A motion on women's rights which included support tor me workine wo men's Charter was overwhelmingly carried following the defeat of an amendment to eliminate positive discrimina tion. But when the implications of the motion were demonstrated by a hundred delegates picketing a stag night organised by the Blackpool branch the real polarisation took place - with members of the National Executive crossing the picket line.
This week's news that even according to official fig. ures inflation was running at an annnal rate of 25 per cent up to the end of May will increase the resolve of NALGO members to struggle for the national claim. But even though the claim will hardly keep pace with the cost of living, the local government employers have replied with an insulting and provocative offer.
While rejecting NALGO's claim for payment to be effective from May instead of the usual July date, the employers have based their offer on an estimate of the cost of living in April. Their estimate of a 21.7 per cent rise over the last year falls over per percent short of the agreement already reached by the Post Office with its workers in March - a deal which included an additional threshold agreement which was triggered off only last week.
LOW PAID
The local government employers are also proposing to deduct last year's threshold payments from their meagre offer. The resulting pay increases would amount to £2.51 (11%) for clerical workers now earning £28 per week, through to a £23 a week increase (19%) for principal officers already receiving over £7000 a year!
Not onlv is the offer one of the lowest to be made to an group of workers this year, but the lower paid would be dis,criminated against in a sector where 70 per cent of the workers already earn less than the national average wage. The employers may have hoped that by favouring the highest paid they would will acceptance or te oner by a umion m wmen senor officers have traditionally been over-represented in the union hierarchy. However, the growing radicalisation of the union membership in recent vears ensured that this vear the union negotiators had to report back to delegates. This prevented the early sell-out that has been equally traditional in NALGO.
POLITICAL IMPACT
The Labour Government's cuts in social spending mean