fighting strategy (NCU). But, argues Telecom worker PETER SMITH, the union's for the telecommunications industry, based on renationalisation and BT's long-term plans for restructuring the industry and drastically workforce around demands for workers control and a socialist plan the history of the BT union, the National Communications Union The recent British Telecom strike was the first national strike in combines militant opposition to BT's plans, mobilisation of the right wing leadership led by John Golding has failed to combat UNIONS cutting the workforce. The only answer, he argues, is for the union's Broad Left to fight for an alternative strategy, which workers management.
of the restructuring of the world capitalist THE GROWTH AND technological conver- gence of the telecommunications and com- puter industries is one of the major features Hitherto telecommunications has been communications of 8 per cent per annum multinationals are also worldwide. The big In this league BT is a relative minnow, The world-wide growth in tele- offers mouthwatering opportunities for profit hungry multinationals in a period of slow dominated by state monopolies such as the regulated private monopolies such as AT & T (Ma Bell) in the USA. The ambitions of the players in the scramble are led by IBM with an annual turnover of over $50 billion and the slightly smaller AT & T, now divested of its seven or eight times smaller than IBM. It is however, hugely profitable on the basis of its fit represents a massive 20 per cent rate of old Post Office in the UK or by state- local us telephone companies - the Baby continued monopoly of uk telecommunica- tions. Its f2.2 billion estimated 1986/87 pro- return on capital, compared with British Bells' -- each of which is as big as BT. economic growth. economy.
Denis Doran/Refle the leadership the only question during the tion the NCU's viability as an independent union. The prospect of a link up with the achieved by productivity bargaining and a voluntary redundancy agreement. Thus, for recent strike was the cost of the strings. As an effectively single union employer, substantial redundancies in BT would bring into ques- But Golding faces many obstacles. The union membership is very young - the average age is under 35 - with specialised Socialist Outlook. No 1 May/June 1987 EEPTU may be posed. John Golding, witchfinder general of the NCU switchboards and telephones. A high per- centage of BT staff are employed in these pattern of much of British industry is reemerging - low and declining investment and productivity com- pared with its competitors, protected only in monopoly is threatened with the develop- ment of mobile radiotelephones, satellite, the medium term by its continued monopoly position in the local networks. ward compared with even its French and German counterparts. It will only complete digitalised exchange equipment in the early 1990s. Its It operates only 89 lines per will soon have the capability to provide a rate of investment is half that of the French employee compared with 140 in France. BT makes the bulk of its current profits from call revenue, and in particular from trunk and international calls. The Mercury company serious alternative for business users. Iro- nically, fierce competition in this area in the USA means that carriers are now losing money, where they expected to make fat profits. BT is already losing market share in the provision and maintenance of private There are nevertheless clouds on the hori- zon. BT is relatively technologically back- of electronic capital's average of 5% or so. installation the
telecommunications On the other hand Labour's proposals will be fiercely resisted by the City of London and BT management. BT is too rich a prize to let slip, even if Roy Hattersley is happy to let them take the money. The City and BT insist on nothing less than the full control implied by voting shares. They don't trust any gov- ernment with their money, least of all a government which mouths off about 'social responsibility'. It would be necessary to de- fend a Labour government against the capi- talists' sabotage if it ever acted on its vaguely Militant has put forward the only alterna- tive programme to Labour's utopias. Militant proposes that a Labour government should suppliers such as Plessey, GEC and STC. major worded promises. the nalise The future of BT and its workers is bound up with the general election and Labour's social ownership proposals. We need to have a clear attitude towards these policies. There are two stages in Labour's plan for BT. First to use the government's 49 per cent shareholding to Militant have with the methods of the past, to which both subscribed. BT management knows that it needs to break the union in the strategic City district and has decided to victimise leading militants there. A defence campaign includ- ing national strike action is clearly required. This should be a central feature of the Broad Labour's social ownership proposals for UNIONS Left's NEC election campaign. the Communist Party early voluntary retirement is not an attractive option for many. The strike has not demora- lised the bulk of the membership, and a new layer of militants is coming forward. The internal regime of the union is relatively democratic - for example any branch has the unrestricted right to circulate material to other branches. The full time apparatus is relatively small. The big city branches are left-led and are openly hostile to the national leadership, and capable of limited indepen- dent action. During the recent strike ET was only forced into negotiations after the 20,000 strong demonstration called by the union's City of London district council threatened to the leadership's control over the skills. Voluntary redundancy and loosen
