Mass turnout for union rights

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"IF LEN Murray and the TUC General Council had stood u to the government over the NGA we would not be facing th We should recall the days of Pentonville in 1972. The Tories' attack can be halted, but only by united action by a more determined union leadership".

Dennis Skinner MI Nottingham than organising to overthrow it. TWO or three thousand civil servants were out in Nottingham, mostly for the whole day despite National Executive Committee advice.

Some small contributions offices struck for the first time.

Raleighs was out for the day.

NUPE county council workers, and some Plessey workers, also struck.

Merseyside about and something to bargain with. ON Merseyside dockers, carwork:

ers and many thousands of othe: workers were out.

London from the rank and file. 20,000 marched in London.

There were large contingents on the march from the various civil service unions, NUT, NALGO and the NUR.

Other unions represented included ASLEr, and there were a number of Labour Party and Trades Council banners.

Oxford top trade which go BOTH the Assembly and Body beyond the bargaining that they desire. plants at BL Cowley walked out after midday mass meetings.

This was the first directly political strike at Cowley since a stoppage over the Industrial with the Tories' anti-union laws. Relations Act fine on the AUEW in May 1974.

All civil service workers in Oxford were out, and there was also widespread action in at the crucial moment. hospitals and in print.

Birmingham IN BIRMINGHAM about 5 ,OCC on the demands and pressure on it. people attended a lunchtime rally at the Central Hall, and an overlabour move- spill meeting had to be organised is rebuild bit- outside. by-bit from the base upwards. Production at some of the big factories was hit for the afternoon including BL Longbridge, Jaguar's three Coventry plants, MasseyFerguson and Talbot plants in Coventry, Metro-Cammell in Birmingham and Truflo.

Edinburgh UVER 3,000 civil servants and other trade unionists filled the Demonstrate! Leon Brittan is Playhouse cinema in Edinburgh on February 28th.

apening Orpington Police Statior The raily was attended by.

Demonstration assembles at • delegation from Henry Robb Action Committee, Edinburgh 10.30 a.m.. Orpington Police Trades Council and a number of full-time union officials.

Station. Friday March 9. Rall services. particularly on the West coast of Scotland, werc disrupted and a number of factories stopped work at midday. at the London rally.

ANDREW MOORE Dennis Skinner Glasgow ALL train services in and out of Glasgow halted as signalmen struck as part of a massive day of action against the GCHQ union ban. Mass walk-outs took place in most Glasgow hospitals; teachers walked out of many schools; and production ceased in many factories, including BL at Albion and Bathgate.

3,000 gathered in the Kelvin Hall, with an equal number at a rally outside.

I don't need to emphasise the gravity of the situation at this meeting. Suffice it to say that it is the first attempt to openly outlaw a section of the trade union movement since 1940. And why do they do it. There are two reasons. Firstly because they are fundamentally hostile to the trade unions and want to inflict a major reverse on the trade union movement in this country Secondly, because they are encouraged by success. Mrs Thatcher went into this flushed with her success against the NGA.

We can welcome the initiative that the TUC has now taken on GCHQ, in supporting this afternoon's action, in implementing a 5p per member levy to support those victimised at GCHQ and of moves to withdraw from tripartite bodies with the government. But we also have to say that it is very late and it is not MRS Thatcher claimed a stunning victory this week, as despite a campaign of industrial warfare, millions of people went to work as usual.

A meticulously planned campaign by the TUC failed to bring Britain to a halt, even if it did win the support of a few hundred thousand red agents.

But Mrs Thatcher claimed the majority of trade union members stayed at work - supporting her ban on unions at GCHQ.

Trade unionists who did not support the strike had to defeat a plot of breathtaking complexity to get to work. Months of careful planning had gone into getting the largest possible general strike.

It began about a month ago when the TUC dubbed February 28 a 'day of action' But cunningly, at that stage, they gave no clue of the ferocious drive they were to launch, to stop Britain working.

