No. 10. February 1986.
Final copy date for this issue January 21, 1986 Printed by DOT Press (TU). Oxford. Published by Socialist Viewpoint. BCM Box 3956, London WCIN 3XX.
STOP THE PRESSES!
Editorial:
Rupert "I liked the US film industry, so i bought it* Murdoch has set his sights on smashing the centuries-old fabric of trade unionism in the print. He has been romping about the ring for some time now, exhibiting punches that have had all the commentators gasping.
Up against this press baron - who is leading the pack of Fleet Street bosses — is the combined weight of the print unions. But for all their size and strength, SOGAT and the NGA have grown flabby and are out of condition. SOGAT in particular has been losing out heavily even in the pre-match knock-about sparring contests with the number two contender, Robert Maxwell. Sporting black eyes and bruises, SOGAT leaders have tried every way possible to postpone the Murdoch fight - or duck it altogether by handing him more than half the prize money.
Even so, many punters would have more reservations about Murdoch's chances if he did not have extra help. In the "Dirty Digger's" corner -and ready to stick the boot in to the unions should they hit the canvas — is Eric "CBI"' Hammond, leader of the EETPU.
The confrontation could be historic in more than one way. Not only is the very future of printing in Fleet Street and the survival of the print unions at stake, but this could be the first major dispute in Britain in which one "union" - the EETPU - places itself at the complete disposal of management to wipe out all others in an industry-
Recruited through the EETPU's offices in Southampton, trained to steel the jobs of print workers, determined to cross picket lines, the Wapping workforce is a scab army which stands in opposition to every trade union principle.
Up to now, the EETPU had established a position so far to the right of the rest of the labour movement it was almost out of sight: it has shamelessly courted the employers and the right wing press, broken ranks on the Tory anti-union laws, signed no-strike deals for its own members, linked up with the scabs and opposed the slightest support to the miners, and buttressed the reactionary leaders of the AUEW in their defiance of TUC policies. They have for years played a scurrilous role: but not until now had they gone onto the offensive in a joint attempt with a major employer to destroy trade unionism.
The Fleet Street battle involves far more than the thousands of jobs at stake: it involves the fight against the emergence of an extreme version of US-style "business unionism', , verging on the thoroughly reactionary "yellow" company unions set up in Japan and elsewhere to destroy all working class organisation.
Socialist Viewpoint No. I0 February 1985 pl
Enc Hammond
Yet still the TUC has taken no action against the EETPU. Hovering fearfully on the edge of a major class battle, and faced with a 30-page dossier of complaints against the EETPU, the General Council decided... to shelve the matter, postponing for a week a decision on whether even to investigate the EETPU's scabbing activities!
Since last year's TUC pulled back from disciplinary action against the AUEW and EETPU over their breach of Congress policy on the Tory anti-union laws, these ultra right wing forces have become increasingly arrogant in their attitude to the labour movement. It is quite clear that if they are not firmly resisted, they will hogtie the TUC and step up their sabotage - focussing on the promotion of the scab miners "union" and acting as the focal point for a hard line right wing opposed to any action at all against the employers.
In this light, appeals to preserve the "unity" of the TUC amounts to a renunciation of class struggle and acceptance of the leadership of the EETU. While unnecessary splits and divisions within the workers' movement are to be avoided, the expulsion of the EETPU over its scabbing in the print industry is now crucial to draw the line between workers' and employers' organisations.
The EETPU boasts that it is regarded by Norman Tebbitt as embodying the Tory Party's view of a "progressive approach on the shop floor and elsewhere". It holds fringe meetings at the CBI conference, touts for "sweetheart" deals with Japanese and other firms, and on virtually every basic issue identifies more with the ruling class than the workers.
Until and unless the working class membership of the EETPU ousts their vicious right wing leaders, and abandons the union's role as a scab army, the organisation should be kicked out of the TUC, and stripped of any protection from