LABOUR BRIEFING'S annual conference on 10 May marked a qualitative turning point for that journal. It deepened the sectarian course adopted by Briefing since the middle of the miners strike. conference decided, in effect, to transform Briefing from an role in the left's victories at the GLC and other London councils, into a narrow newspaper with increastral Briefing team.
The change the character of Briefing was most cleariv signitied the programme which adopted. All documents presented to the conference stated that Briefing would maintain its previous "broad united front character.' But this declaration Was rendered meaningles by the pro: gramme adopted.
This programme contained nothing on the key Socialist Action 23 May 1986 The open journal, which played an important Briefing Las. effect, been transformed from a united tront paper into tne journal of a definite current in the labour movement.
There is of course nothing wrong in and of itself in doing that — although it is sectarian to conceal this from the local groups and maintain that the existing character of Briefing is be•ing maintained when it is in fact being overturned. TUC General Council and SLabour carl NEC. This would obviously have wrecked the Justice cam paign and it was totally throw resolutions out.
Similarly the Labour unilice on came under fire for allegedly having been taken over by the 'right wing' because its AGM to work with anyone who did vote against the Anglo-Irish Accord, because had rejected Briefing's Proposal that control Ireland should be taken over by members based in London.
Positions such as these have progressively isolated Briefing within the left wing of the labour movement as they are deeply KONIMON MABOUR No 20 30, Camden, Southwark, Hackney and Haringeyunite behind NATIONAL SUPPLEMENT No. 18 major rail unions.
and the drivers union, Falconer, a Sheffield businessman. makes it illegal according to Tory laws. tract between British Rail and Falconer THE RIGHT to strike has received another severe blow in the courts. This time a ruling, reminiscent of the Taff Vale judgement made at the turn of the century, targetted the two The case was brought against the National Union of Railwaymen ASLEF, by Angus In launching his legal attack, Falconer alleged he was forced to stay in London overnight because of a 24-hour train stoppage called in support of the miners' strike last year. He won damages because the strike had been called without a ballot. This This case was the second recent court action taken against the NUR. The union is currently being forced to re-run the elections for its National Executive Committee. Although the third of the NEC which was up for re-election this year won their positions according to the union's rule book, by votes cast at branch meetings, the courts judged that a secret ballot of every union member was The implications of this more recent case are, however, much more far reaching and could be used to attack other unions. The judge ruled that the rail unions had unlawfully interfered with a conThis takes us back to the situation that prevailed after the Taff Vale decision. Here, in 1901, the forerunner of the railworkers union was found liable to extensive damages incurred as a result of its strike against the Taff Vale Railway Company. The strike was held to be legal but the union had to pay civil damages for those who lost from it.
The threat of this judgement being applied in other cases was felt throughout the labour movement. The agitation against it gave a great impetus to the strengthening of the Labour Party. Frightened by the protests against this ruling, the Liberal government restored union legal protection in thi 1906 Trades Disputes Act. This law governed the legal framework of union activity until the recent This new ruling does not open damages in every case, as did Taff Vale. It only applies to those disputes which are conducted outside Tory laws. But today any union which sticks to these laws are almost guaranteed defeat against the could have a profound meaning for the legal The ruling is particularly significant because it fits in with an attempt by the ruling class to re-cast legal union activity. It wants to move away from legal immunities framework, to a US and West "positive rights' one. unions to do only what is specifically legislated for. It brings the power of the state directly behind employers and limits strike action. Moreover, it's become the arbiters of union decision-making and The ruling class has been attempting to achieve this for two decades. In 1968, the Tory Party anti-union policy paper, inappropriately entitled Fair agreements on par with any other type of contract Three years later, the Heath government's Industrial Relations Act attempted to put this into practice. The Act made all union agreements, in. cluding dispute procedures, legally binding unless there was an explicit clause to the contrary. HowSo, in 1981, the attempt to impose legally binding agreements was once again raised. This time it government's 'con sultative' Green paper on the _trade unions. Whilst not yet daring to attempt to make all union contracts legally binding, the Tories have encouraged employers such as Rupert Murdoch to impose such Clearly the Court ruling against the NUR has broad ramifications. A fight against the Court attacks could provide a springboard for a broad campaign to once again stymie Tory plans. The call by London Transport District Council of the NUR for a rally on 29 May to defend the union against these attacks has already won backing from several Actions like this will make it that much more difficult for the antics of the Neil Kinnock leader. ship of the Labour Party and a section of the TUC which now extends beyond the electricians and the engineers. For today these leaders are toying with the idea of a 'positive rights' framework for the unions, rather than taking a clear stand to repeal all Tory anti-union legislation. Successes in the rail extend the alternative voice in the TUC currently led by the miners.
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ingly sectarian politics. This was opposed by many of the local Briefing groups but carried by the cen-