TGWU leaders fail to push conference to right
Socialist Organiser1980sTranscribed by hand from the printed page.
The fact that the TGWU conference ended last Friday with few of its policies changed is no thanks to its leadership. They were clearly looking for a shift to the right in the post-election period — and are likely to push the Union that way despite conference decisions.
They were so determined to back Neil Kinnock that they introduced a conference procedure which effectively prevented a vote for any other candidate for the leadership position.
This was not surprising when it emerged that they wanted the conference to support the Labour Party NEC witch-hunting Register.
In the event the chair lost control of the agenda and the item was never put to conference. This leaves the register in the hands of the TGWU Executive, who have opposed it up until now.
Dangerous ambiguity emerged in the wages debate. Although the platform supported an unequivocal resolution supporting free collective bargaining, Moss Evans in his speech left room for support for a National Economic Assessment type of deal with a future Labour government. This was to have come up again in the debate on the Labour Party which was not taken.
On top of this the call for a statutory national minimum wage was pushed through. It was argued that this is "not an incomes policy by the back door". Of course that is just what it is.
Possibly the debate carrying the most immediate implications for the political situation in Britain was on Tebbit.
The Executive supported a resolution which whilst calling for the non-payment of fines under Tory legislation made no mention of strike action or breaking off talks with the Tory government.
The motion from my branch stood in opposition to this. It called for strike action in support of anyone victimised under Tebbit's laws and for breaking off talks with the Tories.
It was clearly the nub of the issue. In replying to me Moss Evans argued that support could not be given in advance since sometimes things are organised by "provocateurs"; and although talks with the Tories had been a "dialogue of the deaf" we "should not end all talks".
Evans did say that in the event of the Tebbit laws being used against the union an emergency conference would be called to deal with it.
I said in reply that the time to organise for that was now, and that it meant having a perspective of direct action and an approach which would alert the members in preparation. My resolution was lost by about 2-1.
The debate on unemployment produced nothing capable of defending jobs or tackling unemployment levels. There was no challenge to the Executive decision to ban the recruitment of the unemployed into the union. Most of the debate focussed on a resolution correctly calling for complete withdrawal from YTS — which was defeated after appeals from the platform.
The reluctance of Evans and Co to break from class collaboration with the Tory government was matched by the motion moved by Communist Party member Danny Connors of Fords proposing 'workers' participation' and "industrial democracy" — two hoary old euphemisms for collaboration with management.
The general level of debate was lower than previous conferences. This seemed to be an accumulation of the election defeat, the rundown of industry, and the general offensive against the trade union movement, which mean less new militants coming forward in the union.
Open nationalism emerged in the debate on import controls ("Buy British" campaign) and in the debate on violence against bus crews (a very serious and difficult problem in the TGWU) there were calls on Thatcher to implement her promises on law and order.
It was not all that way. The debate on women's rights brought out the contradictions.
With the best resolution ever on the agenda, the platform decided to override them with an executive statement by Marie Patterson.
Outraged women delegates (who were only a tiny minority of the conference despite the big women membership of the TGWU) successfully challenged this and the statement was rejected, requiring the motions to be debated.
The level of the debate was a disgrace. One delegate got loud applause when he said indignantly that women do play a role in the union "otherwise how would I be here with a clean shirt."
I was forced to intervene on the level of arguing that it actually is harder for women to become active in the unions than men. That working class women actually are socially, economically and sexually oppressed and that that oppression goes right through society to a conference like this where every sexist remark — which come constantly from the floor of the conference and the platform — are a form of intimidation.
The platform was by this point in disarray and recommended support for all the resolutions they previously wanted to avoid.
These included the establishment of a TGWU national women's advisory committee, reporting to the Executive and to the annual women's conference (see additional report on this, page 5).
The union's support for unilateral nuclear disarmament remained unchanged as did its support for NATO and the Alternative Economic Strategy. The question of the protection of jobs lost through disarmament took a step forward with a discussion on the new TGWU pamphlet "A Strategy for Arms Conversion".
The international section of the agenda amounted to one item only — Poland. I moved a resolution which, whilst not adequate gave full support to Solidarity and refused recognition to the new state unions. It was carried overwhelmingly despite an intervention from leading London Stalinist Ken Fuller, saying that Solidarity was a creation of the CIA.
Very good resolutions on Lebanon, South Africa, Central and South America and Argentina were not taken.
Ireland was the subject of an Executive statement given by the Secretary of "Region 11" — which is Ireland.
Although presented as a "non-sectarian" approach it was essentially pro-Loyalist. It argued for keeping British troops in the North, to "stabilise" the existing status quo and improve social conditions through the influence of the trade union movement.
A delegate from Liverpool who courageously opposed the statement and called for troops out, a united Ireland and self-determination was barracked throughout his speech.
On Friday morning, with the agenda in disarray, a series of Executive-supported resolutions were pushed through en bloc without presentation, discussion or debate.
These included such major items as the NHS and privatisation.
Many other important issues, such as gay rights (on the agenda for the first time as far as I can remember) were referred back to the executive.