All Out Action Can Win

Scan page 1

Page 16: How they sold off college for £5 million less than Paper of the Socialist Organiser Alliance No.168 March 1 1984 25p Claimants and strikers 10p TRADE union leaders are talking about withdrawing from cooperation with the Tories in bodies like the NEDC, the MSC But cooperation should be ended all across the board. And most importantly the talks with the Tories on new anti-union You can't fight existing anti-union laws at the same time as you are pleading with the Tories over details of new ones.

of the London demonstration estimated 40.000 were there. LAST Tuesday's day of action gave the lie to those fainthearts and pessimists who said that working class militancy is dead and that the labour movement is SO demoralised that the Tories can kick us in the teeth as, when and where they like.

The strikers and demonstrations throughout the coun ty, in Liverpool, London, Cardiff, Manchester, Glasgow and many other towns and cities show that the working class is willing and able to kick back.

But even the tremendous show of solidarity on Februaary 28 may yet prove to be too little, too late.

From March 1 the Tories will have their hands round the windpipe of trade union1sm at GCHQ. They intend to squeeze slowly but ruthlessly.

They will probably not sack the loyal trade unionists in one dramatic gesture, but replace them one by one.

They hope to wear down the GCHQ trade unionists -and, in the absence of decisive action from the unions, they are likely to succeed.

Some trade unionists will and ACAS.

The sooner the better! Such a break boost to the fight against Thatcherism.

laws should be stopped. find other jobs. Some will just leave GCHQ in disgust. Some will accept transfers. Some will be sacked, one by one.

At the great London rally of anything up to 40,000 trade unionists on the 28th, the call was for strike action as soon as anyone is sacked from GCHQ.

That is necessary, but it is not enough. It leaves the initiative in the hands of the Tories. They can delay weeks or months before sacking anyone, waiting for feeling in the labour movement to die down and the ban on GCHQ trade unionism to become an accomplished fact' The unions must set a date for more extended action -at least an all-out civil service strike, backed by a one-day Given leadership, there will be a response. That was clear from the huge turnout on the 28th, despite the lateness of the official strike call leaving almost no time to organise.

The unions also need to remove their taboo on strike action at GCHQ.

The GCHQ workers have a right not only to pay union dues but also to act as trade Ser unionists. Unless they do take collective union action, each of them is going to be left GCHQ vulnerable, facing the full pressure of the management as an isolated individual. "National security' is the Tories' slogan. It means the security of British capitalism's military and foreign policy, nuclear weapons, NATO, South Atlantic war and all. GCHQ is also probably used for surveillance within Britain.

The union leaders should never have offered a no-strike deal. And they should certainly not maintain it now that it has been contemptuously rejected by Thatcher.

The TUC's sudden rediscovery of working class solidarity last Friday has not undone all the effects of the slump and of the TUC's own shabby record over past struggles like the NGA Warrington dispute. But it has dramatically revealed the possibilities for turning the tide.

Every union needs to set a date for further action now, not only for the sake of union rights at GCHQ and in other 'essential services' , but also for their own self-preservation in face of the Tory anti-union laws.

Trade unions which organise a one-off protest on an issue like GCHQ, and leave it at that, are declaring themselves as suitable easy victims for law-wielding employers.

Trade unions which mobilise their massive full strength in all-out strike ac- NDREW MOOR tion to save union rights at GCHQ are giving notice that they will not be messed with.

Such all-out action would not only win the GCHQ issue. It would at the very least Sery make the anti-union laws temporarily inoperable. Given SCHO a bold will to win, it could rip up those laws and rout this vicious but suddenly-not-sosolid Tory government.

Scan page 2

March Page

----- pull-quotes -----

BREAK LINKS WITH TORIES! Inside: Rip-off government

No more talks on union laws.

the Tories in action. its value Page 15: How stripping British Scott Lithgow ANDREW MOORE Civ Ser CCH