The political stability of the Japanese parliamentary system has clearly come to an end. The LDP, the coalition parties and all Women give the lead the mass media consider the non-LDP coalition government as a temporary stage in a transition towards a new Japanese-style twomajor-parties system. In the name of "political reforms" to stop corruption, all the parties, except the CP, have agreed to introduce a new electoral system. This will be a combination of the single-member constituency system and proportional representation. The electoral reform will bring about a further realignment of parliamentary forces. Given the weakness of the SDP and the trade union movement, the "political reform" may result in a system of two-major conservative parties, where the SDP will actually disapear.
Under the new coalition goverment, the only non-LDP opposition party is the CP. Having got fifteen seats and 7.7 percent of the total votes, the CP has maintained its presence in parliament. But their monolithic Stalinist structure (they ban any dissident current) deprives it of any real possibility of attracting active support from working people. On the contrary, many circles and individuals, including certain activists of the peace movement and ecology movement, who have been disillusioned with the SDP, are increasingly supporting the "new parties", especially the JNP.
Almost all the political forces are competing with each other to get hold of the power structure of Japanese imperialism. But the parliamentary system itself has been deeply discredited among the population. There is an economic depression and Japanese capitalism will not be able to produce another decade of dynamic expansion as in the 1980s. In this context, the real problem is the absence of left alternative forces which can bring together various elements of the democratic and progressive mass movements. We will, however, see continuous efforts to organise people; around the demand for peace, enviromental protection, equal rights for immigrant workers... We will also see 24
In our May edition Phil Hearse detected "green shoots of militancy" in Britain following a period of years when the unions have been shackled with evermore legislation, the union bureaucracies — with notable exceptions - have failed to fight and strike action generally had fallen to a 100 year low. Women have played no small part in the emergence of these new shoots and, as our correspondent suggests, this could be the confirmation of a historical trend. MARIAN BRAIN* — Birmingham, August 22, 1993
W OMEN today are
facing increasing attacks, with the deepening economic recession. What is distinctive however, is that they are not being driven out of the labour market in greater numbers than men. Women are increasing as a proportion of the workforce, but their jobs are predominantly part-time, low paid, often temporary and with atypical working patterns.
They have little job security and, when part-time, their conditions are generally worse than their full-time equivalents. They have less protection than full-time workers and are increasingly flexible which means that they are an attractive source of cheap labour for the employers. It is no accident that this is a feature of the development of the British economy and it is a direct result of
The Conservative government's policy is to make Britain an offshore finance centre and a cheap labour economy. To do this they have to slash wages, demolish the welfare state and attempt to deunionise the workforce. The position of women in West Yorkshire illustrates these features. Here women will soon be the primary wage earners, while men are finding it more difficult to get jobs. The number of women in work is catching up with the number of men as the male jobless figures continue to rise.
In 1986 the percentage of women out of work peaked at 9% and for men it was 13%. While the figures for men remained constant the proportion of women unemployed has fallen to 5%. According to the National Earnings Survey women in West Yorkshire earn almost £100 a week less than men. The recession of the early 1980s and now the early 1990s has accelerated the shift towards part-time working. In Yorkshire part-time women workers make up half of the regions female workforce and 22% of the overall workforce.
In a recent report the Citizen's Advice Bureau found that many firms were making full-time workers redundant and then giving the same job to someone else to do for less wages. This summer Wages Councils (which provided minimal protection to the low-paid
* The author is an elected member of the women's advisory committee of one of the communication workers' unions. She is also a supporter of Socialist Outlook, the Fourth Internationalist paper in Britain.
1. The Citizen's Advice Bureau is an independent agency giving free advice on legal and and consumer rights.
International Viewpoint #248 September 1993 will be abolished. Without a doubt this will worsen the position of women.
In 1990 women formed 48% of the employed workforce and also represented 34% of all Trades Union Congress (TUC)? affiliated members.
In the face of one of the most vicious employer offensives in history we have witnessed a remarkable upsurge in the involvement of women in trade union and community struggles. Their role of late has been an example to the whole labour movement and a pointer for the way forward.
This is, of course, nothing new. From the formation of the labour movement women have always played a significant role. The struggles which we examine here confirm and reinforce this historical trend; women are playing a vanguard role in defending jobs, communities and services.
### Burnsall's
At the Burnsall's electro-plating factory in the West Midlands, women have taken one of the most dramatic and bold initiatives since the Grunwick dispute of the 1970s.3 Once again, it is a dispute that clearly illustrates the need to organise those millions who are not currently organised in the trade union movement. The strike, now in progress for over a year, has also demonstrated the practical problems that are faced in organising those, predominantly women and at
Burnsall's mainly of Punjabi origin, who work in the "sweat-shops". 4
These workers know the reality of Thatcher's and now Major's Britain. Their basic claim was for decent working conditions (an end to compulsory over-time, a safe environment and proper protective clothing) and equal pay for women (who were paid £20-30 less than male equivalents). On these issues they have not budged. Although, naturally there has been one addition to their demands:
that the sacked strikers be reinstated.
