Stottish minursf one-day strike called off
The one-day strike of Scotland's 69,000 miners against the pit closures is off, This was decided unanimously by a moeting with delegates from all the Scottish pits, after hearing that the national executive of the National Union of Mineworkers had refused to sanction the strike. The meeting decided to redouble the efforts around the miners' no clo sure lobby of Parliament on Mar, 8th. 330 delegates having already been electod.
The resolution embodying +t..ec decision of the delegate conference spoke of 'Unity' being '.. the trab unions! greatest need...to fight ...the Tory Govern» ment's policy on wages,". Tho Daily \orker report of the decision seemed to be justifying the action when it ssid that !the tight Wing majority on the executive would not have hesitated to take the most oxtreome disruptive measures against the Scottish area if the strike had gone on.'! The Scottish l!.U.21.*dominated by the Communist Party and it is reasonable to suppose that this is the line put bv the C.P. officials at the conferonce.
AS reported in the Bulletin before, this is the second attempt to stop the one-day strike. When the decision was taken at a previous delegate conference it was argued that the majority was 'too small' and a pit by pit ballot was organ ised. This produced an overwhelming vote for the strike. Tho Communist Party have along record of heading off militant action in tho coalfields. They have obtained positions in tho N.U.1. and then allowed their men to become prisonors of the right-wing majority. Arthur Horner as secretary for a number of years of the N.U.l"'. played a very dubious role in many strikes, The decision to back down can cnly have a demoralising effect in the coalfield. One is amazed at the reasoning of the C.P. argument. What 'extreme disruptive measures' would have destroyed the unity of the miners if the decision to strike had the wholehearted support of the Scottish miners? Perhaps the 'measures! would have involved the loss of union positions and that maybe the real explanation of the 0.P. line,
An accompaniment to the ‘line of 'poaceful coexistence! is the concent= rating on winning union positions, etc, instead of waging industrial struggles. The C.P. which has a reputation of militancy thus does a great deal of harm when it resorts to manoocuvres. In a period of industrial struggle the danger from the C.P. in this respect can be, in some situations, more pornicious than that fron the right wing. March 5th -— D.a.T.A. sa striko, C.i1.%.U. says work
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As reported in the last issue of the Bulletin, tho claim of the Staff Side of the Ungineering industry has been turned down flat. This has led the leaderships of the unions to discuss the stand their membors should take when the manual workers striko on March 5th. The Draughtsmen's Union, D.A.T.aAe, has decided to urge its members to support the strike. The Ulverical ana Adminstrative Workers! Union has advised its members to report for work. ‘The othor big staff union, tho Association of Scientific Workers, has not issued o public statement at time of writing, ingineering - drive for 100% unionism
As reported before, the aftormath of tho February 5th one day strike brought many struggles to impose 100% trade unionism. At Corby, 25 non-unionists at Lamp Metals Ltd. have been sent to ‘coventry’ by their 175 workmates, ‘the 25 worked during the one day strike), and at British Fiold Beams Ltd.e, 300 women workers have threatened to strike because of five non—-unionists. An overtime ban has been onforced at A.i.I., Trafford Park Manchester, to onsure that "staff" are in their appropriate trade union. Already 500 non—manual workers in this catersory have applied to join their union, The management have retaliated by ending the overtime agreement, the struggle continues and tho local Confed. have pledged full support to A.Ji.I. shop stewards, who took tho decision to end overtime at a meeting attended by 1,0 shop stewards. At inglish Wlectric, Preston, 60 electricians have returned to work after winning their demand that an inspector should join the 5.T.U; Four drawing office workers who had been sacked at McKenna Construction Ltd., Liverool, for joining the Feb. 5th strike have got their jobs back after the boilermakers threatened to strike. At the two Ferranti factories at Moston and West Gorton overtime bans were imposed in protest against non=-unionists working on Feb. 5th. Shop Stewards now report that all eligible have applied to join a union. A man who worked on Feb, Sth at de Havilland, Hatfield has been transferred to a lowor paid job since the 3,000 manual workors sont him to ‘coventry!
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