Jim Mortimer, asking for quiet.
1E HAS been a member of the Young ominenore nees beer never with the Institute for Workers New Left Review and The Week, a one time revolutionary socialist magazine in the He has been a shipyard worker and å trade union ofticial.
On the other hand, later on in his life he served London Transport as an advisor on industrial relations. From there he ioned the bosses' organisa. tion, the Confederation of British Industry as a member of its employment affairs committee.
He is Jim Mortimer. general secretary of the Labour Party, who claims 'deep SOCIalist DUl history has been to arbitrate between management and unions. Mortimer has done so through the government's Arbitration, Conciliation and Advisory Services. He was appointed to the job by Harold Wilson, way back in 1974, he was confirmed in it by Jim Prior.
Jim Mortimer is like that, he tries to be a friend of everyone. Like his former boss at the Department of Employment Jim Mortimer is a wet. Indeed, as head of ACAS for the last seven years he has turned wetness into a profession.
Take the following example. In 1978 the right wing National Federation of the Self-Employed, in Control, record of ACAS he explained that cessful in gaining recognition. In 239 (43 the unions' applications were unsucessful.
siding with the workers half the time, the newly appointed argument moderates would agree with that recent unions. excessive fervour of socialism. a rather hysterical report, accused ACAS of being 'politically motivated' and exposed Mortimer's left wing past. ACAS was accused of siding with Mortimer replied with statistics. Defending the references settled or withdrawn, 291 (52 per cent) were cases where unions were fully or partly sucmilitary spending.
There was an almost perfect case of wetness -, siding with the bosses the other half. 'ACAS should be judged by what it is doing', defended Mortimer, It is not about politics.' All reasonable - politics should be kept out of disputes between management and monsense way.' Going one stage further, Jim Mortimer may even have the view that politics should be kept out of politics. Reporting on his press conference after he was appointed, The Times said: 'He clearly see. his job in terms of the overall membership and Labour's appeal to the electorate rather than the And yet Mortimer was the left candidate for general secretary. One explanation was the man he was opposing - the trade union burcaucrat Alex Ferry who was, if the rumours were correct, a great Tatchell.
Smiles all round after Bishop's Stortford? believer in purges and, who as general secretary of the Confederation of Shipbuilding and Engineering Unions is currently doing his best to smash the Laurence Scott strike in Manchester.
By contrast Mortimer, despite his recent past, continues to claim left credentials. He says he is a unilateralist, supports withdrawal from the ComMarket, and advocates a reduction on But he is also a firm believer in incomes policy, having began his career in arbitration between management and unions on the Prices and Incomes Board in the late 1960s. His politics were summed up this way by the Francial Times: 'He has never disguised his commitment to radica change, but he has always argued for it in a comSo what will the appointment of this com monsense radical mean for the Labour Party? That will depend on forces outside of his control On how willing the Bennite left is to arbitrate and conciliate with the right wing leadership of the parliamentary party.
But one thing can be predicted. If, with his experience al ACAS behind him, Jim Mortimer is asked to give judgement on the case of the unfair dismissal of the Labour candidate for Bermondsey, he is unlikely to pronounce in favour of Peter