Will and the campaign to free ille Five.
and Micky insist that ences taught them manv h they later used in the fight BOC management and the crament. poke at the recent Socialist trade conterence er stressed that the defence living standards once again Place up to the * to bring this government s. But he is quick to add must include effective all those workers efensive struggles. That is hd Micky's TGWU branch he recent Rank and File Unions conference il be campaigning for the le Code of Practice. to be supported", Micky back these our rights and our •, ll we call l acrenq our ister workers, how can we Tories on anything else? make socialism?' over inflation with a rigged price supposedly incorporating tax changes.
The TUC, Retail Prices Index, new index were to be worth anything it should include changes in the provision of public services — that is, the cuts.
Socialists have long argued for a sliding scale of wages, keeps pace with prices, contallices should determine Here MIKE EAUDE, & member of the 3/256 branch cr General Workers Union, details the battle which has taken place in his union for the sliding scale. He writes capacity.
VOTES at TGWU conferences are always 'unanimous' or 'overwhelming'. This year tellers were called for the first time memory. The composite which divided the conference was on the sliding scale of wages:
At two previous biennial conferences. in 1975 and 1977, several branches forced a which defends the existing revolt in points out that if the the votes so that pay automatically and that workers' inflation The issue of the Transport and and personal against inflation. in 1973, Nevertheless In 1977 Jack Jones was defeated on incomes policy when the Communist Party unprecedented conference-floor favour of free collective bargaining. A motion on the sliding scale, representing a 'third line' to that of both Jones and the CP, received about a third of At this year's conference, the only fight against the leadership was waged by the tiny forces of the revolutionary left.
sliding scale had particular resonance, both because of the hard preparatory work done in branches previous conferences this question, and because it is the only polic that can defend workers' living standards the Heath government brought in 'threshold agreements' of 60p for every 1 per cent rise in the cost of livin‹ This distorted version of the sliding scale operated against workers' interests the government cost-of-living index was false, and 60p was an inadequate rise.
the scheme proved inoperable for the bourgeoisie, given the for them, it raised the bogey of a genuine sliding scale.
Just before the TGWU conference this year, Thatcher floated the idea government compiling a new cost-of-living index excluding the price of oil, which affects all types of production transport costs Opponents of the sliding scale claimed we were playing into Thatcher's hands by tying wages to inflation. We were able to reply that we wanted flat overall increases well, and to challenge the leadership to respond to the capitalist index with its own index.
The widespread support for the motion meant that Moss Evans could not argue strongly defeat of an proposal but only for its remittance. was unable argue that proofing contradictory collective bargaining, as all speakers to the motion had emphasised its complementary nature.
Evans made a weak plea for remittance on the grounds that negotiators' could not be tied down. Nearly half the high rate of inflation. Most dangerously 1 conference clearly thought that it was high specific policies.
Thatcher's new index, and argument for a sliding scale.
Thatcher bourgeoisie's indexes "ultra-left' index to He inflation- allies.
to free Wages are inflation.
standards.
hands over the capitalist economy. tume negotiators' hands were tied down to Last week the TUC came out against which supposedly includes tax changes. This response and the TGWU conference debate show that the proposals for a fiddled cost-of-living index allow revolutionaries to deepen the We can provide a fighting answer to calling a price index formulated and monitored by the unions We should publicise the experience of the European working class in counter-posing their own idea of what inflation means to false cost-of-living We should call for a trade union price controlled elected committees of trade unionists and their responsible Wage rises must match price rises in order to defend working class living And a union cost-of-living index is a step towards workers' control Socialist Challenge 23 August 1979 Page 7
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