HIR OSS 2ID SERVICES Asso sas NALGO faces much more than pay battles in the coming months round of cuts, only months after setting this year's budgets.
Across country thousands of jobs are going and they are increasingly those of NALGO members. Conference must adopt a national campaign of action gainst CCTand coordinate strike action across branches facing cuts rather than laving them to fight alone.
On pay, once again we have seen the National Local Government Committee fail to mount a serious campaign around a flat rate claim. And, more seriously, they seem reluctant to prepare the mem bership for the attack on national pay bargaining that the plan to launch next vear in the form of 'kitty bargaining'.
The 'unshackle the unions' statement will be discussed, and successive conferences have ledged to defy the law where necessarv in the past, But still the National Executive are opposing the statement This shows something of their intentions. as well as their sectarianism. In the face of Tory proposals for cooling off periods' and 'the right of individual consumers to initiate action against public sector unions", it is important that the statement is waorenearteany backed.
Merger
But the hoe that looks set to dominate the conference is the sector manual ( workers' union, and COHSE, the health workers, to form the 1.5 million strong UNISON.
In this merger there is the potential to create a powerful ( public sector union, breaking down the divisions in the workplace between unions and lar workers. But this is the furbureaucracies' minds In their desire to maximise income and not spend it on strike action, they will attempt to use the merger to curtail democracy and squash rank and file attempts to fight. The left will be supporting amendments to strengthen branch autonomy and the right to campaign openly.
Amalgamation
We will also be demanding the right to discuss the draft rules of the new union before any ballot on amalgamation. But at the end of the day it won't be the wording of the reports the coming struggle with the bureaucracy tana it win comen NALGO, merger or not), but the bativity of those in the union who want to take action.
Left mobilisation
Provided the left organises, the potential gains of merger outweigh the risks, but it is essential that this organisatior tarts now. Despite the size of left votes at conferences, the lever or formar fert orsansanon remains abysmal.
Communist Party machine is disintegrating, the an SWP caucus, and NALGO Action has died of exhaustion.
The only successes have been where branches have called single-issue conferences - such as Strathclyde's initiative which led to a around cuts revised national strategy.
enough for Two ad hoc conferences calling for a democratic merger have so far been called.
These initiatives need to be formalised into a Campaign for a Democratic and Fighting Union, that struggles both on the issue of democracy and national action in defence of public services It needs to organise at every level of the union, particularly the districts, to support strugand the Sic0 sureaucracy.