Haringey: after victory, organise!

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"The hospital was demolished whilst ousel calls in cop THE week-long strike of over 2,000 NAIGO, members in; Haringey, North London, reached a victorious conclusion last week when the sacked worker, Les Butler, was reinstated and management agreed 'to an independent inquiry into › its handling of his dismigsal.

The Labour controlled council, who backed the management of the PELAW, Public Works section, were forced to climb: down completely. Only two councillors had taken the union's side.

ON Monday of this week about 400 health workers and suppor¡ ters turned up to attend a public / meeting of Sheffield Health Authority, at which cuts and privatisation were to be discassed.

The police were also invited! •to the meeting. They were of course "only doing our job,; ¡love" but they seem to have exceeded their brief a little when: they started protecting the public meeting from the public. Force of habit?

Of the 400 health workers clamouring to know how the District Health Authority were to dispose of their jobs, only 28 were designated as members of the public and allowed into the Our hope was that Sheffield Health Authority would be pressurised into taking the same line: as Brent - no cuts and no privat-. isation. The line emerging from the meeting, however, was no: cuts, no privatisation (unti the ! government forces us to)'. the lucky 28, was a policy ofl Reality, according to one of avoiding the cuts but keeping in the "black - ie. making cuts, employing slave labour in the form of YTS and/or private contractors and •selling off NHS property to developers of private hospitals.

Their version of opposing privatisation appears to mean maintaining the fair y rages condition in all contracts and little else.

Carou:

WITH THE strike for union recognition and reinstatement at the Carousel wafer factory in the east end of Glasgow now into its third month, both sides are dug in for a lengthy struggle.

In the last fortnight, the scabs. have become much more aggess. ive towards the pickets, threatening them and punching them, on and off the picket line. the NALGO branch.

The majority of members have never taken industrial action in their life, and undoubtedly the strentgh, organisation and solidarity of the members in the strike could not have existed without the newly formed shop stewards system.

Many stewards commented that under the old Departmental Representative system they probably would not even have heard of the strike until it was over. Now they are determined to strengthen the stewards system.

A decision NUT M7i. and this office block was built"

Saccomando, the factory's: owner, has now enlisted the help of a former policeman to help him to ferry in scabs and to try to intimidaté the pickets.

Many of the firms taking supplies from Carousel are still doing! so. Embarrassment was recentlyi caused by the discovery that Glas-! gow Co-operative stores are conținuing to stock Carousel wafers.

Mary Corbishley not to cross picket lines was possibly what brought the councillors to their knees when they were faced with schools being shut.

For a number of years relations between NAIGO and other council employee unions has been very poor. The joint union committee has not met for two years.

Initially the Council drew much of their confidence from the fact that the manual workers unions were unsupportive and, in you were asle The groceries department at! the Co-op's head office in Glas-fr gow pleaded ignorance of the dispute, but promised a sympathetic response once officially contacted about it.

No major deliveries have been; made to the firm since the flour: delivery over a fortnight ago, andi shop stewards at the firm which! supplied the flour (Carr's) have! since written to the strikers saying that no more will be permitted.

Other minor setbacks suffered by Saccomando include the refusals to cross the picket line of

NALGO)

the case of the TGWU, hostile to the strike.

But the inter-union hostility is at the level of local leaderships.

The strike began to heal some of the rifts, as NAIGO members ' many of whom in the past bad flouted other unions" picket lines) recognised the importance of the picket and for the first time talked to rank and file members of other unions and heard about their working conditions and disputes.

It is vital that the inter-union rift is bridged and a new joint shop stewards committee is built. Without such unity even despite the new found confidence of the NALGO branch when the fight over cuts and jobs comes the unions will be too busy attacking eachother to win.

An important part of this process. will be the role of Labour Party workplace branches involving council workers across the unions. • For NAIGO Labour Party members the lack of links between the union and the Labour Party became glaring. We had little possibility of eiber bringing to account councilla for their anti-union stance or pointing out to Labour Party members the necessity of • united political approach between the unions and the Labour Party to the Tories' attack on loeal authorities.

The Labour Party workplace branch based on Hornsey Town Hall sent an open letter to all Labour Councillors but to no avail.

One way to reverse this sita. ation is to build more workplace branches acroas the council which cannot be ignored.

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As important as the victory; was the effect of the strike off