In 1978 the Bloc was still firmly in control of the union apparatus, but its members were divorced from the feelings and moods of the rank and file and completely misestimated week. the strong sentiment behind the fight with the British trade union movement and was demand for a reduced working forced out by the miners strike of. 1974.
to help her.
hour deal that was finally accepted was based on a 'nil-cost' (speed-up) basis.
To make matters worse, the LOOK executive agreed to bargaining over the implementation of the working week with the result that engineers are now working every concervable combination of 7½-hour days, 9-day fortnights, three weeks.
The real leadership in the dispute was a new generation of militants that has emerged in une branches. long-standing activists they core organised the day-to-day running of the dispute, especially in even Lic lllel cily altas.
The POEU has a unique TED Heath, Tory Prime Minister from 1970-74, lost the . this time around.
Margaret Thatcher, the present Tory Prime Minister, is waging a new battle to 'curb' union power — but with trade union leaders like Frank Chapple and Terry Duffy The Tory press is also very much on her side and, with unemployment rising and five years of hard Labour' fresh in people's minds, militants in the trade unions are beginning to realise that the battle will be much harder SULLIC unions. Its geographical branches actually 'work-places, local structured telephone areas. The POEU's stewards, branch reps, are linked into this structure in what is potentially very system of organisation. and 14 day The activists in the branches were able to show just what could be done through a variety of tactics that would have been impossible in out strike action, management which was on the run. The executive's sell-out outragid the rank and file and convinced a layer of militants that the union had to be changed.
Heath.
correspond to the managementequivalent. of shop powerful telecommunications monopoly;
democracy, dated delegates, other officers.
supporters members of Organising in the Unions is a new column that will be looking at the kind of alliances that are needed in the unions today to ensure that Thatcher goes the way of Ted Below, COLIN TALBOT, a member of the Post Office Engineering Union, describes the background to the formation of a new, united rank-and-file organisation in his union and describes some of the problems that will have to be tackled in transforming his union into an effective weapon against the Tories.
The Broad Left (BL) held Group. its founding conference in October 1978 and adopted a sixpoint programme. This included: free collective bargaining; 35-hour week with worksharing and no loss of pay; nationalisa tion of the private sector of the industry, and defence of the Post Office opening of the books; greater state investment journal, in telecommunications; union greeted with including and elected of 5,000 -union The political tendencies at the conference included leftwing Labour Party members, Broad of the Militant, the Communist terence Party, Socialist Workers Party, and the International Marxist group being Many non-aligned attended and genuine consensus was formed mass about the need for a united, active movement against the file. right in the union. BL One of the first steps of the Broad Left was to 'go public' through the publication of a there.
Spark. This was enthusiasm activists — it has a circulation - and alarm by the leadership. Supporters of the Bloc were forced to respond to the open policy of the Left, and delegates arriving for the 1979 union conwere handed leaflets from Mainstream — The Voice of the Silent Majority.. NUT.