Betrayed – by the TGWU (continued)

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From a hevdav of 200 TGWU stewards. the Assembly Plant has been reduced to 40 Next Socialist Organiser delegate meeting Saturday December 4, 1am,to 5pm, in Sheffield: Local SO groups should start elect•: 82 2200)

and distributed without his knowledge.

It is an incredible statement since his own letter said that members would be "kept informed of developments by your senior steward and shop stewards". Yet as soon as the stewards acted on this he denounces them. knowledge of tilis body and has disowned this misleading document and has started an investigation to discover who these people are."

The Oxford Mail goes on to say that Bob Fryer had refused to say who wrote the leaflet and quotes Buckle as saying "People have assumed 1 am a party to both the letter and the leaflet. I am not. The leaflet was issued without my. knowledge or approval."

(It Is interesting that the Oxford Mail knew of the demands on Fryer to reveal ine names):

The distribution of this leaflet in both Body and Assembly Plants, plus_ its exposure in the Oxford Mail was a crippling biow to the possibility of a strike. But more treachery was to come.

The effect of all this on the plant was obvious. The only leaflet defending Alan Thornett had been denounced, and Buckle's statement was in effect a declaration that the TGWU officials did not want a strike and would not support one:

But it did not end there. Buckle wanted to be absolutely sure that there would be no strike vote. On Wednesday afternoon he met Bob Fryer and put the boot in MITTEE meeting on a major issue facing the plant!

His action can only be described as deliberately designed to undermine the possibility of a strike.

But the problems were stil not over. Wednesday's shop stewards meeting had voted on the text of a reply to Forster's leaflet which was to be distributed on the gates by the stewards on Wednesday night shift and Thursday day shift.

The night shift distribution went well, but the day shift was a disaster. When the stewards arrived not only were, the WRP there giving out their leaflet for the third morning running, but the local SWP were there with their own "Support Thornett" leaflet.

Without contacting anyone the SWP had decided to ' November 22 29 8 16 23 '30 3 0 25 4 19 26 5 12 20 27 break an agreement made a few days earlier that they would leave it to the trade unions and not leaflet the plant.

It is not just a matter of giving management ammunition. The reason that Buckle's statement and the stewards statement had to be given out on the gate is very important.

A major part of the break up of the trade union structure in the plant had been the success of BL in banning the circulation of all trade union literature with the exception of non-contentious administrative material agreed in advance by them.

The convenors have been constantly warned and intimidated about tlíe circulation of "unauthorised" trade union. material inside the factory.

Community Centre, 61B: Mansfield Rd:

NORTH-WEST London Socialist Organiser group discussion meetings. every other Sunday, 8pm (for venue, see SO sellers).

In Poplar and Clay Cross, Labour councils have defied

Even Buckle's statement could only be distributed outside the gates.

For almost two years the official trade union movement has been relegated onto the gates for the distribution of its material. Even then, it could not carry

names or signatures because of victimisation.

The refusal of the SWP to recognise that the stewards were carrying out the official distribution of shop stewards committee material and that they were interfering with that distribution made matters worse.

Difficult It was a very. difficult situation. Radio Oxford had been pumping out Forster's statement since it was issued. The early morning news broadcasts cach half hour which most BL workers listen to before they go to work had each repeated Forster's key words "Extremist organisations outside the Company and outside the union ...

When workers entered the plant for the mass meeting many of them received three leaflets - one from the one from fre top stard committee.

The responsibility however lies with Buckle and the TGWU. When Bob Fryer announced to the key day shift mass meeting that Buckle would not be there it had a visible impact on the meeting. By that time the six or seven to one vote against a strike was inevitable.

The night shift which is smaller and generally more militant on the issue voted 60-40 lo support a strike, but it was not énough to counter the day shift vote.

The transport drivers, meanwhile, had actually strengthened during the course of the week. Fhey had received very important support from_the drivers at Longbridge who pledged to black Cowley if Cowley dirvers struck - a very effective action since they supply engines to the plant.

NO PASS Laws conference. Sunday December 12, 10am, County Hall, London SEI.

