The split in the NUM

International no. 2, January–February 1986, pp. 13-15 · with Jane Kelly and Brendan Young

Scanned print read by OCR, and not yet proofread: expect run-together words, dropped letters and, where a piece began partway down a page, a few lines of its neighbour. The printed page is the authority.

Scab trade unionism

I5 YOUR DRY DF SHAME

IN OUR FIGHT NO

defeat of strike has had bitter consequences in th coalfields and throughout the trade union movement. During

the strike the 'new realist' right

wing of the TUC was on the defensive; now it is regrouping and making its plans for the consolidation of scab trade unionism. JANE KELLY BRENDAN YOUNG HEARSE ask the retreat?

THe SPLIT in the NUM is now a fact, and the Union of Democratic Mineworkers is consolidating itself. Inside the NUM leadership the left is beginning to split up, with a rew 'soft left' , semi-Kinnockite grouping beginning to challenge Scargill on the executive. It would be foolish to underestimate the gravity of the situation and the depth of the retreat. Without openly facing the facts of what has happened the left will not be able to elaborate a strategy for a fightback.

The

the miners'

can

the

and left

halt

The split in the NUM The defeat of the strike has been used by the NCB to speed up the closure of pits and the redundancy programme. At least 20,000 jobs have been lost since the strike began in March 1984. The Board has closed pits not on criteria of 'profitability' but on an overtly political basis. The closing of the most militant pits is both a revenge against those who fought hardest during the strike, and also makes any regroupment of forces in the future more difficult. Kent, one of the most militant areas, is threatened with total closure and a 'productive' pit like Frickely in West Yorkshire is to lose a third of its workforce in the next five years. But the level of demoralisation is such that even the most solid areas have been unable to mount an effective campaign against redundancy and closure. Bold in Lancashire, Penrhiwceiber in South Wales and, most tragic of all, Corton Wood, where the strike started, have all now voted to accept closure. There is some resistance, but in general the defeat has left the militant leaderships in the NUM areas isolated and demoralised.

The defeat has also led to the emergence of the breakaway, scab UDM. At present this is confined to the scab areas like Notts and South Derbyshire, and includes 1500 members from the Colliery Trades and Allied Workers in Durham and scab pits like Agecroft in Lancs, and Daw Mill in

Warwickshire. ! to how far it w initial organisa strongholds of present membe this depends or and trade unio at the mome: leadership of th make a compr Right-wing M Notts area have right of individı on the general parties. This i national agent, be seeking 'a l their lack of TI

Resistance to is coming esp support groups Labour parties group resolutio to refusing to h to organise thei

The centre a: be looking for scabs. It is sign area NUM is whether to lea joining the UD of leaving, an provide the compromise or which the TU much loss EEPTU/AUEV shelter for thr important issue

The fact th however, is not the developmer

It is still an open question as ill be able to go beyond this tion, to penetrate into the

the NUM and extend its rship of about 20,000. Partly 1 the response of the labour n movement. All indications nt are that the Kinnock le Labour Party will seek to omise with the scab union. Ps like Concannon in the = been openly supporting the 1al UDM members to remain committees of local Labour is being backed up by the David Hughes, who is said to form of words' to overcome JC affiliation. › the recognition of the UDM ›ecially from the women's in Notts. But the right-wing ; have been ruling support ns 'out of order' ', in addition ire out party rooms for them ir meetings. nd right in the TUC will also

some compromise with the ificant that the Leicestershire

balloting its members on ave the NUM, but not on 'M. If the vote goes in favour independent grouping could focus for some form of

conciliation with the UDM, JC could back without too if face. Alternatively the N bloc may provide

any case it is an

left to be fighting.

trike was defeated,

uate explanation for

UDM. In reality its

em. In : for the at the :

an ader

t of the

formation is the logical developme whole areas scabbing during the strike it is this scabbing that needs analysing analysis has to take into account a num factors, both recent and historical. N single explanation is enough; rather necessary to point to a combinati interwoven pressures and traditions produced scabbing on such a scale c the '84/85 strike.

