Plan David Basnett has followed this up with the proposal that the NUM and the NCB should discuss a new Plan for Coal in the light of new market conditions. aware that 'new market conditions' is the core of the NCB's arguments for the closure of 'uneconomic' pits, and the issue on which the strike has been fought from the beginning.
These moves from the centre and right can be seen in the light of the recent GLC energy report London In The Dark, which shows that refusal by al most six to cign large power slai tions to take deliveries of fresh supplies of coal or oil would mean that peak demand could not be met.' The report lists 13 power stations which have voted not to accept fresh coal deliveries, and predicts power cuts in January TUC guidelines adhered to by even a signiticant proportion of those 13.
If the General Council throws its weight behind those stations, now implementing Congress decisions, a victory for the NUM is assured. This level of support is something that is well within ine general power to deliver - 1 necessary by Willies himself personally going to the The general council, Dower sallons. however, olner concerns winning the miners' again the right is leading the way in what is now a concerted push to gain TUC acceptance of the laws.
The first step in this drive was the BETPU decision to accept cash tor government-imposed ballots. AEUW is to ballot its members on the same issue with a clear recommenment Act 1980'. Cash council's than Once slake.
as a whole. 20L-O policy.
The dation from Duffy to accept the government money. Clive Jenkins of ASTMS has asked the TUC to review its policy, set at the 1982 Wembley Conference, which stated 'Affiliated unions shall observe congress policy and not seek or accept public funds for union ballots under the Employthat The issue of cash for ballot is however iust a svmptom of what is at The real issue is the TUC's position on the anti-union legislation The recent Austin Rover strike clearly showed the direction of trade The response of the TUC AUEW and the EETPU to the use of the courts was to immediately comply with instructions to repudiate the strike. The result was a sharp defeat for Austin Rover workers, isolation of the TGWU - which now faces further court action for contempt. The TUC Silence The defeat of the Austin Rover dispute constitutes a major victory for the government. It was the first time the 1984 anti-union legislation had been used in a major strike. The TUC leadership's readiness to condemn picket line violence contrasts sharply with their complete silence on the role of the EETPU and the AUEW in the Austin Rover strike.
That the right and centre of the was preparing the ground for working within the restrictive framework of the Tories' anti-union legislation MaS made clear Brighton. TUC although criticised council's stand on the NGA dispute, effectively endorsed in policy terms silent that betrayal by allowing a case by case' approach to unions facing legal attacks. on the legal attacks faced by the NUM and other unions has deepened the hold of new realism union leadership. Despite the impact of the miners' reasserting itself and is attempting to tighten its grip within the TUC.
Ballot face attacks on two other key fronts: the closed shop and the political levy. The closed shop is now illegal unless secret ballots give an 80 per cent majority in favour.
Austin Rover the experience of the recent strike and the lack of leadership the general • The general council's silence that different on the trade strike the right is 1972 The unions, however, now also love leill In firms such as
Socialist Action 30 November 1984 THE MINERWORKERS Defence Committee Con-