Lessons of DHSS staffing strike

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Trade union assessment HAHILE The CPSA leadership has blamed the failure of the dispute on SCPS members red the failure of the dispute on SCPS members crossing the picket lines. But it was the leaders who crucially weakened the netinn Organiser no.123 March reviews WITHOUT a doubt, the major dispute that took place last year, as far as the CPSA was concerned, was the industrial action in Birmingham and • Oxford DHSS.

Most militants and activists are aware of the history of the three month strike and the deals that the Section Executive* Committee and the • National Executive Committee tried to foist on the strikers and which were rejected.

That the strike was at the local level, in terms of organisation and zeal, a partial success can accepted. It would be foolish and short-sighted to snipe at the tremendous effort made by the strikers, who for the first time in the DHSS closed down most of the offices in the second city in England for an extended period.

On the other hand, the industrial action failed to achieve the original objectives. The final deal was only slightly better than the previous ones, in that the disgraceful strings - the CPSA dropping their ban on overtime and casuals and signing what was virtually a no-strike pledge on cuts - was dropped. The government, however, did not increase its original offer of 52 extra posts for the eleven offices in Birmingham and the one office in Oxford to share out.

There is • a possibility that the Joint Review on the Complementing System may come up with reforms that will ease the staffing pressures in local DHSS offices and create more jobs, but any increase will be offset by the cuts in jobs produced by the introduction of new procedures, including Employers strategy of limited industrial action on a major dispute. It is incumbent upon Socialist Caucus supporters to draw out the lessons and to fight for a totally different approach in the future.

The Guardian reported before Christmas that the government recognised that the reason why' the dispute lasted so long in Birmingham was the emergency payment centres, manned by DHSS staff paying out benefits to claimants and thus undermining the effect of the strike. The Broad Left Conference in November threw out the absurd concept of trade union controlled emergency centres ‹there was no trade union control in Birmingham or Oxford) which would take up to 7,000 members to man an all-out strike. This decision was confirmed at the Pay Conference in December.

But there is a danger of adopting the other policy that no emergency payments should be made at March 21 28 7 14 22 29 15 30 Monday 1 16 23 31 Tuesday 2 9 17 24 Wednesday 3 10 18 25 Thursday 4 11 19 26 Friday 12 20 27 Saturday 6 13 Sunday iders who cruciallv weakened the action LILLIALL 1.. all and that claimants should be starved. There was an element of this anticlass attitude in some of the contributions at the Pay Conference.

As socialists we should be in favour of emergency navmenta and ANIL ALU chanic not prevent other unions, if they are willing, providing emergency cover. In the meantime it is incumbent on activists to build solid links with claimants' organisations both before and during a dispute.

It is quite clear that the original strategy of localising the strike in Oxford and Birmingham was a major mistake. The dispute had widespread implications that affected every local DHSS office.

The initial demands of the strikers should have been widened to incorporate the staffing demands in the section as a whole. Every other office that was prepared to fight straight away should have been given full backing. Massive WOMEN, Immigration and Nationality: meeting to discuss our future as a campaign. Sunday March 13, 1.30 to 4.30pm, County Hall, London SE1. All women welcome. Creche on premises.

LABOUR democracy and local government: day conescalation should have been org anised within week of th e start of the dispute, and we should have gune out to the membership with the call for all-out strike.

If this had happened, the strikers would not have been isolated for so long.

Management, with the assistance of emergency payment centres, can ride local disputes, particularly if they have the full support and instructions of the government.

Those days of localisation are over. There should have been an extension of the strike, if possible, in the sister section of the DHSS, the Department of Employment. The direct official work that takes place in one section automatically affects the work of the other.

Weak

Admittedly there were claims that the DE in Birmingham was weak, although this has been denied by DE activists in ers include Andy Harris (GLC) and Tom Sawyer (Assistant Gereral Secretary NUPE).

CALDERDALE March for Jobs. Organised by Sowerby YS. March 19: assemble Cornholme 8.45am. Rallies at Todmorden 10am, at Hebden Bridge 12.15pm, at Sowerby Bridge 3.30pm, at Halifax Town Hall 5pm. LABOUR Committee on Ireland, London Region: annual general meeting 1983. Sunday March 13, 1.30pm, at Caxton House, St John's Way, London NI EL SALVADOR Solidarity Campaign: Labour Movement conference, Saturday May 14, 10am to 5pm, County Hall, London SEI. Credentials £2 from ESSC, 29 Islington Park St, London N1.

the area. Nevertheless, there should have been a concerted attempt to extend the dispute into a total benefit strike.

Most sections are facing or will be facing staffing cuts. It is difficult to build a massive all-out strike across the unin when the demands and objectives of each constituent part are so varied.

Once again, however, if the intransigence of the government forces the issue, as is likely in future, then we must start considering the strategy of fighting for jobs by mobilising • the whole union membership. The fight for jobs, especially when new technology is introduced on a large scale, will be the most important struggle in our history as a union.

At the moment, the government is getting away with setting cash limits, introducing new procedures piecemeal and implementing arbitrary cuts, without any conJOHN HARF certed opposition. The union is losing this fight without even trying.

If the strongest and most organised section in the CPSA, the DHSS, has allowed the situation to develop that 7,000 jobs are cut by May 1983; without a whimper, it must augur badly for the rest of the union. At sume time the Bruad Left leadership will have to come to a decision as to whether it intends to lead a fightback, or drop all of its policies and adapt to the pragmatic and sell-out approach of Alistair Graham.

The Socialist Caucus must argue for the former alternative within and without the Broad Left, arguments that should include organisational demands such as the building of a public sector alliance.

At the 1983 Annual Conference there may well be censure motions on the agenda on the Oxford and Birmingham dispute. These motions should be supported, but only in a positive manner.

There is absolutely no point, in my opinion, in indulging in a sectarian bun-fight:

The main reason for the lack of leadership was inexperience, detachment from the rank and file, bureaucratic pragmatism and plain defeatism. If SHEFFIELD Labour movement conference on Ireland - Saturday March 19, Sheffield University Students' Union, 9.30 to 4.30. Sponsored by Sheffield Trades Council, Sheffield District Labour Party, and Sheffield LCI.

WAR in the Third World and the Third World War: conference, Saturday March 12, Friends' Centre Ship St, Brighton, 10am to 6pm. Speakers include Fred Halliday, Uri Davis, Adrian Crewe, Salvador Moncada, Jenny Pearce. Tickets £1.50. Information: Clare (0273) 771284, Indra 739022, Bryn 698111. ISLINGTON Labour CND meeting on the Civil Defence regulations: Tuesday March 22, 8pm, at the Town Hall, Upper St.

Passas J0B

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Rod Bacon

lessons for the CPSA Left of a major cuts battle.

ficial picket