Their union, the General, Municipal and Boilmakers (GMB), was not recognised.
Yet, while the strikers themselves have mobilised a not insignificant amount of support the GMB was found wanting when it had an opportunity to make significant ground. Rather, they have often undermined the strikers and have certainly failed miserably to maximise support to its full potential.
At the Women's TUC there were debates on low pay, sweatshop conditions and also a debate on the abolition of wages councils but not a single word was mentioned by the GMB of a dispute, involving its own members, that encapsulated all of these issues. The dispute was raised on the floor of conference by a woman from another union. Throughout the strike the GMB have refused to mount effective pickets and consciously demobilised support.
They have attempted to block solidarity days called by the strikers in conjunction with the support groups that were established in different parts of the country. The strikers showed that it was possible to link up with the miners in the course of their dispute. An example of this development was the close links formed with the Women Against Pit Closures (WAPC), particularly the women from North Staffs Miners Wives A leading women striker from Burnsall's was one of the highlights of the London demonstration organised by WAPC to defend the thirty-one
They made links with the Timex dispute and have spoken to meetings in many parts of Britain. On Wednesday, June 30, the West Midlands Region of the GMB called off the dispute. The GMB regional organiser gave the following reasons for his actions: that it was not possible to win the dispute within the law, and that they were not prepared to build mass pickets. Nor were they prepared to organise a boycott of the goods produced there. They were not prepared to spend any more money on the dispute.
We should remind the new realists? that there would not be a trade union movement if it had not been for the fact that our forebears had been prepared to break the law.
Women like the agricultural workers from
Oxford who, in 1873, picketed in a dispute and were sent to prison to do hard labour. The outcry that arose, and the mass campaign that was built, led to the establishment of the legal right to picket.
The majority of Burnsall's strikers still want to continue their fight for justice.
### Timex
It will surprise no-one that the working class is being expected to pay for the crisis through cuts in pay and conditions of service.
This is certainly what is at the heart of the dispute at the Time factory in Dundee,
Scotland. Management wanted a ten per cent cut in pay and an additional three hours on the working week alongside adverse changes to the workers pensions and other benefits.
Over 343 workers at the plant were sacked for opposing these plans. Eighty per cent of these workers are women who have been at the forefront of the mass pickets that have taken place in defiance of the law. The union bureaucracy had negotiated a deal which would have amounted to a twenty-seven per cent pay cut. The workers rejected this blatant sell out. The deal would have also reduced the companies contribution to pensions, lowered canteen subsidies, reduced sick pay and then extended the required qualifying time. To top it all off, the locked out workers were offered their jobs back but on condition they took a "skills test". The employers would have been able to victimise the leaders of the dispute at will.
The dispute has seen some of the most militant mass picketing since the miners strike giving inspiration to the whole labour
At many union conferences it was easier to build and actively mobilise support for the Timex strikers than it was for the Burnsall's dispute. This is partially because the Timex workers were organised already and the bosses were attempting to cut existing pay and the conditions. The Burnsall's strikers on the other hand were virtually starting from scratch. Scotland also has a more militant tradition which made it easier to get a immediate response from the local labour movement. Contacts would have been built up over many years. However it must also be stated that there is still, amongst whole layers of the working class, a reluctance to be part of a struggle to organise in the "sweat-shops" where the workforce will be predominantly
Timex workers have also managed to spread their dispute world wide and are calling for a boycott of all Timex products. There campaign has a two pronged strategy involving both a consumer and a workers boycott. The latter involves calling on the organised labour movement not to handle Timex goods or materials that directly aid the companies' scab operation in Dundee.
Already the Transport and General Workers Union and the National Communications Union have pledged support. The boycott will not, however, be enough on its own. If the plant is closed it will be necessary to organise an occupation.
### WAPC
Once again WAPC were at the heart of the struggle to stop the massacre of the pits. These women, who had been the backbone of the 1984/85 strike, quickly organised when the miners were under attack again. They were able to show by their audacious actions what was necessary to maintain the
2. The TUC is the union federation covering all the countries in the British state, including Northern Ireland.
3. The West Midlands is the metropolitan district surrounding Britain's second largest city, Birmingham. Burnsall's supplies finished metals to a number of the car plants in the region. The Grunwicks dispute has clear similarities, in particular the role of Asian women and their neglect by the union movement.
4. This term has become common usage in Britain to describe particularly poor working conditions.
5. North Staffordshire is the next county to the north of the West Midlands.
6. See Phil Hearse, 'Green shoots of militancy', in International Viewpoint, No 245, May 1993.
7. "New realists" is the term that became common to describe the rightward moving labour and union bureaucracy, particularly following the defeat of the 1984/85 miner's strike.
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CHINA