Library staff under attack

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10p Lon A Class Fighter 10p plus postage from Sickert Court, Jon N1 2SY. WITH the end of the CPSA strike against the use of Staff Inspections to force through cuts, management and CPSA came to a truce.

Management claimed tha no cuts were intended, and agreed to provide the necessary information to the unions that would allow independent monitoring of this claim. It is clear however that with the onset of new Tory cuts, tnat the use of Staff Inspections or any other weapon to carry out Thatcher's purge of Civil Service jobs, will have to be fought.

And only 2 weeks after the ending of the British Library strike, the Council of. Civil Service Unions came out with the line that 'something needed to be done' about the Tories use of Staff Inspections. The only solution put forward in a circular by Ellis, Deputy GS of CPSA was to say that where cuts are plain to see, they will need to consider in consultation with the members involved and union headquarters whether non-cooperation with the staff inspection could be a practical and effective response. However, in the British Library the management offensive against CPSA has now taken a new turn. Shortly: after issuing suspension letters to the CPSA members who had refused to obey management instructions to co-operate with Sis, management also brought disciplinary charges against the 2 branch officers of CPSA - Secretary and Chairperson.

The charges are that we 'were responsible for circulating a bulletin urging members to vote Labour'. This, they claim, is against the disciplinary code.

Apart from an unknown individual in a Department of Environment branch of SCPS the chair and Secretary of CPSA are the only 2 CPSA officers to be disciplined for activity in the General Election.

However, the charge is more serious because they are being charged and disciplined as officers of the union.

The hearing is expected to be in September, or may be earlier. CPSA at the moment is giving backing, but clearly the attack is on the rights of trade unionists and trade union lay officials to organise, particularly in the Civil Service trade union area.

A campaign has been started and leaflets outlining the case and material detailing the charges and the offending document are available from CPSA British Library, Room 125, Srl Holborn, Southampton Buildings WC1.

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