a reputation as the strictest disciplinarians in the TUC. After a series of suspensions of militants over the last two years, they went a step further last Friday by confirming the expulsion of two officers of the Southwark branch.

The two, Amanda Leon and Gil Lowenstein, had called for a one day strike on July 1 against compulsory transfer of teachers from one school to another.

Teachers are against this because it leads to job loss and disrupts educational planning in the schools, as well as giving enormous power to heads and inspectors.

The Foot's arrangements. Obviously at 5pm to 7pm it 'had no effect on Raindi or the scabs directly.

However, Foot did turn up for five minutes at 7pm.

The greatest barrier in the Raindi strike is now the failure to intensify the action, and provide effective backing for the strikers. The TGWU must be pressed to pay hardship money, and to organise regular mass pickets mobilising all its local membership.

Picketing must be intensified to effectively stop goods and scabs entering and leaving the factory.

Finally, the key to the success of the strike is to extend it to the other sweatshops doing similar work, where the T&G has already recruited substantial membership. If this is done the other Indian employers will soon pressure Raindi into a settlement.

Godfrey Webster LAST Friday's meetings showed how the members feel. The vote was 520 to 23 for fejection of the latest offer.

. There was a banner hanging over the balcony in the hall with Stuff the Offer? written on it. That set the tone for the whole meeting.

[CPSA official] Alistair Graham had come up confidently expecting to convince the strikers that the deal was the best thing since Cashpoint cards. Well, he prepare the ground for nat. onwide escalation, but there is a problem as I see it. Other areas will want 50% strike pay like Birmingham and Oxford. That would exceed our_ strike fund income. So for nationwide escalatinsi to be a realistic proposition, we need to strengthen our financial position, step up the levies, and start campaigning for support throughout the wider labour movement. I certainly hope SO supporters will be able to help here. And remember, as we get