Left slate sweeps the board
Socialist Organiser1980sTranscribed by hand from the printed page.
In a remarkable victory for the left, four of the five stewards on the left slate were elected as TGWU deputy senior stewards in the BL Cowley Assembly Plant.
The votes received for the 14 candidates standing for the five positions were as follows (in a secret ballot):
Ivor Braggins [left slate] 468
Alan Thornett [left] 443
Andy Brown [left] 409
Cy Blake [left] 408
Tom White [WRP] 352
Frank Corti [right slate] 335
Bob Cullen [left] 333
Jim Barson [right] 315
Albert Paintin [right] 224
Peter Boyles [right] 143
Roy Brough [right] 116
Tony Wally 103
Mick Harris 71
M.Afzhal 52.
Slightly under 1,000 members voted out of the 2,400 TGWU members in the plant. The percentage poll, slightly below the recent convenors' election, was reduced by the strict administration, requiring attendance at a polling station and the production of the current union card.
The failure of the right wing slate to gain a single position removes from office the last of the right wing brought to power by the victimisation of Alan Thornett and the media witch hunts of 1974. The vote for Tom White (who has previously been on both slates) slumped to drop him from first position to no.5. The Newsline, which conducted a campaign for White, has not commented on the result.