Victories for APEX left

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conference delegate THE annual Conference of the clerical union APEX, held in Scarborough from April 23 to 26 could well turn out to be a watershed for the left in the union.

It was a low-key affair - with demoralisa on . and caution amongst many delegates as a result of the lengthy witchunting "Committee of Inquiry' in the London Area.. This inquisition concerned members allegedly involved in an unofficial meeting in a hotel at the previous year's Conference. In APEX, individuals in opposition to the Union Executive who meet together for a drink are seen as a threat to that Executive, and dubiously deemed as acting against the Constitution.

Nevertheless the left won a number of key victories, notably over the Executive Council's determined drive towards a merger, or at least Confederation, with the EEPTU and. possibly the GMBU. -In the January/February issue of the union journal general secretary Roy Grantham had made passing reference to the preparedness of the Union to sign union recognition agreements including no-strike clauses, as part of a joint recruitment drive in 'greenfield' electronics sites with the EETPU's white-collar section, ESA.. An emergency resolution of the Tuesday from Holborn Branch calling for no such agreements to be signed was passed 3 to 2 on a hand-count, against the EC recommendation.

As APEX membership con tinues to decline, down furthe from 122,000 in 1982, the need for a merger is clear. But any merger must be principled, and a merger with the EEPTU could not possibly be so.

Some victories were achieved too over union democracy. Al individual votes at EC now have to be recorded in the minutes And the union is now committed to resist any attempts to intro ducing of postal ballots in voting procedures. Both moves were opposed by the Executive, but passed by Conference.

On the negative side, rule changes were approved giving Branches the right to meet less than once a month, but at least 4 times a year. And attempts to re lax the requirement for a secret ballot prior to industrial action were narrowly defeated.

1984 is Rules Revision Confer ence, and thus in itself gives : golden opportunity for the many anti-democratic practices in thr Union to be challenged (a furthe article will discuss these). 1984 too will be the first Conferenc under the new right-wing Presi dent, Ken Smith. He is a light weight replacement for the retir ing Denis Howell.

He was elected this year with the support of the Communis Party against the challenge fron Tribunite MP David Winnick, bu is unlikely to command the same authority within the Union as hi: predecessor. Both these factor: bode well for the left within the union, provided the left is pre pared to take advantage of them.