Snub for Bill Sirs
Socialist Organiser1983 1983-06-23Read it in the scan (PDF), scan page 14 →
Read from the scan by machine and not corrected: expect misread words, and now and then a caption or a line from a neighbouring story. For anything you quote, read the scan.
Scan page 14
THERE were 153 delegates at the ISTC conference this year -26 fewer than last year. This is a reflection of the massive job cuts BSC has got away with over the last few years. In 1980 there was a workforce of 13,000 in BSC plants. Now there are only 7,000.
The appointment of Thatcher aide Cecil. Parkinson as Secretary for Trade and Industry makes it unlikely that BSC will be moderating its demands for job cuts over the next few years.
Conference 'unanimously passed a resolution from Scunthorpe branch calling for an escalation of industrial action if BSC attempts further jobs cuts.
But if such action is to be more than a good idea it needs to be prepared for now. Some delegates recognised this need and called for the use of the Triple Alliance of rail, steel and mine workers to defend jobs.
Bill Sirs, ISTC General Secretary, blamed Labour's election defeat on left wing policies -especially unilateralism and withdrawal from the EEC. Despite this, conference backed both these policies.