garages who worked the GLC day of action; raising money to ensure we arel ! ola ved work; building solidarity In lhe rest ot the labou movement; stopping coach companies IrONI providing services during All these problems can he Overcome if they openly discussed and contronted. he London Bus Conference must begin the fi9ht now. Our new bosses are doing just that. with the NUM.
at this year's NUR conference.
This year's conference was in a politically militant HOO• OR SUCH calling for the release of Nelson Mandela and cam paigning against nuclear weapons paign actively against nuclear weapons.
On the urgent issues facing the rail industry itself, delegates voLed against the wishes of NUR general secretary Jimmy Knapp, to reaffirm union policy no o entertu any further talks on productivity and this to certainly include any proposals to extend driver-only operation of trains.' As long as the membership remains determined, this could tie the hands of the union leadership in the productivity exercises which British Rail wants to impose particularly now that a pay deal with out strings has been concluded.
But this year's pay dea of a measley 4.9 to 5.6 pe cent was hopeless.
They acicgaics kniew il. decided to go for a whopping 33 per cent increase next time round. And, as delegate after delegate explained, this necessary increase will involve a fight Delegates Conte ence gave a , big boost to solidarity with the miners when they agreec to change union rules so an! member suspended for Telus ne move coal trains will be paid The movement by train of iron ore to Llanwern and Ravsteelworks has censuralg now been effectively blockaded.
These and other decisions taken by conference will give confidence to the next group of railworkers about to take industrial action: the workshop employees who build maintain the trains.
Hit Shopworkers have been hard hit by closures and Tory plans to hive off profitable areas to private The Shildon work: have just closed after a two year battle. Now 5,500 fur.
for the Shops will provide the buik Glasgow Swindon of the victims if manage. ment Tories get RAILWORKERS are in a militant mood. Hard hitting solidarity with the miners is growing in the industry. Railworkers joined miners at the front of last Wednesday's 50,000-strong solidarity march DOREEN WEPPLER, a Stratford guard, looks to handle one particular of train (Class DMU) been contracted out to the private sector. This actior will culminate in a national 24-hour stoppage of shopworkers on August, coinciding with a massive in Derby that day.
Shopworkers have
hard fight ahead in fending ott Inenrcaienea closures. But virtually every group of workers on the railway has a battle looming Whatever union's stance, management will undoubtedv be looking for ways to continue their attacks on jobs and working conditions. Management will want to ahead impose operation the Strathclyde region.
Remain Whie the miners re. main on strike railworkers have all the cards , in thel hands. The British Rail Board's insistence that we'd get no pay rise without productivity strings melted when the government decided to tion between miners and railworkers.
It's in the interest of every railworker to support the shopworkers in the fight against closures campaign to force the Federation of the : Drivers Union and the NUR to call for a national stoppage o all union members could build on the growing determination among railworkers which has been evident on every regional day of action held to date A united stana on inl Issue woula oe a massive step in overcoming the sectional Ovstos management leaders have fostered, to the detriment of the rail unions. Gain But above all, ever! raiworker will gain it th fight against job loss and DrouuCuvIl railway is seen as part of the fight of the working class as a whole. The time is right to link up the fight to keep railway jobs with In light Jimmy Knapp's revelations at Llandudno that British Rail and the NCB have hatched a secret deal to close a number of rail links berween pils ana powe stations, such united ac tion is urgently needed As many railworkers said the day after the London march, 'We weren't well organised this time round, but just give another chance. We'll have all of London totally shut down just like Kings Cross'. But that extra chance is there for the taking!
A national 24-hour strike call in defence of jobs would unite all secnons ol tae rau mnaustry — from the workshops to the guaras with the miners and with workers in virtually every other industry who are suffering Thatcher's policies. mighty display of solidari- Would such ty be a political challenge the government? Certainly would. But anyone who continues to unions shouldn't be political conceding the struggle to defend our jobs agains Thatcher's policies befor the fight has even begun.
----- pull-quotes -----
ther thep by she end or 1987