THE OUTCOME of the Clause Four debate has clarified the political lines of divide in the trade unions, just as it has in the Labour Party.
has followed through his victory with moves to distance himself and the party even further from the unions, in readiness for the inevitable clash on policy that will erupt should he win the election. This is the lesson Labour's far-right has learned trom the elecpronouncements union bureaucrals ugnien Way. cies. teachers from three unions Alan Johnson, under threat of injunctions, attempts to repudiate his members' local 1noticia acios.
The reality is that the anti-union laws have been effective in what they were designed to do: crush disputes by making the union bureaucrats police their own members. This is also why Tony Blair has no intention of repealing these laws.
But if a section of workers like the nurses did manage to overcome the hurdle of their leaders' inertia, there is no doubt that their struggle would be enormously popular, cashing in on the government's unpopularity and disarray.
As with last year's BR signal workers' dispute, it would prove politically impossible to use the anti-union
SUPPORT DUDLE NURSES DEMONSTRATE SOCIALIST OUTLOOK Union Special, May 27 1995, Page 5.
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