Scott Lithgow: fight still needed

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WHILE the National Union of Mineworkers continues with its overtime ban, the Coal Board alung.

privatisation of Scott Lithgow was the Tories' strategy all In spite of all this, the trade union leadership continues to The government owns 48% duck out of confrontation with of Britoil. The cancellation of the Tories. This became all too Britoil's contract with the fully- clear at the Glasgow rally on nationalised British Shipbuild- February 1, jointly organised by ers must have had a go-ahead the Clydeside Confederation of Shipbuilding and Engineering A formula for keeping the Unions and the Scottish TUC. Britoil contract at the yard had This rally drew together Scott been agreed last year by both Lithgow and Henry Robb workBritoil and British Shipbuilders. ers, Polmaise miners, BL workBoth withdrew their support for ers from Albion and Baththat formula suddenly last Sep- gate, and shop stewards and untember. The government must ion branch delegates from all over Scotland. It could have Now Thatcher has offered to launched a real fight back. 'wipe the slate clean' for Scott But Donald Dewar, the LabLithgow as long as the yard goes our spokesperson on Scotland, declared we should be ready to There are rich picking for accept any proposal (i.e. includTrafalgar House or whatever ing privatisation) which would company takes over Scott Lith- guarantee the future of the gow. The government is promis- yards. Alex Ferry of the Confed ing to write off the yard's £100 put the same view. million of debts, provide about Veteran Communist Party £15 million for redundancy member and Scottish miners' money for new capital invest- payments, and supply further president Mick McGahey called for a 'day of action' which would 'bring Scotland to a halt' ', withBut for the workforce, privat- out defining what he meant by a isation will mean up to 3,500 'day of action' or proposing job losses and worse working date for it. He then demanded an old favourite of the Communist Party: a Convention of the Scottish People, to be a forum for trade unions, Churches, all political parties, local councils, 'sympathetic media', etc.

Meanwhile the Scottish TUC General Council was also meeting in Glasgow. STUC General Secretary Jimmy Milne ruled out McGahey's Scottish Convention: 'This is unlikely to achieve our objectives" . Given the Tories' Parliamentary majority, Milne said, "we have to adopt the best [i.e. least militant] tactics possible"

Day of action? That would be considered at the next meeting of the General Council, in March Thus, apart from setting up a Clydeside Fighting Fund for financial support, the outcome of this rally of 1000 trade unionists was nil.

Shop stewards' committees in individual workplaces and industries threatened with job losses will have to take the initiative from the present leadership, and call a Scottish regional conference of labour movement delegates to map out a real strategy to defend jobs in unity with workers in the rest of the country.

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DANGER DEMOLITION oUT. KEEL