GCHQ: TUC won't face up to the crunch
Labour Briefing1980sTranscribed by hand from the printed page.
The last 18 trade unionists from the original 300 at the government Spy Centre at Cheltenham are facing the sack as we go to press.
October 14th was the date given for the workers to renounce their union cards or be sacked.
The TUC General Council has watered down plans for a repeat of the national one day strike called when the ban was first announced five years ago. They are now calling for "various activity" in support of planned strike action on November 7th by Civil Servant Unions.
The reality is that the TUC can do nothing within the law, since solidarity action is illegal. Given past TUC policy — to avoid breaking the law at all costs — this limits their actions.
The Civil Service Unions are not helping much in this. They are stressing that their action is legal and at the same time calling on others to take action in their support, which would be illegal.
The 18 workers have lobbied Tory Party Conference in the hope that they could demonstrate the outrageous nature of the action against them.
Mila Grundy, the leader of the 18, has called for massive support for the day of protest from the whole of the labour movement.