ELECTIONS for the national executive of the Transport and General Workers' Union (TGWU) have produced a shift to the left within the leadership of the union. This has big implications for the whole labour movement. The effects of the TGWU block vote at TUC and Labour Party conferences are obvious. But the result should not be considered as a simple victory for the left. The key left victories, which changed a slim right wing majority into a slim left wing majority, were in three trade groups: the power and engineering group, the textiles group and the agricultural group. The left also won in the south-east London territorial division, where Ford worker Ballot-rigging and the TGWU IT IS STILL unclear whether the TGWU election results will be challenged on the basis of ballot-rigging allegations. General Secretary Ron Todd has rejected all tales of ballot-rigging as the 'invention of the media' and there is little doubt that most of them were. Todd knows, however, that the record of the TGWU in this respect is scandalous and it is this which makes it an easy target for such allegations. intervene in two regions and that may not be the end of it. Successive TGWU leaders have refused to discipline ballot-riggers even when they have been caught red-handed. They have also refused to tighten up the union's rule book in order to make ballot-rigging more difficult. A political consequence of this is that the TGWU Record is now being openly used to promote and justify the next stage of Tory anti-union legislation which includes postal balloting •
The picture in the labour movement as a whole is good. There are now 22 national unions on the Fight Alton's Bill (FAB) mailing list. A joint liaison commitee between FAB and the TUC is organising the March demonstration. FAB also plans to have a symbolic handing-in of the petitions collected all over the country when the bill is given More a defeat for the right than TGWU general secretary Ron Todd: considered to be too left wing by Brian Nicholson Steve Riley defeated right wing national president Brian Nicholson. During the national executive elections Todd was forced to
UPFRONT its third reading and is producing special publicity about black women and the Alton bill.
The campaign is still desperately in need of funds and donations should be sent to Wesley House, 4 Wild Court, London, wc1 where the FAB headquarters are newly re-established • JUDITH ARKWRIGHT Carlos Guarita/Reflex
This result, which puts ten new members on the national executive of 39, has produced a broad left majority of about 22-17. This is, however, a difficult calculation, given the extreme diversity of the 'broad left' in the union which ranges from supporters of the hard left to Communist Party members and Kinnock supporters.
The media caused confusion in the run up to the ballot by presenting it as a contest between the soft left and the hard left. In reality it was a contest between the broad left national executive minority and the right wing majority led by Nicholson.
The Nicholson grouping have been a major factor in the union for some time. They have been systematically using their majority on the executive to 3