Jennie Twydell/Glenn Sutherland, THE CONFERENCE of the Manufacturing, Science & Finance Union (MSF), held in Llandudno from 15-18 June, took place against a financial crisis, the effects of which have been ravaging the union for the last year.
The leadership of the union, Roger Lyons and his hit-man — Assistant General Secretary John Chowcat, have managed to sack a quarter of the unions' workforce — over 100 full-time officials and administrative statt, as well as off-loading a number of important MSF office premises.
Together with a massive hike in subscrintions this improved the balance sheet for the first quarter of 1996 but the net loss of members still continues, making it certain that the financial position will deteriorate again under unis leadership.
At the conference, the NEC managed to get approval for its so-called 'Strategic Plan' which centralises power in Head Office at the expense of Branches and Regions. The leadership will be able to introduce sweeping changes with even less reference to the lay members than before.
A motion severely criticising the leadership's handling of the financial crisis was amended to mean its exact opposite by a majority of only two votes. This debate provided outgoing President, Dave Minahan, a solid Lyons supporter, with the opportunity, rarely used at MSF Conferences, to rule out of order an amendment calling for the resignation of Lyons and Chowcat - arter conference had voted it on to the agenda.
This manoeuvre, requiring a two-thirds majority to overturn, was later used to kill off an emergency motion calling for the reinstatement of BeTt official, Dave Peters, sacked on trumped-up charges of ballot-rigging.
The conference was pretty evenly divided between right and left, with a number of important votes being very close nis meat ma no clear ourecon came from conference and partly reflected the paralysis at the top.
A number of good left policy motions were carried, some against the advice of the NEC — including ones on pensions, against NHS trusts and generally on the welfare state. For the third year in a row the report of the MSF delegation to Labour Party Conference was referred back, this time on the abstention of the delegation on the issue of the de-selection of Liz Davies.
A motion on Ireland from Belfast Central Branch was passed calling for all-party talks without pre-conditions and the release of all political prisoners.
An Irish branch moving such a motion is unprecedented in the history of the The motion's success was perhaps even more remarkable given the debate took place the day after the Manchester bombing.
Conference voted to support a national minimum wage of half male median earnings (currently £4.26 per hour), although Lyons announced that he saw this as a figure with which MSF would go into negotiations with Tony Blair.
Ihree motions on union legislation included policy to scrap all the anti-union laws, legalise solidarity action and to allow unions to write their own rule books. Unfortunately none of this policy is included in the MSF motion to the 1996 Labour Party Conference, which describes union legislation in terms that the most ardent 'stakeholder' would find acceptable.
In terms of the organised left this conference represented a small step torward. The newv named Campaign for a Democratic Union organised two very successful fringe meetings at which the level of support • for left organisation in general and the CDU in particular was shown to have increased. Steps were taken Drove collaboration with Unity Left, which tends to operate mainly as an electoral machine. Hopefully these will be built on in the months to come. Roger Lyons has managed to sack a quarter of the union's workforce Some of the stranger antics by the platform as well as the apparently 'left' face Lyons has presented to the media since conference can be explained by the fact that the election for General Secretary will be held early next year.
The left has already selected its candidate — Joe Bowers — a full-time official from the Irish Region. He represents, among others, Shorts Belfast Branch.
The branch organised a fringe meeting, inviting both Bowers and Roger Lyons to give their views on the future of the union. Lyons declined the invitation, cancelled the room booking and instructed Bowers to his contribution to the policies in the Strategic Plan.
In the event London Region came forward with a renlacement venue and with Joe Bowers giving a brilliant and hard-hitting speech, this packed fringe meeting developed into one of the highlights of the conference. The forthcoming lection campaign will be the key test as to whether the stalemate of this conference can be broken by the left.
To contact the Campaign for a Democratic Union write to:
MSF CDU clo Leonora Lloyd 27a Myrtle Road London, W3 6DY.