Students must control their Executive

Scan page 3

NUS president Neil Stewart: will he back the Manchester EVEN though the motions submitted to the National Union of Students conference aren't going to equip NUS with a bries to go out and organise students alongside the pubiic sector workers against the government, it's still going to be one of most significant NUS conferences for a long time.

Grants, education, overseas students, cuts, and peace and disarmament will be debated as the prioritised motions, but some Exec and Rules Revision business that will be taken is just as important, and this is where most of the friction is likely to come.

The Executive and a good number of colleges are trying to change the nature of NUS conferences. It's true, at the moment they are bureaucratic and very hard to untangle for the first-time delegate; but the Exec's way of solving this problem would nothing but weaken Poly occupation? the national union.

Many motions want 1o break down the conterence into a series of commissions, and invite in experts to tell us about grants, cuts, and so on. The Exec wants to stop challenges to the order paper by allowing them only at the start of conterence, rather than at the start of any session, and it also wants to end the guest speaker system under which delegates vote to hear representatives from campaigns disputes.

They are wrong to try to make conference more accessible like this, because conference will never become more accessible by stopping debate or by keeping out politics, or by hinaering the delegates' control of conference business. It will only become more manageable when NUS starts to involve the mass of its mements who aren't part of the major blocs get a chance to have their say.

If we can fight off these last year when we have a real chance to discuss the workings . of the Exec over the previous seven months.

Staff strike At this conference, that means the whole union finding out what really happened during the staff dispute. How come a union exec that is mostly made up of socialists forced its staff to go out on strike and then was reluc-i tant to negotiate?

There is a motion of censure on Alan Watson, who has been seen as the Exec member with the most to answer for on the handling of this dispute.

As well as the staff dispute, conference will have to take an attitude to the occupation at Manchester Poly. Will NUS president Neil Stewart have the gall to tell them to go back to college?

The problem with the prioritised motions is that very few of them have much Thoma:

on last to say about the way NUS should fight. There is a lot of talk about education cuts and Trident, but very little said about students and the labour movement, or about what we can do now to involve the mass of students.

Some of the best motions come up in the peace and disarmament section. Several call for Britain out of NATO and a good few call fer activity against Ministry of Defence work being carried out in the colleges.

Limits

This conference won't be important in terms of new policy breakthroughs, but it will be important in that the limits of Exec freewheeling will be drawn up. And it will be important, too, in that the attempt to stop the union meeting as a full conference twice a year will be stopped, whether it is presented to us as 'learning from the women's movement about non-oppressive meeting structures' or offered up as the only way to maintain our credibility with the 'average student'. "THE MOST significant action against the cuts in Manchester this year" , commented one of the many students occupying the admin building at Manchester Polytechnic. We have now been in occupation for ten days against proposed cuts in staff and student numbers.

Support for the occupation has been immense, both from Poly students and from colleges up and down the country, with delegations and messages of support arriving daily.

By far the most important aspect, though, is the active support of the campus unions, particularly NUPE and NATHE, both of whom have participated in occupation mass meetings. NUPE have imposed an overtime ban, and have called for a series of one day strikes against the cuts. They themselves are being asked to take cuts in wages of £14 a week.

The Polytechnic's Labour Club is run by Militant supporters who prior to the occupation vigorously opposed it on the grounds that first support had to be built in the trade unions before any action was taken. The overwhelming trade union support we have received is clear proof that it is action, not words, that builds support.

The executive of the city council Labour Group has lent its full support to the action, and several councillors have personally visited the occupation.

An injunction came six days after the start of the occupation, but for reasons best known to Poly director Ken Green it has not yet been acted on. Perhaps MI Green hopes that the occupation will die on its feet. He must be joking. We are still as strong as ever, maintaining a level of at least 200 people at any time.

Tuesday 30th: Today the bailiffs turned up with several senior police officers to serve the possession order. As yet we are still in occupation, but expect to be jected late tonight. Meanwhile a delegation from the occupation lobbied a meeting of the full council Labour Group in an attempt to gain their support. Unfortunately a motion to hear speakers from the Polytechnic was lost by 28 to 24.

Lynn Ferguson to" declared by conterence by the NEC 'in pursuance the conference decisions"

be ineligible for affiliation.

Mortimer's proposal c thus be questioned techi cally on at least two grounc for clause II(4) to be appl able, it has to be shown it Militant is a political par (the clause was designed 1 use against the Commun Party), and that a NEC de sion that Militant is ineligil for affiliation would be • pursuance of conferer decisions"

It is clear that the N] intends to have its wit hunt, and will trim the ter nicalities to suit. Only a certed and courageous de ance by Constituency Lab Parties and affiliated tra unionists will stop it.

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

looks at the issues for NUS conference

bership, and ordinary stud- Martin reports week's

attempts to stop the national union taking decisions as one body, then this won't be the