Despite the pay policy being battered b orkers at Ford, British Oxygen, an by the bakers, provincial journalists and now by lorry and tanker drivers, the Labour Government is determined to make its policy stick with the public sector manual workers.
As soon as the first formal offer of 5 per cent was made to hospital ancillary workers early last month, the leaders of the unions involved called for a national day of action.
On Monday 22 January there will be a march from Hyde Park to the House or commons and a rany mn central Hall, Westminster.
Local authority manual workers, hospital ancillaries, water ambulance workers are around a common claim for a £60 a week minimum wage.
If this claim is won. two million workers and their families will be lifted out of the poverty trap would at least restore their wages to 1974 levels.
There is little doubt that public sector workers are in an angry mood. But for the day of action to succeed in pulling out more than just the most militant sections, the union leaders have to take positive steps.
So far the leaders of the Public Employees Union, the Union, the Confederation of Health Service Employees and the General and Municipal Workers Union have done Details of venue to follow.
Called by CDLM.
Socialist Challenge 11 January 1979 page 8 the campaign, and there are no plans for what happens after 22 January. The problem facing the union leaders is that the Goe canteen mir landy to me government and une mintancy men memoers.
They have no alternative to the kind of policies put forward by Callaghan and Healey, so they want to avoid a head-on confrontation, especially as this is election year.
Alan Fisher, in particular, has to make some show of leading a fight, partly pressure members and partly because he has his and own reputation to maintain. Fisher built NUPE as the largest and most dominant union in the sector largely through his own left talk.
He can't afford to let this completely slide, but he is far from being willing to lead a really militant fight.
What Fisher really needs is some kind of deal with the Government which will save him face Callaghan and Healey As a step towards achieving such an agreement, Fisher away from the policy adopted at the NUPE conference for a £60 minimum He has started talking about demanding comparability with other workers who Transport average weekly income of £80.
Basnett of the GMWU is calling for comparability OLIC doing similar work, but such a demand SOCIALIST CHALLENGETRADEUNION DAY SCHOOL on Rebuilding the Left in the Unions Saturday 17 February 1979 Open to all supporters of Socialist Challenge in the unions.
CARS CONFERENCE
Saturday 20 January Birmingham This is a vital conference for all militant car workers to exchange views and information and to hammer out the socialist alternative to the bosses offensive in Ford, Leyland, Chrysler, Vauxhall.
Government would pay out increase in one instalment.
Fisher seems to be looking for an agreement like that awarded to firefighters and to the police. would mean that public sector manual workers would see nothing like a £60 minimum wage in the present round of pay bargaining.
There is another complication in this plan, which is that the Government 38011 public and be acceptable to has taken a turn have an WOrKerS short.
strongly organised - shop stewards structures are phenomenon -proposals could rob them of the little industrial strength that they gained.
To prevent the Government getting its way, the potential of 22 January must be exploited to the full- ideally it would be the beginning of strike action for the full claim.
In each of co-ordinating committees are needed. These could be set up from meetings which plan and organise the action for 22 January, and they should be firmly under the control of the membership through mass meetings.
t strike action develop then militants should fight for committees inter-union basis to be set up.
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Such committees could effectively answer ine problems emergency cover for life and death' services - by taking responsibility for these decisions themselves.
If the Government wants to retain any credibility for its pay policy, then it must keep the wages of the public sector workers close to 5 per cent. If it can't relauvely and the Government's Other have as local strike blinkered parliamentary does spread and Democratically cross-sector, STIKe raised around control the workers it pays itself, then it will have no credibility whatsoever.
public sector workers involved in the immediate claims. such government white-collar workers, teachers and civil servants, should try and get their union branches to support the day of action.
If the whole public sector could be organised to fight to win now there would be a great chance for success.
But the union leaders will have to be pushed by the rank and file. They are -Dy narrow perspective the Labour Government and so have no choice but to sacrifice their members living standards to the fifth year of responsibility in the national interest'.
run cross-union and Pay Action Committees could answer some of the questions about who suffers in a public sector strike and provide a forum for raising an alternative to the Labourism or me wraac umon icaders The arguments that wage rises will mean cuts in services and higher rates must be countered - the fight must be for an end to all cash limits and for a sliding scale of public expenditure
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Is the car industry viable? Is there a workers' alternative?