An appeal to Lee Jeans women
Socialist Organiser1981 1981-08-06Read it in the scan (PDF), scan page 12 →
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THE DECISION of the Executive of the National Union of Tailors and Garment Workers to withdraw support from the Lee Jeans occupation is nothing more than a disgrace.
The decision comes in the wake of a massive Tory attack on women's rights and a deliberate policy to bring the union leadership to its knees [not difficult in Len Murray's case!].
The Lee Jeans women work in one of the most exploited, under-unionised industries, and suffer double oppression _ both as workers and as women.
The NUTGW, 90% of whose membership female, has a leadership composed largely of male bureaucrats. The Executive took seven weeks to make the occupation official.
But now we find that it is not only right wing officals, but also the so-called 'left' Communist Part members who are betraying the struggles of textile workers.
I hope the next discussion in the new NUTGW Broad Left will bring to the forefront the betrayals by the CP members on the Executive.
They, like the right wing, offer us no policies to save jobs except the diversionary slogan of 'import controls' What I ask is for the women at the forefront of these struggles to link together - with the object of forcing our union officials and EC to carry out policies which defend our jobs, our wages and what small gains we have made in the recent past.
The leadership of Lee Jeans must bring forward the experience of their struggle into the leadership of our union.
We must raise the consciousness of our members and raise the fight to elect true representatives of the shop floor to the EC in the forthcoming elections.
We members daily see the struggle in the factory over redundancies, cuts in wages hourly pieceworkers on 40-50p an hour are again becoming more and more common. We know the threat of the sack for organising the union is very real.
But how can we show a strong front if our leadership can't even be at the forefront of our own members' struggles?
I appeal to the Lee Jeans women to send a nomination for the EC, and for more women in the forefront of our union's struggle to come forward and discuss the future of our union and the fight we intend to take up for policies which will save our jobs and lift the members from under the boot of the employer, where the union leadership seems content to see us.
WINNIE MURPHY Winsforc