TWO pieces of news for the steel strikers — one bad, one good.
THE BAD NEWS was that the steel unions' executives, urged on by IST general secretary Bill Sirs, agreed to participate in a 'committee of inquiry' into the wages aspect of the steel dispute.
In doing this Sirs BACKED DOWN on his original demand that any such inquiry had to cover job losses and the way BSC is run — for example te 20 per cent plus rises on the way for the steel bosses.
HE CAVED in to the bosses' call for an inquiry rather than take the course some members of the IST executive were urging - stepping up of the strike.
The history of all such inquiries is that nine times out of ten they come down on the bosses' side. Take the example of the comparability study' held last year into the public sector This very week, members of the white collar union NALGO are taking action because of the consequences of that inquiry which turned out to be one big con trick.
THE GOOD NEWS was the action taken by Liverpool dockers after they were threatened with loss of pay for refusing to handle seab steel. The dockers went on immediate strike and called for a national dock stoppage in support of the That shows there is massive support for the steel strike in the working class.
Bill Sirs has had ample opportunity to call on that support and win victory for his members. Each time he has refused.
Now, rather than encourage the moves to a national dock strike which would win the steel dispute in a matter of days, he toddles off to some bogus inquiry.
Sirs is now on full steam ahead for a sell-out. The sell-out can still be defeated by taking the running of the strike out of By rank and file steelworkers seeking to extend the strike — whatever Sirs says; by appealing across the working class for the type of support shown by the Liverpool dockers.
The fact is that the thirteenth week of this strike has shown one thing above all others. Either Bill Sirs will lose the strike or rank and file workers will win it. There is no other outcome possible. 5 April - 9 April Port Talbot to Wales TUC in Cardiff Youth demand a future - TUC must organise action on jobs March backed by South Wales NUM, Port Talbot Strike Committee etc.
See pages 8 and 9 for details
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