Right wing to Hammond's rescue
Build the Newcastle conference
HELP is at hand for leaders of the electricians' union (EETPU) fighting to retain their membership after the union's expulsion from the TUC.
Leaders of the builders' union (UCATT) and the Amalgamated Engineering Union (AEU) have said that they recognise the EETPU as a bona-fide trade union and will not recruit its members or see its representatives removed from trade union bodies.
Ford electricians who have decided to leave the EETPU and joint the Manufacturing, Science and Finance union (MSF) have received a letters from the EETPU warning them that their action will amount to support to a new hard left grouping - the Electrical and Plumbing Industries Union (EPIU) - which is now established as a union and is recruiting members.
Of MSF the letter says: "The motivation to get you to join the MSF is purely political - it is the most left-wing union your repreDAVID Blunkett's reply to the debate on the Poll tax at Labour party conference showed the depths to which the Kinnockites are prepared to sink to be seen as a respectable party of government.
He argued that we wanted the poll tax to be implemented so that the Tories would be so unpoular that Labour would be elected. He showed his complete contempt not only for those in Scotland being fined at this moment for refusing to register, but for the thousands upon thousands who will have no choice other than non-payment. When the leadership argue that people will be led into poverty and debt though resistance to the tax, they show their ignorance of
U PD AIT EETPU sentatives could find'. A similar letter has been sent to electricians working for Manchester city council who have also said they will leave the union.
Militant electricians should stick to their guns. The most effective way to destroy EETPU leader Eric Hammond's credibility is to leave his union.
Despite its latest display of 'independence' in balloting over strike action on the GCHQ issue, the EETPU is a hardened business union. The Hammond leadership have set out over a long period to educate the membership in these principles. The recent ballot decision on defiance of the TUC and risking expulsion showed that they have had some success. At the same time the Hammond leadership have crushed any opposition to this procees and stripped the EETPU of any last vestiges of democratic structures. If the EETPU was bad before that ballot, it will be much worse after it.
The actions of Hammond and Co. at Wapping have still not been matched by any other union: joinPoll Tax the reality facing millions under third term Thatcherism.
The London week of action against the Poll tax, which greeted Parliament's return, was led off by a successful demonstration in South London. This is just one of many initiatives across England and Wales which demonstrates that when the left wakes up to the centrality of this issue there is a good deal of potential support which can be mobilised.
The conference called by Chesterfield in Newcastle on Deceber 10th can provide a much needed forum to generalise the lessons of the fight in Scotland, to bring together activists working around the campaign and to publicise the impact of this vicous attack on the working class.
A E ing together with employers to break other unions; replacing printers with electicians; using their own offices to recruit scabs for Murdoch, and using their own training centre to train scabs to do the jobs of strikers. The organisafion they have created is now only comparable with scab organisations like the UDM or the new "union' formed by the scabs at P&O.
We should not treat such organisations as we would treat a legitimate but right-wing trade union. In a right-wing trade union we would fight from the inside, but with the business unions our aim should be to break them as soon as possible. The whole of the left has called, with some success, miners to leave the UDM and join a proper union - and we should have the same position with the
Electricians can join either the appropriate union with negotiating rights in the industry where they work - MSF or the GMB or TGWU - or the EPIU. The
It is therefore unfortunate that some forces within Poll Tax groups are not responding positively to this event.The Communist Party in particular, are witholding support because the meeting has been called by the Socialist Conference.They have yet to explain what they disagree with in the statement issued to obtain sponsorship. But the mere use of the word 'socialist' makes their popular-frontist hackles rise.
In this context it is also problematic that another conference is being organised in Oxford on Nov 26th. Many activists have argued that this will result in a fragmented movement, with the north prioritising Newcastle and the south, Oxford. Nor do we believe that the crucial job at the problem the EPIU has is getting recognition from employers, most of whom will be loyal to Hammond, although the new union is seeking recognition from a number of local authorities. One solution is joint membership of a union with negotiating rights as well as the EPIU.
Similar principles should be followed on trades councils and other local bodies. It is illogical to support the expulsion of the EETPU from the TUC and urge its expulsion from the Labour Party if itisto berecognised as a legitimate union at local level. EETPU delegates should be excluded from Trades Councils, District Committees of the Confederation of Shipbuilding and Engineering Unions, shop stewards' committees and joint negotiations with employers.
Where EPIU branches, or even electricians in holding sections of other unions, are able to send delegates they should be accepted minute is to structure the existing poll tax organisations; the job of building such groups through actions which will publicise the effects of the tax is much more of a priority.
The stakes are too high to let sectarianism or orgnaisational ineptitude weaken our resistance. The Newcastle conference must be built and from it a mass demonstration, with official labour movement support called for April.
Terry Conway
* Conference *
'Build the opposition to the Poll Tax' Newcastle Medical School
December 10, 11am-ópm