The conference debated lesbian and gay rights, and agreed important policies in opposition to Clause 25 and Paragraph 16.
In addition, the conference voted to suspend Standing Orders in order to debate the situation in the Middle East after the Gulf War. Policies supporting an independent Kurdistan were overwhelmingly agreed.
But the conference was dominated by introspection. Attempts by NOLS, Via various underhand tactics, to regionalise the structure of NUS were defeated. In addition, moves to undermine the democracy of the NUJ faces both governing election proce dures. Protests at these undemocratic anangelves were, however, ignored.
What does this mean for socialist students? With the collapse of NOLS's credibility, and both the Liberals and the right on the offensive, there is a serious danger that NUS could fall into right-wing hands. The left needs to go on the offensive. The only response that can beat back the right is to organise for a campaigning NUS that involves rank and file students, as opposed to the current domination of the NUS bureaucracy. Defying the last Labour governemt's anti-union laws - the Grunwick strike by our correspondent 'DEFIANCE of the law is the only way to defend hard won gains and to win new victories' was the message that came out of last week's 'Unshackle the Unions' dayschool.
200 trades union activists met in London on 27 April to discuss in detail the 1990 Employment Act and how best to fight back against the anti- union laws. The dayschool was jointly sponsored by the Socialist Movement Trade Union Committee. the Haldane Society of Socialist Lawyers, the Solidarity Network, Labour Party Socialists and Trade Union News.
Representatives were present from some of the most important disputes in recent years including oilworkers, dockers, postal workers, railworkers, journalists, local government workers, and teachers. Tony Benn There were also delegates from the car industry and various trades councils.
In opening the dayschool Tony Benn described how successive Labour and Tory governments had used the law to curb trades union activity. The current anti-union laws, he said, were not just a denial of rights in the workplace, but a real attack on basic democratic rights. To illustrate the seriousness of the attacks he quoted Mussolini and Hitler who spoke of the 'excessive power of the organised labour movement as being the single biggest obstacle to the ordered and well-run society they favoured.
John Hindey QC who represented Arthur Scargill and the NUM in cases brought to court under the last seven major Employment Acts brought in by the Tories spoke at the school. He called for the establishment of 'positive rights for trades unionists' based on the relevant International Labour Organisation (ILO) laws.
Geoff Revell brought solidarity greetings from the RMT London Transport District Council who are presently balloting for strike action. He described the plan to privatise London Underground, smash the unions and make the workforce pay the cost of the 100 million deficit run up by the bosses. He said that when the anti-union laws are taken as a whole 'the aim is to make it a crime to Campaigning initiatives that came out of the workshops included working in the Labour Party and the unions for repeal of the laws, campaigning for union democracy, bringing in the intemational dimension and fighting for positive rights for trades unionists.
Solidarity greetings came from Iranian oilworkers, the Confederation of South African Trade Unions (COSATU), Ronnie McDonald from OILC, Anna Wagstaff from the Pergamon 23, Andy Dickson from the NUT national executive, Cate Murphy from LPS and Micky Fenn a sacked Tilbury docker. No. 1 May 1, 1991