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Vol. 1. Now 34 rice Threéopenc fos h 1962 SPATE OF STRIKES SHOWS FIGHTING SPIRIT OF BRITISH WORK IRS
As the holiday season draws to a close a whole series of small strikes has followed in its wake, Tho issues varys the size varies from the Avonmouth docks strike,which completely stopped that port, to that of the strike of 26 drillers and lathe hands at the Wednesbury Tube Co. Ltd.; Some were unofficial (like the Avon mouth one) others official (as was the Wednesbury dispute); but they all shared one thing in common: the determination of workers not to be pushed around. This mood of refusing to give up positions and conditions won in the period when there was a 'sellers! market! in the labour field, and of even going forward for new demands in ghe field of labour/management relations, augurs well for the coning period. Coming in a period when all over the country thousands of workers face the threat of sack, in the airergft industry, railway workshops, mining, shipyards, etc., it means that the stage is set for big industrial battles.
Some of the actions are of quite a high level of consciousness, for example, the banning of overtime and working to rule by 5,000 A.T. & 3. workers at the Edge Lane wroks of that factory as a protest against the sacking of 50 wor kers at a smaller factory of that firm. Others represent the attempt by workers to impose the 'normal! worker/management relations in sectors where unionisation is still far from complete, as was the victorious work-terule (and banning of overtime) of Sainsbury's factory workers in London, designed to force the management to recognise the union (U.5.D.A.1.). The latter was significant too, because of the solidarity of workers organised in other unions — electricians, lorry drivers, etc. Tho struggles covered (and are still covering in some cases) many parts of tie country - from Kincardine and Renfrew in scotland, to Kent and Bristol in the ,ouths; from the shipbuilding towns of Barrow and Sunderland, to the liidland towns of Birmingham, Bilston and Coventry.
Trade union bureaucrats! attitudes ranged from strike-breaking activitics of the 3,T.U. and the T.G.W.U. officials in the Kincardine and Avonmouth disputes to that of the Vehicle Builders in the Fisher & Iudlow demarcation dispute (where union officials 'aided and abetted' their men). A nasty impression was left by the refusal of the local 1.G.W.U. official to intervene in ths strike of coloured workers in a Luton Plastics firm who claimed that the fim was operating a olour bar in the way in which they cut wages by up to £4 per week. No one disputes that wages are being cut to this amount and the firms statement that it is just co-incidence that only coloured workers are affected ssoms vory flimsy. Instead of a rigid application of the Union's rule~book the local 1.G.W.U. official would have been well advised to rigidly apply his Union's policy of militant opposition to wage-cutting and colour bar.
All these little strikes are symtomatic of what Trotsky called a molecular process which is taking place. They are part and parcel of the new, and vory unapathetic, attitude which is arising in bigger and bigger sections of the working class, They are a parallel to tho swing away from the Tories in the electoral field. They show that the working class will respond to a militant lead, a fact which not be lost on many people (including ‘left! trade union bureaucrats whose position is being undermined by the present, but only commencing, process of rationalisation in British industry - private and nationalised). They show on tle other hand that a basic strategy is lacking, and this remains to be thrashed out. A policy of action, both realisable and combattive, would evoke a response from big sections of the workers. lMarxists must contribute in this way, we must say that the fight should not be about the size of severance pay, but about the length of the working weeks not about how to get the Government to provide contracts but about how to get a Government which will be committed to a policy of no unerm ployment; if a boss says he is amoking a loss, let us reply:wo are very sorry for you and propose to relieve Sr your burden by putting into a power a Government with a policy of nationalisation. To participates fully in the process of working out such a strategy is one aspect of the duty o marxists, the other, and often neglected, is that of building the esteemed 1 enable this policy to be become the property of the workers. To that we will roturn, HiLP THIS HiRo
Anyone who has been in the forces will know what heroism is required to stand up to the military authorities and cpenly express radical ideas, This week's Tribune and Peace News carry the story of R.A.F. technician Bric.n McGhee who is facing a court martial as a result of his C.N.D. activities. ‘ye should use these expesures and do all in our power to mobilise support for lMecGhee. Young Socialist branches in particular should campaign on this issue, he faces two years imprisonment end desorves every bit of solidarity action which can be mobilised.