British trade union "Broad lefts"
increase co-ordination
Fred Leplat reports from a ground-breaking conference of left currents expert witnesses, who testified regarding the events of 1948, the nature of the Israeli occupation since 1967 and the characters of the defendants. These witnesses included former Conservative cabinet minister Lord Gilmour, Palestinian Jewish academic and activist Dr Uri Davis, and journalists and aid workers with lengthy experience in the Middle East.
Defence solicitor Gareth Pierce, a veteran of most political trials in Britain for the past 20 years,? has described the case as a miscarriage of justice. She points out a long list of material irregularities and flaws in the evidence presented against Samar and Jawad. Many key questions remain unanswered: who were the "Jaffa" team that claimed responsibility for the bombings? Who wrote the claim letters? Who planned and prepared the targets? Who bought and drove the two bomb cars and rigged the number plates? Who made the bombs and where? Where were the cars stored? Who bought the chemicals? What kind of explosives were used in the actual bombings? No evidence was presented to suggest that the defendants had any connection with these acts.
Some evidence was clearly farcical. For instance, the letter in which unknown people claimed responsibility for the explosions was mistranslated by the police; where the original had called on "Palestinians in Lebanon" to resist Israeli aggression, the translation presented to the court referred to "Palestinians in London." A map found in Samar's flat, allegedly of the area around the Joint Israel Appeal office in North London, turned out to be of Sidon in South Lebanon. The outright contradictory identification evidence of the alleged bomber led to the dismissal by the judge of the charges against
An appeal has been lodged on the grounds of the judge's prejudicial summing. up, his refusal to take any action when an Israeli journalist attempted to interfere with a juror, and the broadcasting of a TV programme about a convicted Palestinian hijacker - which the judge advised the jury to watch! This contributed to a climate in which all Palestinians - even left-wing secularists - are portrayed as fanatical, bloodthirsty, Jewhating Islamic fundamentalists. Like Irish prisoners, it is difficult for Palestinians to receive a fair hearing in a British court. * Notes 1. A campaign is underway to secure their release and vindication. BM FOSA, London WCIN 3XX. They are held in high security prisons, far from their families and friends, and even further from their homeland. They need confirmation that their situation is known. Two other defendants were acquitted. 2. Representing the Bradford 12, Judith Ward, several of the Birmingham 6 and Guildford 4, and countless others.
accross the trade union movement On Saturday 1st February, 200 delegates and visitors attended a conference called by a steering committee of various trade union "broad lefts". Most came from the teachers unions, the Communication Workers Union, Unison (the union for health and local government workers), the Civil and Public Services Association, the printers GMPU and the union for technicians, the MSF. Many had a long experience in the unions as shop stewards, branch secretaries, regional union leaders and some as national executive members. The aim of the conference was to set up a co-ordination between the broad lefts to push for specific demands such as the reintroduction of a minimum wage.
For far too long, the left in each union has been, through necessity, concerned with the affairs of their own union. The unrelenting attack from employers and the Tories combined with the union bureaucracy's total inaction has placed the unions in crisis and forced the left into retreat. Membership of unions affiliated to the Trade Union Congress (TUC) has dropped from 9.8 million in 1985 to 6.9 million today. The number of strike days has decreased even more sharply from 6.4 million in 1985 to 415,000 in 1995 - the lowest level in over a century. Youth have little interest or possibility in joining unions. Membership for the under 20s is just 6%. Union membership is now concentrated amongst older workers in the privatised utilities such as telecommunications or rail and in the remaining public sector. On the defensive
Over the last two decades, the unions have faced a triple challenge; from the economic crisis, from employer offensives and restrictive legislation. To raise productivity, employers have reduced the work force. There is now mass unemployment in Britain. with 3.1 million people out of work yet defining themselves as "ready to start a job."
Those new jobs created are without security and often part-time. There has been extensive privatisation of whole industries such as the railways and telecommunications, while other industries, such as mining, have virtually disappeared (it is expected that there will only be 12 coalmines open by the year 2000). Where there is still no outright privatisation in the health service, an "internal market" has been created to allow "market forces" to determine "value for money"
The employers' offensive has brought about dramatic changes in working conditions through flexibility, team-working, performance related pay and temporary cont-
Britain * racts. To maintain recognition, some unions have agreed to single-union deals at the expense of any control over working conditions, even renouncing strike action in favour of compulsory arbitration.
One reason why the employers have been largely successful in these offensives has been the support business has received from government through successive anti-union laws passed since 1979, when Margaret Thatcher came to power. Picketing and solidarity action is now criminalised. Postal secret balloting for any form of industrial action is a legal requirement. The calling of official strike action is such a lengthy and complicated process that unions are easily victim to injunctions from employers over technical breaches of balloting procedures.
The removal of other legal rights such as wage councils that set pay levels in certain industries, and the lengthening qualifying period for unfair dismissal claims, have strengthened the employers hand. But most extraordinary is that it is no longer possible, in Britain today, to have a legal strike for union recognition.
Responsibility for the defeats of the last two decades lies firmly with the leaders of the unions and the TUC. This is not to minimise the problems that the unions face but to assert that there is another way forward. The current trade union leadership has failed to organise any effective resistance.
It has allowed individual groups of workers to remain isolated when they have taken action and refused to generalise struggles or organise effective solidarity. The long running strikes by the Hillingdon Hospital workers and the Liverpool dockers, both out for over 18 months, unfortunately
National attacks by the employers have not been countered by campaigns of national industrial action. With the threat of the anti-union laws, union leaders and un-elected officials are more likely to consult a lawyer Unity in action... of course
The broad lefts have different traditions, experience and political outlook. Some, like in the TGWU, are by invitation only and organise only to secure elections. Others like the Socialist Teachers Alliance are open and have given as much priority to campaigning as to gaining elected positions. The STA takes up both issues of immediate concerns to members as to the broader political issues raised by government attacks. As a result it may soon be in a position to win a majority on the teachers union national executive.
March 1997#286 9