Notts was the centre of Spencerism the defeat of 1926. The bosses' union until the late 1930s, and even then wi politically defeated. Instead the Sp union was incorporated into the Nott: and Spencer himself given a job as : time union official! More recently the area benefitted, as did others, fror divisive bonus scheme negotiater Gormley in defiance of a national against it.

Notts has traditionally had a 'mod leadership, most recently that of Richa and Chadburn. South Wales miners they went to Notts to try and win suppr their fight against the closur Tymawr/Lewis-Merthyr pit in 82, horrified by the lack of organisation area: they found few meetings to ad This lack of organisation was reiterat Notts striking miners during the strike. told how The Miner newspaper piled up area offices, undistributed; how lodges failed to meet and that the sense of soli with other, less well-paid areas, was low.

Ai the beginning of the strikr leadership of the area was indecisive. some pits were picketed out, the st were ordered back to work for a ballot was lost and from that point on in Not momentum which in other areas bu

int of :, and :. Any ber of o one • it is on of which luring

1 after lasted as not ›encer s area a full-

Notts n the d by

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After trikers . This ts, the ilt the

2. Januar

'acob Sutton/Reflex

national strike, was lost. The majority of Notts miners saw militant action as a threat to their livelihood and this overcame any residual sense of class solidarity. In this period of Tory attack on the labour movement, the inability of the leadership of the movement as a whole to combat the fear and insecurity created by the Tory attacks, has left workers seeking individual as opposed to collective solutions.

Compared to the debacle in Notts, the South Wales area remained an apparent model of solidarity throughout the year-long fight. With its history of working class solidarity and a tradition of militancy based on a left leadership centred on the Communist Party, 92% of the workforce stayed out for the whole year. They also received strong support from the local communities, dependent on the survival of the pits for financial security. Despite a 'no' vote in the area ballot, the pits in the middle of the coalfield were able to picket out the rest of the area which quickly became sold. It seems contradictory then that it was this same area which led the 'back to work' call in March 1985.

Six to eight weeks after the strike became solid in South Wales the area leadership took financial control away from the lodge-based strike centres and from that point on were able to control the mass action of the more militant rank and file. For example, after the sequestration of the area funds, when there were calls to resume mass action, the executive were able to divert this militancy into the adventure of the Port Talbot crane occupation. The refusal by the leadership of Emlyn Williams to organise and fund mass picketing had the inevitable and perhaps intended result of demobilising the strikers. Trusting their leadership's apparent support for the strike, the strikers failed to build any alternative leadership prepared to confront the lack of action by the TUC and Labour leaderships

Hammond of the EETPU with Lynk of the

The development of a leadership fighting to win the strike put a lot of pressure on the Communist Party during the strike itself, though it is clear too that the CP played a ey role against scargıll ın playıng dowı

nass picketing at Orgreave, for example Since the end of the strike, however, they

lave launched a savage attack on Scargil imself and on the methods used. They hav used their journal Marxism Today to link up with the Kinnock leadership, and the centre and right in the TUC, to isolate Sargill and his supporters. The vote on the NEC on whether the NUM should go to court to purge its 'contempt', which went 5-8 against Scargill, is evidence of the hardening out of the soft left, led by George Bolton from Scotland and Emlyn Williams from South Wales, and the isolation of the left. The last 'Sargill' policy against incentive payments has also been lost.

A whole series ot decisions made since the end of the strike also suggest Euro- Communist influence. The dependence on local negotiations to reinstate sacked miners, though successful in some cases, neglected the need to try and regroup the defeated and demoralised workforce by a nationally co- emboldened by the defeat of the miners and ordinated initiative. Similarly the failure to are setting the pace inside the TUC in favour organise or back, until very recently, any national amnesty campaign, disgraceful rejection of the affiliation of the

ome Arginsei Cosu resto temainal

Party's miners' advisory committee, also reveal their reactionary role.