Details: 146 Kentish Town Road, London NWS.

TROOPS Out Movement conference - Resisting the British state'. Saturday December 11, from 10am at Caxton House, St John's Way, London N19.

Contact: Troops Out Movement, PO Box 353, London NW5 4NH.

CAMPAIGN for the release of political prisoners in Sri Lanka. Public meeting, Friday November 26, 6.30, Friends Meeting House, Euston Road, London NW1.

Campaign for Labour Party Democracy Women's Action Com mittee conference:

Saturday December 4, County Hall, London SEI.

ing delegates now.

Wowe theis Buckle - no public defence of Thornett grounds.

defend Alan Thornett, official was crucial on such an issue.

The drivers met on Friday morning to consider the mass meeting decision. Buckle by then had told both the, Oxford Mail and Bọb Fryer that if the drivets struck on Monday they would receive no support from the TGWU.

• They. were up against a very difficult situation. There was a strong mood to continue, whatever the odds.

Some however felt that it was hard enough for 90 people to take on BL in its present mood and after the mass meeting vote, but to take on the TGWU at the same time was impossible.

Remarkably the vote was very close, narrowly_going against strike action. In fact it could easily have gone the other way since those unavoidably absent were militants. The vote however ended the last possibility of strike action over the issue.

But even that is not the full answer to the defeat. The chronic weakness of the shop stewards movement, gutted over recent years by a combination of worker participation' ., voluntary BAN PLASTIC BULLETS, a conference, planned for Labour movement delegate Manchester, February '83. Sponsors include LCI, Bernadette McAliskey, Ken Liyingstone. More sponsorship needed from LP/TU bodies.

Contact Martin Collins c/o Box 15, 164/6 Corn Exchange, Manchester M3 4BN.

ANTI-APARTHEID Trade Unionists' conference. Saturday November 27, details from AAM, 89 Charlotte St, London WC1.

FROM WAR in the Third World to World War 3?

Dayschool, Saturday December 11, Ilam, at Hargrave Hall, Hargrave Road, London N19, sponsored by CND, EISSOC, CAAT.

SPARTACIST Truth Kit - a 68-page analysis by John Lister, published by the Workers' Socialist League.

El plus 25p postage from WSL, PO Box 135, London N1 ODD. motion redundancy and manage ment offensive was a major factor.

It limited the ability the stewards committee counter the treachery as arose on the shop floor.

Also the confusion and demoralisation created in the workforce by repeated betrayals by national officials and general secretaries of the annual wage reviews which have been used as the bedrock of management authority.

• In addition to their hostility to Trotskyism the national leaderships of the major unions in BL remain politically committed to the profitability of BL and are opposed to anything which can shut down the plants.

There is no doubt that BL will build on this victory and that conditions in the plants will worsen. More victimisations are likely to follow. With Tebbit's laws on the statute book, BL is likely to remain a front runner in the offensive against the unions.

WOMEN in Education conference on anti-sexist education. Saturday November 27, 10am to 5pm at Teachers' Centre, Philip Lane, Londor N15. Contact: Mandy Muda, Hornsey School, Indrewick Road, London No.

HARINGEY Socialist Organiser meetings: alternate Sunday evenings, at Brabant Rd trade union centre, Next meeting December 5. Details: 802 0771 or 348 5941.

The Leyland Action Committee groups militto the existing sell-out union leadership. Contact: LAC, 194 Dawlish Road, Birmingham 29.

OXFORD Socialist Organis meetings:

Thursday November 25 'S&K strikers speak'.

Thursday December 2:

'Polish workers fight for Solidarnose' . Both 8pm at 44b Princes St.

OXFORD Socialist Organiser UKANU AMAD DALAAN. -1 DANIA VMAC DAZAAD:

Saturday December 18, 12 noon to 3.30, 44b Princes St off Cowley Rd. Gifts, cakes, bottle stall, books and other goodies.

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SHOP SAVE THE MG

MON MOTORS SHOP STEWARDS CON

ants in several plants fighting for an alternativ