THE WOMEN WORKERS at the Trico Folberth plant in Brentford, equal pay. After 21 weeks management finally had to agree to pay women operators the men's rate instead of bringing the men's rate down to that of women.
The Trico dispute has become well-known throughout the labour movement. The volume of press coverage showed the importance of this strike for equal pay in Britain with the Ford seamstresses' strike in 1968. Because it illustrated so clearly the inadequacies of the Equal Pay Act, and particularly of the tribunal system, it gave the employers more problems than they had originally anticipated.
The Trico women showed the way forward by refusing to negotiate on the bosses' terms, never accepting for one moment their arguments for reduction of the men's wages. This meant they had to boycott the tribunal, which was an obstacle to equal pay, and rely on their own struggle instead.
This view is now shared by a sizeable section of the labour movement. The TUC Congress this year passed a motion from USDAW, the shopworkers union, calling for work of equal value instead of equal pay for work of the same or broadly similar nature. Judith Hunt, speaking to the motion, said that working women had not benefitted fully from the Equal Pay Act because of its loopholes and the way in which it is being interpreted by industrial tribunals.
There is now widespread opposition to the way Act has opposition which could develop into a national campaign to amanenee employers using it to keep women labour. This comes at a time when the Labour wants to hold down West London, have won old pal 'equal pay for been implemented, an and stod as cheap too embarrassing wages and almost excluded rises for equal pay from the last round of the pay deal. Trico was altogether Government and employers, who had to give in to the strikers' VICTORY AT The victory is a tribute to the courage and determination of the women and men strikers, and a victory for women throughout Britain still struggling for equal pay against the machinery of the Equal Pay Act. Photo: CHRIS DAVIES (Report)
More on nave 3 The real 'concerns' of those who suffer from the rule of Callaghan, Healey and the International Monetary Fund are nothing to do with curriculum or science versus arts. They are to do with:
* £45 million worth of cuts in educational spending announced in Healey's July measures.
* The raising of the price of school meals by 250 percent by September 1977.
* The cuts in all social services which have yet to come as the price of the IMF loan to prop up the pound. In Healey's measures education is expected to be a special target - believe it or not, was deemed by the financial experts to have been treated lightly by Healey in July.
And the answer is not in any tightening of control of teachers, or uniformity in teaching prac tices. It is action for a programme of public works to employ the jobless and meet social need Action to stop the financiers bleeding the social services. Action to get automatic compensa tion for inflation in social expen diture.
In other words, the answer is fighting the cuts and the Social
in the Walsall by-election?
mentary candidates will draw attention of people who had previously never heard of Socialist Worker towards the politics of the International Socialists and the possibility of developing a revolutionary socialist party.
At the same time we think it gives the opportunity to put forward the dea that there can be a fight back against the Government and that there is some organisational framework that is yet only in its initial stages, but none the less it is in existence, and can draw rank-and-file activists to play their part in changing the course of events.
How will the forthcoming confber lay the basis of a fight back in as like Walsall?
A mitanis and activists in the militants and activists in the campaigns that are now beginning to appear, such as the 17 November day of action. I do think there are limitations to what 6 November can do. I do not think it will pull a tremendous amount of weight.
It will however be able to fit into calls already made, and because of the level of activity in the class as a whole, it will assist the leverage of a section of militants and help them when arguing for stoppages on 17 November. • Campaign that type of cioncampaign — what type of campaign is Socialist Worker running in this election, say, compared to that un by the Labour Party? A our campaign is to say to the Well, the important element in workers whom we are drawing towards us that it's not a question of the votes that are cast on 4 November but a question of their involvement in the struggle policies of this Labour Government. We will actively encourage them to become part of rank-and-file activity against the cuts and unemployment and racism.
What we're saying is that we do not accept the parliamentary road to socialism; we don't think there's any possibility of parliamentary institutions legislating socialism; and we think it's even less likely that one socialist MP can change the political atmosphere in this country.
Can we go on to the point you made at the beginning. If the central aspect of the campaign is to build a Socialist Workers Party, how do you actually see this being represented in some sort of general orientation - for example, in the coming general elections? A the etection I think it's a question of when takes place. guess is that the Government would not welcome an early election and would prefer to sit it out until the tide changed in its favour. But the possibility exists that the Government will panic under pressure from the IMF and the ruling class in this country. In that situation we may My find ourselves having to argue forcibly against the return of the Tories. That could offset the purpose of putting up candidates.
However, the important thing for us is the difficulty of convincing militant workers of your integrity, of your willingness to fight back if you are saying Vote stage. And so, in order to develop in order to build the organisation' IN THE WALSALL NORTH BY-ELECTION Labour at inis ggle We SOCILY their own confidence and capacity to change events, we think it is important for Socialist Worker to put up as many candidates as possible so that a clear possibilty of an alternative emerges over the next year. say, We recognise that when a general election does take place, we would be standing as many candidates in as many places as possible. That To return to the campaign. The IMG and the Red Weekly have criticised the way in which it has been developed in terms of the failure to draw in wider forces through support committees to give this campaign a wider and more democratic content. For example the IMG has called for a meeting on 27 October to discuss a class stru candidate in the Stechford by-election along these lines. What attitude to this sort of proposal?
I've described how the IS saw the need to put up candidates.
saw it within our particular analysis of the Labour Government and of the economic situation, and the need to draw militants towards a revolutionary perspective. It is a matter of putting up Socialist Workorganisation and raise the possibilty of a revolutionary party.
/ think our differences would come on how a revolutionary alternative can be built to the Communist Party and Labour Party. We would see the creation of such an alternative coming not just from the IS, but out of a genuine regroupment of the other forces on the far left of which the IS is a part, and indeed a large part. How does this relate to perspective ine Socialist Workers Party announced in Socialist Worker just recently?
The Socialist Worker did not A announce the Socialist Workers Party as such. It was a declaration by the IS National Council on the intention to build and to recruit in order to have a serious perspective of developing the SWP.
In the past we have opposed, and nignuy opposea, te noton that we can announce, or declare, or put a date on the formation of the revolutionary party. We think that the party will be built out of the struggle for recruitment to the international Soc ialists. Through a genuine dialogue with those who read Socialist Worker joining the IS we will present the possibility of establishing the SWP what is essentary amerent trom your perspective, and a major difference between us: we see it as being a question of recruitment to the Is which will put on the agenda the formation of a revolutionary socialist What is your attitude to the united front acuc which doesn't merely revolve around the IS or the Right to Work Campaign and can involve those who are not yet willing to join a revolutionary organisation. vo you see such d perspective?
The united tront can only be * built around united action. think the limitation of united front work between the IS and the IMG iS the capacity of the IMG to pull action into that united front. It's not on the agenda except in the possibility of joint initiatives between the Right to Work and the LCDTU on the cuts.
What is on the agenda is the possibility of convincing a whole number of militants — who as you are not ready to loin the revolutionary socialist organisation Inat there is a possibility joining a rank-and-file organisation that has an independence and authority in the trade union movement
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•We are standing INTERVIEW WITH JIMMY McCALLUM, 'SOCIALIST WORKER' CANDIDATE