Isascab's Life in the Army

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Plans for over many "CALL off the rail strike, or we'll call an air strike" gloated one of the slogans of Thatcher's returning Falklands Task Force at the height of the jingoistic fervour last summer.

And now that the union leaders' fear of their own rank and file members has plainly outweighed their fear of action against the government, Thatcher is counting upon a revival and area-by-area bonus scheme in the mining industry, designed to split the strength of the NUM, while legislation now completing its way through Parliament will abolish the National Water Council - and thus national agreements and the nossihilitv of national strike action by water workers by September 1983.

Water workers will then find themselves divided into no less than ten different regions with negotiations only on a local level.

Disputes which break out i this set-up would be more vulnerable to isolation - and to military strike-breaking.

The 1973-4 miners' strike which eventually toppled the Heath government, brought an even higher degree of police/ military preparation.

A special "Anti Picket Unit" was established headed by Commander John Gerard, to coordinate action against the miners' dispute. In Yorkshire alone a squad of 800 police were on permanent standby throughout the strike while a special unit kept tabs on 'known extremists' Previously inactive 'Home Defence and Emergency Planning Committees' were drastically expanded. These are committees that would oversee wartime or peacetime emergencies. . The plant producing army riot helmets was specifically exempted from Heath's 3-day. week restrictions.

There were special appeals to rail workers to join the Territorial Army, while army HGV drivers were warned they may be recalled from Xmas leave.

And in December 1973 Heath put on alert the alternative government apparatus which would take over the country in the case of extreme national emergency. The secret bunkers housing the THU coverd portinnal coate of mauornment were put on standby.

As we know, these measures — like so many of the previous attempts to crack strikes by military and police intervention - failed to save Heath or his incomes policies.

This did not deter the returned Labour leadership from further exercises in army scabbing.

The Glasgow dustmen were the first to suffer this attack when troons moved in to clear rubbish during their strike in 1975.

But it was the fire fighters' pay strike of 1977-8 which brought the most concerted and prolonged army strike-breaking exercise seen this century.

For eight weeks, amidst a barrage of adulatory press publicity, thousands of troops were deployed with their 'Green r.1J E.in an effort to crack the militancy of the tirst national strike against Labour's wage controls.

In the event, though the immediate deal forced in by the FBU leadership fell short of the original claim, the whole scabbing exerrica failed tn nrevent the ARAMANLI firefighters from securing a long term boost to their wage levels.

The careful cultivation of an "acceptable" face of mass scabbing - the use of troops to break a strike by emergency workers who provide a vital public service - was to be seen again. however during the ambulance workers' struggles in early 1979, and again under the Tory government. The working class will pay heavily if it relaxes its guard against each and every form of military intervention and exercise in mass scabbing.

In recent years the development of the savage Special Patrol Group and analagous bodies within the police force has to a large degre avoided the necessity to deploy soldiers to protect scabs and smash picket lines.

The prime role of the military in strikebreaking is now as an obedient workforce that can be ordered in to fill the jobs of strikers.

In this role however the largely unstilled manpower at the disposal of the armed forces restricts its ability to break strikes in - for instance - the railways or the power industry.

In the water strike the army effort will be dependent upon the cooperation of supervisors and white collar staff not directly involved in the dispute. Solidarity action by NALGO and the other unions covering these workers could swiftly paralyse the scabs and create conditions for the defeat of Thatcher's plan to crack a major section of workers.

Key But the other key to defeating the army strategy is the mobilisation of those other public sector workers whose claims are still outstanding - the power and gas workers. Attacked on three fronts, Thatcher's 'Task Force" could not keep all three industries ticking over.

Above all, the last 80 years' experience shows that if confronted by a solid and • determined working class and sufficient supporting action beyond the immediate section in dispute, the army scabs can be beaten.

The task before the water workers is to reach out at once to their fellow trade unionists and. the wider labour movement -and ensure that their leaders are given no room to retreat from a crucial

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strikebreaking by troops have been prepared and perfected

years. Harry Sloan reports