Thatcher Been Winning?

Scan page 8

tile. Attempts to cut stratt :ate spending have foun- unrer ered on the rocks of the disor. lassive increases in unem- ism i loyment benefits. Produc- labou vity and profitability gains Th re wholly insufficient for offen igns of the much heralded lightr IT LOOKS more and more likely that there will be a general election in 1983. Its importance - and the importance of a Labour victory - cannot be overestimated. •Nonetheless, its outcome - whether a return of the lories, a right wing Labour administration or a coalition - will mean an intensification of the struggle on the industrial front. There may be different methods, there may be different means, but any administration taking power will be forced to attack the trade these circumstances it is important to take stock of the existing position on the industrial battlefield, the problems and prospects, if we are to prepare for the big battles to come. The Thatcher government's economic policies have failed. Attempts to control the money supply have been increasingly John Mcliroy opens a aiscussion on recent setbacks for the labour movement - and how to.turn the trend thatrond le bosses. There are no the WORK uptur occur Electi The promi inflati press a clir of arc put only r Yet succe ness I class, pugni have coalit class her th An n. It certainly will not before the General ion. = next twelve months ise a small increase in ion, continuing ure on interest rates, nb in unemployment und 400,000 and outstatic or increasing narginally. t Thatcher has scored substantial political ISS. Her consciousof the interests of her her decisive, acious leadership, consolidated the ion of middle class backward working support that gave ne edge in 1979. id the Tories' coherent egy and elan confront quited collaboration, ientation and defeatn the leadership of the ir movement. atcher's political sIve, symbolised by Falklands, and highed at the moment by the confident raising of basic questions of trade unin democracy and function in Tebbit's Green Paper, has exploited all the weaknesses of the working class movement. The existing leadership represents reflects and reinforces those weaknesses: and Thatcher has knocked whatever stuffing there was out of the General Council and Labour Party tops. Even sections of the Communist Party are now discussing how the left can appropriate Thatcher's success with issues such as patriotism and law and order, or forge a coalition with the SDP.

Kinneil As 1983 opened, the decision to let the • NCB close Kinneil Colliery put the top hat on a major reverse for the NUM -the crack troops in the working class army - in the war over wages and pit closures.

The action in South Wales was called off, and now any movement against closures is unlikely in the short term.

The Tory government has blunted the edge that the proletariat's Praetorian Guard gained through their successful action over closures in early 1981. The position of Scargill and the left within the NUM has been skilfully undermined.

This setback, coming hot on the heels of the defeat of the CPSA and SCPS social security staff over the vital issue of cuts in social services, simply set the seal on the 1982 as a year of retreat on the industrial Both for traditionally well organised groups - such as the car workers who failed to take action over the victimisation of Alan Thornett - and for those new to the struggle, such as the NHS workers sent back with a worse deal than was on offer months before, victory has been elusive on every issue: pay, conditions, union rights, redundancy or closure.

Control

The TUC has moved to a new level of involvement to control the fightback, taking greater powers than ever before to intervene in strikes at the Special Wembley Conference in April. It illustrated what this meant in practice by moving like greased lightning to break the ASLEF strike rapidit Sean G an obv for Tebbit tnats.

It w last yı the Ge merely action that a place 1 alread possib style being | Whi was t strateg ment, All the appea disma throuf were 1 the 1 1980. ments aroun! home downi past tr Em! ing to relatic and jo the r8 recent gover engin: chestt this. S being ards & bypas Resolute Tories, union leaders who put the telescope to their blind eye when a fight back • appears - that's the recipe for sell-outs and defeats - and with the y of a senile tortoise ganise support for teraghty in what was rious dress rehearsal employers using 's law against milias clear by the end of ear - if it wasn't - that the view of eneral Council is not that industrial cannot win but ction must not take because it endangers y 'weakend union sation and the ilities of a 1974Labour goverment returned. at was most worrying he success of this by within the movethe broad indices of level of militancy r to confirm this I picture. Days lost ..1. .1...T. 1000 sh Strikes I1: 1904 four million down on 2 million figure of Paper pay settleare averaging d 7%, and real takepay has been on a ward spiral for the wenty-four months. ployers are attemptrestructure industrial ins, working practices ib controls to intensify ate of exploitation. A t study in local nment, transport and eering in the Manarea confirmed Stewards' facilities are whittled down, steware being successfully sed in favour of a COHSE • direct approach to the members.

Stewards are being effectively victimised or pressured out. Some are not replaced, others opt for a quiet life.

GEC opted out of national bargaining to negotiate plant based agreements linked to productivity: "the closer the bargain to the point of production the more realistic - that is, the lower - it will be" (Financial Times, 18 December 1982).

British Steel The refusal of BSC to negotiate nationally, insisting on local deals "linked to radical changes in work practices", shows the employers attempting to maximise the advantage the swing in bargaining power gives nem.

Similarly, the attempt to abolish national bargaining in the water industry, and discussion of sectional arrangements in the NHS, show the government's conscious strategy of undermining the potential of national strike action and maximising sectional attitudes through sectional. structures.

Two-year deals, achieving greater predictability and managerial control in the NHS, BL, BOC, Hoover, British Airways, Liverpool Docks and Independent Television, and the three year deal at Caterpillar Tractors have blazed the way for other employers.

The Megaw Report is talking about 4-year deals in-the Civil Service. In the public sector there is even a flight from traditional employers' tactics such as arbitration.

Other employers are scrutinising the attempts of Rirminoham Cornoration UL JUILLIG and British Rail to weaken closed shop agreements in accordance with Tebbit. Requirements for secret ballots for the election of stewards and to approve industrial action are being writtne into procedures. Companies are attempting to remove the political levy from check-off arrangements.

A recent Financial Times report on the West Midlands typifies the switch from the velvet glove to the mailed fist we are casino àrrnas industry.

"Shop stewards have been consulted, but the choice of whether to change work practices or face even bigger redundancies has been put direct to employees. The emphasis placed upon the survival of the company has strengthened the role of the line manager as against the industrial relation specialist.

"A lot of the jobs once considered very important, such as organised training courses and services to improve the quality of staff, are now regarded as peripheral.

•The trend now is to give