In the face of the shift to the right it is necessary to try ind regrou the left

ilitants in the NUM, along with all tho who supported them during the strike. The absolutely explicit Yorkshire Campaign Group, the Notts Forum, to work', even before it was agreed by the Miners' Support Groups and the National executive of South Wales. His more recent Justice for Miners Campaign now given than the actual issue of acceptance of state substantial backing by the NUM and other money. A large number of unions are left trade union leaders - all represent attempts to reorganise those militant forces the back of EEPTU/AUEW defiance. scattered since the defeat.

It is also essential that all such link up with and support Women Closures groups. The women groups have proved to be the m the face of defear They hat often lop: iot ament:::.

Mainstream is trailblazing

scab trade unionism'

The Wales Congress, based on support from the church, nationalist, trade union and Labour leaderships, completed this wresting of the initiative from the rank and file. The mass action strategy was replaced with an attempt to 'win public support back after Orgreave' , and a condemnation of mass action on the grounds that it 'alienated' such support. The hijacking of the area leadership on the line of the Euro- Communists became absolutely explicit when Kim Howells led the call for a 'return to work', even before it was agreed by the executive of South Wales. His more recent proposals of the need for 'dialogue and reconciliation' with the UDM fit into the same framework.

For many miners the role of Wales area leadership has educative, if tragic one. The elect Dutfield, a Scargill supporter, a right-winger Terry Thomas fc Williams' place on he execu significant victory

the South been an ion of Des gairst the )r Emlyn tive Is a

formations Against Pit 's support ost solid in organiscd.

Ivainst

UDM: splitting the trade union movement. redundancy and closure and against the UDM, ever since the end of the strike.

If there is one lesson from the strike, it is of the need to organise; not just at the level of leadership, nor only in the NUM. The left has to organise across the labour movement. If resistance to Tory attack and resistance to capitulation is to be mounted, it can only be done in this way.

New realists on the offensive If the Labour leadership is giving ground to the UD by trying to engineer Labour Party membership for the scabs, the right wing of the TUC is openly aiding them. David Prendergast, treasurer of the UDM, is vice-chair of 'Mainstream', a right-wing co-ordination founded in April 1985. Mainstream's organiser is EEPTU research officer John Spellar, formerly Labour MP for Birmingham Northfield and front-rank Frank Chapple hatchet-person. The other vice-chair is Bill Jordan, right-wing candidate for the AUEW presidency. Gavin Laird and Eric Hammond are prominent members.

The Mainstream supporters have been emboldened by the defeat of the miners and are setting the pace inside the TUC in favour of the acceptance of state money for secret ballots, and the full-scale destruction of the policy of defiance of the Tory union laws. At this year's TUC opposition to the EEPTU

'The CP advisory

committee organised against women's support groups..'

and AUEW over state funding crumbled. reality, the unease of the other bureaucr was more over the 'authority' of the TU than the actual issue of acceptance of st money. A large number of unions preparing to accept the Tory union laws, the back of EEPTU/AUEW defiance.

But the trailblazing activities of the Mainstream adherents goes much further than shifting TUC policy to the right. They die pusing ahead the implementation of a full-blown business unionismi

Thus the EEPTU has s

ike-the neals with Inmos,

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In ats IC, att are

signer

International. No 2. January/Februars 1:4

Hitachi, A3 Electronics, oshiba, Sanyo, Bowater Scott and, just to show their total rejection of any of the normal attributes of (rade unions, Eddie Shah's new daily newspaper. The AUEW is not far behind. It has signed several one-union, no-strike deals, the most notable being that with Nissan for its new car plant at Washington, county Durham.

