Soda'ut Youth Need Real Jobs, Real Wag

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(CLAIMANTS AND STRIKERS, 10p)

THE TORY government appears endlessly inventive. Every day brings a new idea to boost the profits of the employers and cut the living standards or curb the rights of the working Their latest scheme is an all-round master-stroke. To cut the numbers of youth unemployed they propose to urge employers to take on young workers at pay below the Thatcher offers bosses a £15 a week bonus if they take on young workers under 18 years old - provided their pay is less than £40 a week! This gives the green light to ditch older workers and exploit youth at slave labour rates.

In other words, the Tory plans, masquerading as concern for the unemployed, mean nothing other than shifting the burden of unemployment from the young to older workers, while acting to smash down existing rates of pay, destroy The Tories act consistently in the interests of the capitalist class — seeking ways and means to drive up the rate of P'But no such single-mindedness or inventiveness can be seen among the so-called 'leaders' of the labour movement.

Indeed, as the situation gets worse for the working class, the TUC and Labour leadership prove once again that they have learned nothing and forgotten nothing in two years of Last week saw Foot and Len Murray peddling a weary rehash of the old, discredited social contract. Once again they are arguing for an 'alternative' which pretends to offer the hope of jobs through increased capitalist investment, but in reality offers falling living standards, speed-up, and a permanent working alliance between union leaders, All around them is the evidence that the Thatcher government is demolishing the old forms and methods of class collaboration. Unemployment has been stoked up to three million; social services cut or destroyed; civil service unions have been provoked and confronted; in BL, Michael Edwardes is setting about the destruction of the shop stewards' movement - soon to be followed by bosses in other nationalised industries; Heseltine is press-ganging local councils into draconian cuts and the sale of scarce council housing; chronic deprivation in the inner city areas has already provoked outbreaks of street violence from frustrated and angry youth, to which Thatcher's response is to increase police pay and stock up their armouries.

The Tories have made no secret of the fact that they are engaged in a war against the working class. But sooner than fight back, the TUC has time and again run up the white flag — even while union members have clamoured for Steelworkers, BL workers, civil servants and others have embarked on action, only to find themselves held back, Hospital workers, textile workers and engineering workers have occupied their places of work to oppose redundancies and closures — only to face isolation and bureaucratic sabotage at the hands of their union leaders.

Now the TUC comes forward with Foot to endorse a longterm plan which would continue these policies indefinitely.

At the centre of the new 6,000-word document is the call for a 'new national understanding' — based on the idea that both employers and workers should 'work together' And implicit in the whole document is a new attempt by Labour and TUC leaders to impose a system of wage controls — the policy which helped lose the last election.

But what else can be done? Must workers simply accept No - there are policies that do offer a real alternative.

But they require united action of both employed and unem- Youth riot — labour movement must fight for jobs This is increasingly a possibility. Right now the Tories are Other unemployed workers should be organised with planning to extend their fraudulent Youth Opportunities unemployed workers unions, seeking the closest possible Programme to offer six month's work to over 400,000 young These workers receive only the dole plus fares - £23.50 take up the fight for the shortening of the working week in Together, employed and unemployed must organise to per week: many are desperate for money; some have already begun to organise in unions and even to take strike industry to create new jobs for those out of work - demand- ing a system of work sharing on full pay.

Trade unionists in every area should ensure through against redundancies and closures, every battle against the And at the same time, by supporting every struggle trades councils and other bodies that all the youth on these Tories, a movement must be built that can drive Thatcher force the employers to provide a proper job for the youth on for a combined fight for trade union rates of pay and to schemes are recruited into unions. The perspective must be from office and press home the fight for a crash programme of useful public works to create the 3 million new jobs that are needed, at trade union rates of pay.

46 JULY 30, 1981 Labour leaders and the employers.

Evidence action. resolve the crisis.

"Alternative" in reality, just jobs"" through cutting real wages. the rising tide of unemployment?

ployed workers.

AS we go to press it has been confirlinks with the labour movement. med that the execunemployed. utive of: the NUTGW has withdrawn official support and strike pay from the women action. workers in the Lee Jeans occupation.

see page 4.

YOPs. 53 RESOLUTIONS for this year's Labour Party conference call for a united Ireland, and many of them for political status.

It's a great advance. But while the sedate process of processing resolutions and drafting amendments goes forward, Kieran Doherty is dying. As we go to press he has been 68 days on hunger strike.

He, and also perhaps Kevin Lynch (67 days) will probably be dead by the time Socialist Organiser reaches our readers.

Behind them there are more H Block hunger strikers - fairly ordinary, average, young working class men, who are prepared to face slow, painful, solitary death in order to defeat the Tories' efforts to brand their national liberation struggle as 'criminal' They can't wait for the conference timetable. They need support from Labour activists, on the streets, now.

Kieran Doherty elected member of th Southern Irish parliament and Garret Fitzgerald Dublin's conservative Prim Minister, may even be force to withdraw his goverr ment's envoy from Londo when Doherty dies. Yet th prospect of British Labou cutting friendly relation with this stone-faced Tor government is far off.

Greater London's Labou leader, Ken Livingstone, lat week had the courage to sa that the hunger strikers wet "people fighting for thei freedom" , who had his sug port.

To show the Irish peopl that the militant left wing d the British labour mov ment, at least, is willing t come out clearly against th Tories, we need to sse : least those tens of thou ands of activists represente by the 53 resolutions out o the streets, proclaiming th same message openly an actively.