COWLEY: 1970s, with serious INSTOL Alan Thornett's firsthand account of trade union struggles in the car industry from the lessons for trade union activists today.
Pocupine Press, 448 pages, illustrated. £11.95 plus £2 post and packing, from Socialist Outlook, PO Box 1109, London N4 2UU. in defence of jobs, to break the pay freeze and oppose initiatives like PFI; * return the union to control by the membership, making fulltime officials subject to election and accountable to arid cutting down their fat-cat salaries and perks. It is vital that the left wins the argument among the membership about the link between democracy and the effective defence of members' interests; A PCS under fighting, democratic leadership would have a major role to play, not just within the civil service, but in beating back the bosses' offensive which has been rejuvenated by Blair's pro-capitalist agenda. Adam Hartman WE REPORTED last month on the strike by Tameside care workers against cuts in their already low pay. Care workers in Tameside's eleven elderly persons'homes are now entering their third month of strike action.
Tameside Care Group (TCG) threatened to sack the strikers on May 1 if they refused to sign new contracts.
The Group extended the deadline by a month, clearly shaken by the determination of the strikers and the magnificent support for them, and embarrassed by their public exposure as a Victorian scrooge employer.
However, they have kept the homes running with scab labour supplied by Apex, Allied Medicare and other agencies.
Regrettably, the GMB branch leadership has recommended that its members accept a deal which delays most of the pay cut until next year: some GMB members have resigned in protest. UNISON members, over 80 per cent of the strikers, remain solid.
UNISON's national leadership has so far supported the strike. However, its sellout of the Hillingdon hospital strikers doesnot inspire confidence. They may well try to negotiate an unacceptable deal over the heads of the strikers. In this case, the role of the anti-union laws in limiting the effectiveness of industrial action, and the capittulation of the national leaders in the face of these laws, would be exposed yet again. It is therefore vital that branches of UNISON and other unions maintain and extend their support for the strikers, in the form of solidarity greetings, donating the Carers'Quid and attending the mass pickets and demonstrations. This will give the national leaders a clear signal that they will pay a high price for selling out the strike.
Labour Party members and affiliated unions must highlight the role of the Labour Party in the dispute. TCG is nominally owned by trustees, including local Labour MP Andrew Bennett, a local NUT branch secretary and a solicitor who does case work for Tameside's Labour council has a 20 per cent golden share.
TCG says that cuts of £300,000 are needed, because the council is cutting its funding for resident placements. But the "non-profit making"trust made a £750,000 surplus last year which the Royal Bank of Scotland has allegedly frozen.
Managing Director Alan Firth tried to justify the pay cut by claiming that the market rate for care workers locally is around £2.80 per hour. Meanwhile, his market-based salary has increased by a handsome £9,000 to around £60,000 per year.
Nationwide, cash-strapped local authorities are transferring care homes to semi-privatised trusts at the expense of the workforce, and increase the role of private finance. The strikers have called for a public inquiry both into the running of TCG and the funding of care for the elderty.
• Donate to the strikers hardship fund. Send cheques payable to "Tameside UNISON" to: 29 Booth Street, Ashton under Lyne OL6 7LB.
• Take out a standing order to the Carers Quid, forms available from same address. Send or phone through messages of support on 0161-308 2452.
• The next demonstration is on Saturday June 6 in Stalybridge (Astley Rd 1.00pm).