Socialist Worker as well as Red Weekly.
In the present economic crisis housewives and women workers are aften the hardest hit by inflation, low wages and lack of social facilities for themselves and their children...
ruments and Wingrove and Rogers strikes were of decisive importance to the whole BOOUT TOTECHE The lessons of both disputes show the need for stilarity action to help win such strikes This is particularly tre given that women are left to fight on a local level while firms such as the GEC group bave an effective national machine to disrupt implementation of the Equal Pay Act. But the debate centres around how such solidarity action should be organised.
The Morning Star of 23 October cites the Bury Distret Secretary as saying that the lesson of the SEi strike was the need The following consists of extracts from a letter sent to the Morning Star and to organise a GEC trade union combine commitice. The IMG welcomes the moves to set up such a committee during and since the dispute, as an important weapon for the trade union movement. But we (hink the following points sbould be clar1. The only effective solidarity action in the SEE dispute was that campaigned for by the IMG, the Working Women's Charler campaign, and latterly the International Socialists. Altbough the action CP members, it was not initiated by or campaigned for outside the locality, or called for in their press. It was left to the small fonces of the revolutionary left, after 10 weeks, to monnt a campaign of The ditticulties of organising 1 combine committee are obviously immens; but a campaign of pressure inside the trade union burcaucracy is nor emotek The best way to build such a commitee is precisely through organising support was made by the Communist Party to mount such a campaign, although the; wete easily in a position to do so ar Lener in Manchester, and this also applies to buikling support in the AEU Itself.
mounted such a campaign in the local tures, The SPI dispute was marked by a or votes on how to organise the strike, This was parbicularly crucial given the difficulties facing them - scabbing jo the other SEI lactery and by the men strike committee and regular mass meetings were never instituted: from this resutted the fragmentation and demoralisation of the women.
specifically take up the problems of somen workers It was the Charler In rejecting the right's attempted sell who worked, fought, and died to adloyen. around a particular struggle, No attempt 2 The women at Wingrove & Ragers specific problens.
AEU, They learnt to organise themselves and not rely on official trade union strueLack of regular tass moctings, discussion at their own factory, GEC etc. An elected 3. A combine committee does not ittee.
Manchester IMG ovettime han and the eventual sellout all show that Scanlon and company will do anything to avoid an all-out confrontation with the empScanion, as usual, did not expl Ichy state his position one way or the other at the NC. but even the campaign that raised the question of nursery facilities, time and place of union meetings and women's group inside the union. The importance of the Charter is that it takes up women's problems at bome as will agat work The lesson of the SEI strike, with or wonten workers must develop their own arganisations to take up their The question of an alliance with "progressives such as Scanlon and other trade union officials on the question of a combine committee or the fight for EQUAL equal pay was put before actually building support for the struggle, even if building active support scent a break wath officials higher up in the ABU, This strategy, which puts pressure Inside the AEU before the masa straggle itself, is the direct cause of the women's return to work without the full claim, only six days belore massive solidarity to build an inetfective combine commfrom the conference to organise the strugele for these demands on a national scale.
This is the choice that militants are faced with. Either they succumb to pessivity of the official leadership at the expense of their living stand ards or else they take up the strugele HEBERTES
----- pull-quotes -----
PAY NOW