There is a pattern to the deals which the EEPTU and the AUEW are making. They are following new firms, especially anti- union Japanese firms, into arcas which have either a defeated or a traditionally non- militant workforce. The choice of Washington for the Nissan plant is

significant in that respect. They are also

making a drive towards the high-tech electronics industries, which are locating themselves in areas with a high rate of non- unionisation, especially the south and south west — the so-called 'sunbelt' from East Anglia to Bristol. Prostrating themselves before anti-union managements is a vital weapon for the bureaucracy to combat the decline in union membership figures. For example, it has been calculated that because of redundancies and 'natural wastage' the EEPTU needs 60,000 new members every year just to maintain its current membership figure. The alternative of actually fighting redundancies does not occur to the likes of Hammond

• Hammoud

right-wing"

is planning a

super union

Here the EEPTU has struck upon a significant phenomenon. Trade unionism is weakest in the high technology and service sectors, which given the pattern of Britain's economic development — or rather lack of it

are the only growth areas. Recent surveys have shown that the closed shop, despite Tory legislation, is still relatively popular among employers. Many would prefer to have a servile and cooperative union to discipline the workforce. There is a real danger that the new realists will firmly implant themselves in these new developing industries, while traditional manufacturing declines. In other words the new realist strategy is one to try to corner a greater percentage of the diminishing pool of trade unionists.

Mainsteam claims supporters in the NUR, CPSA, ISTC and National Communications Union (ex-POEU). Although support in some of these unions may not be great, it gives an indication of the unions which they are seeking to target and bring firmly into the new realist fold. But there is an even more frightening development on the horizon. Eric Hammond has ben sounding out the ASTMS and the AUEW about a fusion into a new "super-union'. This would be a conglomerate bigger than the TGWU, and far and away the biggest and most powerful union. It could become the core of a new 'Mainstream' right-wing union lederation able to challenge the TOO, and with strong links to the SDP/Liberal Alliance. While the merger is being opposed by the left in the

lal.u:

NERSILINES

on AINERS

Women marching for the miners

AUEW, Clive Jenkins of the ASTMS to be interested in it.

Resistance and the of things to come Scab trade unionism, like Spencerism after 1926, is a product of a period of defeats. It is only strengthened by the timidity of the Labour and TUC leaderships. Each new capitulation to the Tories' anti-union legislation just gives more power to the new realists. To ask how far Mainstream will go, and how deeply it will establish itself, is to ask to what extent the working class will suffer defeats - which cannot be predicted in advance. Most likely a lot will depend on what happens to the economy. Any upswing would almost certainly give a boost to working class combativity, and work against the new realists. This seems unlikely in the short term. But of course it also depends on the organisation and clarity of the left, especially in the trade unions, and this will be a product of political struggle, not an

product of economic automatic developments.

We should be under no illusions about just how secure the new realists are in their own unions. In the EEPTU the undemocratic right is completely dominant. In the AUEW the situation is more complex. In the first round of the presidential elections, right winger Bill Jordan got 75.000 votes as against 50,000 for Broad Left candidate John Tocher. Jordan will clearly win in the second round. At the time of writing the results of the AUEW ballot on state funding have not been lounced. InOsI certainly there w • a thum ority for acceptance. right have

by-

ani ill be

The

but al ing ma WI

10m 13

SorT

cornered and won the argument about democracy in the unions, largely because the 'centre' and 'left' bureaucrats have been unable, quite understandably, to demonstrate that the present system is itself democratic. The new realist proposals on

..in the

unions

the far

is in a total shambles'

secret ballots cannor be confronted withou challenging the lack of democracy in the vas bulk of the British trade union movement.

The danger which we face, therefore, is that new defeats of the working class could be the prelude to a split in the trade union movement with the emergence of an American-style business union federation. We are thankfully some distance from such a development. Despite the loss of two million union members in five years, the British working class is one of the most massively unionised in the world. There are still vast reserves of militancy and solidarity to draw on to confront the Hamond-Laird-Lynh mafia. But even this enormous strength will count for nothing if the left is incapable of ending the retreat before the Tory union laws and incapable of defending the sacked and victimised miners. Struggling to make the UDM the pariah of the union movement is central io. this.

Finally it has to strategy and implat revolutionary left in shambles. This is a the equation and return in future art

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that " the intry inpor

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Philip Gordon/Reflex