JOHN GRAHAM (Birmingham AUEW)
The season of goodwill arrived early for Harold Wilson. On 8 December the national committee of the Engineering restraint and voted 32 20 in support of the f6 limit.
This happened not as a result of a new found warmin tor tne poncies or me wison Government Nor was it because or the election of new right-wing delegates to the national committee - this was a recall meeting, with no change in delegates It happened because a significant number of so-called left-wingers changed thei position. Faced with the choice of accepting the £6 limit or leading a fight against it, the national committee went for the former course - and abdicated its responsibility to defend its members living 'Democratic' InClude After the meeting, Scanlon claimed that 'the delegates were reflecting in a wuy acmocratc sense Ine recing or their constituents'. In reality they were 'reflecting the pressure put on the AUEW by the TUC General Council, and the confusion sown in the membership by their own lack of fight. And while the Communist Party- dominated Broad Left has fought for resolutions opposing the £6 limit, they too have refused to mobilise the rank and file for fear of upsetting their alliance with Scanlon Now the policy of relying.on Scanion has come home to roost with a vengeance. First Scanlon broke a union mandato and withdrew a motion against the social contract at the 1974 TUC Congress; when the idea of the £6 limit was first raised he called for the defence of the social contract; then when the £6 limit was was agreed at the 1975 TUChe failed to speak in the debate.
The CP has hopelessly tailed along behind Scanlon, leaving the membership leaderless in the face of the massive campaign launched by the trade union bureaucracy to silence and isolate any opposition to the £6 limit. Now Scanlon has been given a free hand to throw the weight of the AUEW bureaucracy behind the £6 limit, giving a further fillip to the right wing throughout the labour movement and making further right-wing victories in the AUEW even more likely Class-wide But all is not lost. Many shop stewards and other militants remain opposed to tae to mmit and al ine ant-working class policies of the Wilson Government. These militants must be welded together around a series of class-wide demands that can be fought for throughout the AUEW, both inside and outside the structures of the Broad Left. These must - Opposition to the £6 limit - for £15 across the board, and automatic threshhold increases to compensate for any rise in the cost of living.
All redundancies to be met by mass factory occupations and national action to enforce work-sharing with no loss of pay; the opening of the bosses' books to prepare for nation isation under workers' control; and the setting up of workers' enquiries to develop an alternative workers plan for the economy, as militants in Lucas Aerospace have begun to do.
Alternative
These policies can provide AUEW members with a fighting alternative to slumping living standards and the dole queues. Otherwise, this time next year. *It was Christmas Day in the workhouse
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Section of the AUEW reversed its policy of opposition to wage