working class decisions as the present one. divorced from the actual course of struggle of plan inform current strategies in the fight reconstitute the BT boards of management workers, one-third from the TUC, and one- third from the government. Lower manage- ment personnel and structures would be left intact. This they say would constitute 'a form of workers' management'. But Militant does not make it clear that such an arrangement could only be successfully applied in a planned economy. Otherwise such a board would be compelled by the same 'market forces' to take many of the same anti- Militant's plan is a measure to be imple- mented by a Labour government entirely the workers themselves. In no way does this against BT management. In this sense it is not representatives democracy, research and development, and to ensure that telecommunications and infor- mation technology are developed in 'the best interests of Britain'. This will be followed 'as soon as parliamentary time permits' by 'full general election and Labour's workers is bound up with the social ownership proposals' 'the future of BT and its layer of independent lefts, and a sprinkling of Mercury injunction and the prospect of The left in the union is organised through the Broad Left, an increasingly uneasy coalition including Kinnockites, Militant, a substantial marxists. It came into existence after the Its greatest triumph was its sweeping to office in the middle of the 1983 anti-privatisation action Unfortunately, the adoption of a strategy of selective industrial action proved disas- trous and within six months the Broad Left majority on the NEC collapsed in front of the sequestration. This set the scene, for the remainder of its period of office, for avoi- dance of confrontation with BT (and the Post 1978 35-hour-week campaign. (in general election week). The Broad Left
a plan based on social need along the lines of Any plan for workers' control must start from the needs of the struggle, centreing on such traditional demands as opening of the books and the imposition of workers' vetoes on management prerogatives. BT unions in other telecommunication and communication workers need to draw up the Lucas Aerospace plan, to combat the 'communications' multina- to our opponents, reacting in purely defens- ive kneejerk ways to their well thought out strategies. A start to a discussion on the dustry has been made at a recent conference in Holland organised by the Transnational tionals. Otherwise we leave the highground future of the world telecommunications in- qualitatively different from Labour's policy. association with plans of the ment' (with whom?). The clear intent is that essentially a swapping of non-voting securities for BT shares. These would still be issued by BT and The board would be appointed by, and By 'industrial democracy' is meant the appointment by the secretary of state of a 'significant' number of BT workers and con- sumers to seats on the national and district boards, 'the size and scope of such represen- tation to be open to discussion and agree- these will be a minority of seats - along BT's network monopoly would be restored and Mercury integrated into it. However, the monopoly will not be restored in the customer equipment field (telephones, telex, their price tied to BT's profit performance. answerable to, the secretary of state. scale social ownership' — West German lines. limitations — primarily an electoral machine. Office) apart from a half-hearted campaign on the 1985 pay claim. One major missed opportunity was a fight over the 'broad strategy', and centrally its call for a 32-hour, 4-day week to meet the threat to jobs posed by the new technology, privatisation and Thus with some honourable exceptions, the BL NEC demoralised and demobilised its supporters, creating the conditions for Gold- ing and the right to sweep back in 1986. The Broad Left's failure in office was a conse- quence of its political and organisational and conference caucus. The BL organisation itself stagnated during the period 1983-86. Many branch officers and activists took a passive or cynical line towards the national
15 action for the first time a powerful section of The NGU strike has brought into united the working class, which is right in the middle of the information technology revolu- tion. Its members are fighting not only on pay, jobs and conditions, but for the very survival of independent trade unionism in the industry. In future confrontations BT will be better prepared, having brought into exchanges, and a housetrained management scab force. We will need the support and pressed for our future struggles. Any 'go it alone' strategies are doomed to failure. That their struggles and break with the inward- service more reliable System X and Y solidarity of the working class and the op- means we have now to extend our support to looking attitudes of the past. Institute. expected to maximise profit at the expense of fax and so forth), thus continuing to subject a large proportion of BT staff to the icy blasts of These proposals are utterly inadequate and dangerous. Not only are the capitalists to be fully compensated, but BT will clearly be consumers and workers, despite the waffle The industrial democracy proposals are window dressing since the worker/consumer representatives Needless to say there is no mention of sacking the exising board members or higher mana- gement, despite their being totally com- mitted to privatisation, as shown in the recent fight against the unions. Additionally, any socialist strategy would have to natio- would be outvoted on any contentious issue. cut-throat competition in these fields. about social responsibility. " Left initiated the Coordinating Committee of London branches — an important step but course of the strike. But no more than a handful of activists were involved, many of The Broad Left needs to transform itself During the recent strike the London Broad one which never realised its potential. It also produced information and leaflets on the the traditional supporters being wrapped up Thus the impact of the Broad Left was weak. It must be said that this was not helped by the sectarian and absten- tionist attitudes of some of the marxist into a truly mass force in order to lead the cynics at Greystoke House, the union HQ. That means breaking union to take on an aggressive BT manage- Socialist Outlook No 1 May/Tune 1987 ment and the new in local problems. groups.