TGWU must fight wage control
Socialist Organiser1980sTranscribed by hand from the printed page.
THE TGWU Biennial Delegate Conference could become an important battleground over the new social contract or "National Economic Assessment" recently agreed between the TUC and Labour Party leadership in the event of Labour returning to power.
Current policy of the 1.8 million strong union is for free collective bargaining and against any form of wage constraint. That has been the policy since Jack Jones was defeated on the social contract issue at the Isle of Man conference in 1977.
The conference is back to the Isle of Man again this year, with Moss Evans having equivocated over the last year, on the wage policy issue.
As usual there are a number of resolutions on the agenda against any form of wage control. This year there are 11 resolutions calling for free collective bargaining with three in favour of a social contract. My own branch, the 5/293 has a resolution along the following lines: "That this conference is opposed to all incomes policies and all controls of wages by any government and will defend the principle of free collective bargaining."
The significance however is not in the fact that there are more resolutions against the social contract than in favour. The most significant thing is that the General Executive Council have no resolution on the agenda on wage policy, whilst at each conference since 1977 there has been a clear (though inadequate) GEC resolution against wage controls, which did at least declare their position.
This year there is ominously no GEC resolution at all on the subject. Delegates to the conference should therefore be prepared for a possible battle on the issue since the pressures on the TGWU leadership to fall into line with Michael Foot and the TUC as an election approaches are very strong.