THE DECISION of the managements at Ford and British Oxygen to disregard the government's 5 per cent norm reflects the change in the political situation in Britain as more and more workers reject ine austery Donces or canana.
even partial victories at Ford and BOC could open the floodgates. Will Callaghan and Healey proceed to smash public sector strikes, as they defeated the Fire Brigades Union last winter? This is certainly what Healey threatened in a TV interview. Callaghan promised further unemployment. are not piddling little firms. Sanctions against BOC would be unacceptable to the British capitalist class as a whole because of the effect on the economy. sanctions imposed by the Labour government have been against employers breaching pay guidelines. Contrast this with the lax approach Zimbabwe! will ensure Labour's defeat at the polls. So the Labour leaders contront a severe dilemma. Iney reanse tar capitanst mterests will be damaged without a pay policy. The only way of inflicting one, nowever, is to unleasn a trontal assault on the trade unions. This will lead to certain defeat at the polls.
But they cannot totally disregard feelings at the base. Moss Evans government has theirs. ' What this means is: we have to defend our standards unemployment, cuts in social expenditure, etc. And never the twain shall meet? today cannot simply be confined to demanding higher wages. It has to involve a struggle against the overall priorities of capitalism. The TUC will not do this, however. It regards itself as a pillar of the system.
possible alliance of class struggle forces in the trade unions. Here lies the urgent necessity to convoke an emergency joint conference of the Liaison Committee for the Defence of Trade Unions and the Rank and File Organising Committee to discuss the way forward for the working class today. The vote against the 5 per cent policy at the recent Labour Party conference lays the basis for involving the Labour Party on every level in such a conference. important time for the British working class. For four years we had experienced a number or dereats and demoransing sen-outs. the Ford insurrection has laid the basis for transforming the situation. claims of public sector employees to demonstrate that its iron fist a crucial task. What will the Labour leader do now? All the indications are that Of course Labour could impose sanctions. But Ford and BOC . It is worth recalling that the only real to sanctions against the white settler regime in What is beyond dispute is that a repeat of the FBU performance The trade union leaders will naturally help as much as they can. tries to soften the blow by saying: We have our job to do and the government has to introduce The whole point is that defending the interests of trade unionists How can we shake this pillar? By organising the broadest The struggle of the Ford workers has come at a crucially It is quite likely that the government will try and smash the has not gone rusty. Thus a joint LCDTU/R&F conference to launch a fight in the labour movement against the reactionary social and economic policies of the Labour government is now