Picture from the latest Intercontinental Press which has a major feature on nuclear power. 30p plus 10p from PO Box 50, INTERNATIONALISM — VITAL INGREDIENT FOR SOCIALISTS. GIVE GENEROUSLY trade union rights down example, the weapons programme safety factors.
of Defence Questions Torness nuclear power. union rights, security and there is the that sur- of this year older coal-fired have to be scrapped - how can power safety reps the NUM is disguised in the was Board's plans.
built access to and disclosure of need not - were the only demands TUC at the The fight for these and other mented.
must be taken up within the movement together with the demand for the full facts on economic and purposes advantages:
raised by the Nuclear Station power Scotland typify many of the and for contradictions of conversion to There is a chronic excess capacity in generating plant - development rising to 90 per cent by the end - meaning that plants wil mining This will mean an enormous loss of jobs in the traditional industry including cent. coal-mining, which will not be anything like made up by the new jobs in nuclear power.
The motive of undermining only thinly motive.
Electricity Ironically, if Torness is not now there will redundancies in the powe industry, especially on the Tyne and Clyde.
OI But this conflict of interest have arisen if alternative plans for a gradual conversion to Combined Heat CHP is and Power had been impleThis would have used waste heat from power production for industrial and domestic This would have had various • It would create a steady programme for work in the industry foundries pipes and other trades laying heat mains to buildings.
It would stimulate of new coal burning technology (eg. fluidised bed) and secure jobs in the and industry with more money for mining safety.
• It would raise efficiency from 30 to 70 per It would put the needs of the community before the profit When the shop stewards at C and A Parsons in Newcastle looked for a pilot scheme for such a programme they found the electricity boards hell bent closing down suitable power stations near to towns, thus closing off this option.
only one ot number of alternative technologies which could solve our energy needs safely, at less cost and involving the creation or saving of many jobs.
The union bureaucracies would like to stifle debate on the issue. The miners' union is Torresspressure to lay off Members civi servants' union have however resolution to the Scottish TUC calling for major review of energy policy La halt to further development of nuclear power If this were implemented we would be able to consider both resources and requirements for energy and employment.
The recent shop stewards initiatives - like C and A Parsons - point the way by involving energy policy in the defence of jobs.
We need to develop similar demands wherever workers are affected by energy policy must also demand a fuller debate within the trade union and labour movement at all levels and a campaign to discredit the myths used to justify the rapid development of nuclear power.
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