Coyly they made reference only to lunch-time meetings and possible midnight marches through unfrequented streets. The TUC seemed almost to have a policy of playing down the whole affair and suggesting that come the day, Mrs Thatcher would cave in. Those of us who know their real intent realised, of course, this was a sham.

Even the civil service unions did their bit. They told members only to call a lunch-time meeting and conspicuously held back from calling strikes.

It was just two working days before the attempt to paralyse working Britain that Murray sprang his well-baited trap.

His dramatic speech calling workers to the barricades will long be remembered in the history of labour movement rhetoric.

"That's alright by me" Len told a stunned nation when asked to contemplate the awesome possibility of one trade union member supporting another through unlawful action.

The stage was set for a situation, more serious by far than the general strike. The complete closedown of British industry was on the cards.

During that frantic weekend, there cannot have been a single trade union member who was not personally visited by the hardfaced militants of the TUC's General Council and issued with dire threats if they did not go on strike. Gone was the pretence of being opposed to unlawful action. Now the full weight of the TUC propaganda machine swept into action.

Some unions went so far as to issue circulars saying that if members spontaneously took strike action they would not be disciplined.

But the ruthless wreckers of the TUC reckoned without the ability of the ordinary trade union member determinedly not to follow Red Len to the barricades.

Despite all these efforts, some trade union members even managed to avoid discussing the whole issue by stalling off meetings for a whole day.

Others pretended they could not find a single trade union leader calling for strike action, as if they could not read the winks and nods by which Red Len and his cronies run the country.

Other trade union members complained that they had blinked and missed it or had been sick or on holiday.

It is true, of course, that hundreds of thousands of people did strike. But these are the very people from whose influence the Prime Minister is trying valiantly to protect the workforce at GCHQ.

Far from infringing their rights she is setting them free from the forces which are by their very nature fatal to national security.

When you look beyond the periphery of Britain, the trains, the newspapers, the car plants, the hospitals and public offices, the thousands of other places which closed down during the strike, it is clear that the day was a humiliating slap in the face for the red wreckers who now control the unions. There was one crucial test of this day of action and everyone knew it, from Red Len down to the humblest soldier in his army of wreckers. The test was a simple one and the unions failed it. Despite their best efforts the Yorkie Bars still got through to the Alps.

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reorganises CHESIT reorganise IN TWO separate articles last week, the Sunday Times devoted space to a "new campaign" by Labour's - right wingers to overturn mandatory re-selection at this year's Party conference.

They quoted 'a frontbencher': ''Re-selection is a canker eating at the party's flesh. It dwarfs all other issues. Neil [Kinnock] has got to fight it.

The articles contained many quotes from unnamed sources and not a lot of facts. It can't be news that many right-wingers hate mandatory re-selection and are directly threatened by it, but what new campaign" amounts to is not clear.

Thus the reaction to the 'news' by CLPD's secretary, Vladimir Derer. "I think we should be on our guard about this. Although they may have their reservations about changing mandatory reselection, it is a potential danger. They have it on their minds. We must wait for any concrete proposals but we must be on the alert."

Mandatory reselection has to be a major target for the right wing if they are to re-establish their firm control over the Party.

By John support of the NEC. Under the one year rule, constitutional amendments submitted to this year's conference would automatically be referred back to the 1985 conference.

Only the NEC can get round this rule. An attempt from the floor has little chance of success without NEC support.

The right wing's major chance probably lay with the resolution on 'One member one vote' remitted from last year's conference. Under the heading of increasing membership participation, the resolution called on the NEC to bring proposals to the 1984 conference for rule changes to allow all individual members of twelve months' standing to vote in the elections for Leader, Deputy Leader and Parliamentary candidates.

The NEC asked for remittance 'to consider it' , but since then is reported to have rejected it.

The basic problem the right wing faces with the 'One member one vote' proposals is the opposition from a large number Benn on the campaign trail March Page

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enough. Alan Thornett, speaking at the Oxford rally

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