Tory hands off Telecoms

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ON Wednesday October 20, POEU, CPSA and SCPS telecom members will be on one day strike against the privatisation of British Telecom.

If BT is sold off, as the Tories plan, it will certainly mean lower pay for BT workers and job cuts: -45,000 was the conservative estimate made : by the Department of Industry secret memo recently leaked to the Guardian.

These -threats are already beginning to take shape under the BT management chaired by Sir George Jefferson, who was brought in after the split of the Post Office into separate telecoms and postal businesses.

To prepare for privatisation, Jefterson began the streamlining late last year under the slogan "shapen up, sharpen up!"

The telecommunications industry will undergo huge technological changes in the next few years with the introduction of System X (the new telephone exchange), satellite communications, cable TV, optical fibre cabling and the computerisation of office work.

The huge input of new technology will make it an extremely capital intensive industry, and also holds out the possibility of huge profits for multinationals that can buid up a monopoly or cartel control of telecommunications equipment supply.

But privatisation affects many other workers besides us. The TUC should be mobilising the whole move. ment to fight against privatisation and for the shorter working week, to save jobs.

Local trades councils should be pressed by BT unions to set up joint committees of the different unions fighting privatisation.

A first step in privatisation of telecoms was the abolition in 1981 of BT's monopoly. A private consortium, Project Mercury, is already planning to take away vitat trunk calls custom - where the profits are made - from BT.

At the POEU annual er onference this year, a detail led plan for • action agail nst Project Mercury was talk ied out by the union's right wi ing - the president waving asi ide calls that the motion be pi it.

But the executive ha 1ve since correctly instruct ted branches to black Proji ect Mercury's connection to 1 the BT network.

A privatised BT wor uld make that blacking acti ion more difficult, and impre )ve the chance of success for non-union firms such as Project Mercury.

Project Mercury is a cr -LIC Daily and others, including Barclay's Bank, who no doubt will be seeking to buy BT shares after privatisation.

The privatisation of BT is not a policy confined to Britain. In Australia, the state telecoms industry is under threat of privatisation and loss of monopoly. "

Tentative links have been built through the exchange of information between unions in BT and our Australian counterparts. These should be built on.

After the one day strike, what next? The one-day strike alone will not stop the Tory government's privatisation, plans.

Tebbit's law is due to become law in the near future. This could become a major obstacle to any action against privatisation, l.e. action to defend our jobs, could be deemed to be political and therefore unlawful.

To ensure defiance of the privatisation plans and continuation of the fight against it despite Tebbit, branches must call on the union executives to step up the campaign immediately through continued industrial action.

Branches of all the BT unions should call on their executives to instruct all branches to black government telecom lines immediately and indefinitely and to carry on this action even if Tebbit's Bill becomes law. We should also call foI special conferences of each ¡lail!

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Fraicis. Boyle Boy