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GCHQ optimism IN C O R P O RATI NG THE D AILY W O R K E R
FOR PEACE A N D SO C IA LISM
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SA TU RD A Y JA IA N U A R Y 25 1986 RY
Strike hits Murdoch papers
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By T O N Y C LA R K
AN|GRY p rin t w o rk e rs last night began s tr ik e a c tion in R u p ert Murdoch's n e w sp a p e r m e pire, hittin g The Times and the Sun, a n d production of th e N e w s ofthe World a n d T h e Suday Times. The workers started walking out in the a f te rn o o n , stopping production of the Sunand casting d o u b ts o v e r t appearance of The T im es. , By MICK CO STELLO The strike was provoked by Murdoch's insistence on lygaly-binding bans on industrial action, destruction of job protectionand the promise of the sack foht ousands of the 6,000g force of the four papers. Over the past year the com panyhas built up stricke breaking new technology machinery at ants 13 Glasgow and W apping. London recruiting members the electricians' union EEIPU substitute print workers. After all-dayattempted the main print worker's union failed toconvince the leaders of the electrician's union, the EET PU. otbeck them in a common fight againstMr. Murdoch's attack on land ccndi Ithemembers membei of SOGAT and T NGA wer< were yesterdav joined their s:r trike decision by engineering union colleagues at thefour newspapers in the A U BW . Instructions to the 6,500 SOGAT members in the newspaper distribution network went outlastnightt o b a n h a n d l i n g o f the four papers. Other newspapers distribution could be hit ifwholesale management takes actionagainst workers for implementingthe ban. Yesterday Arthur Brittenden, tceridor of .Mr. Murdoch’s News nreti ational company, issued a vailedthreat to journalists, putpgniressure on them to go to w orkat the strike-breaking W appingplant. H esaid: "A lot is going to depend on how thetcaer journalists as and when the time com es. Whether in fact they folthe w o guidance of their union orfel that thev would be happier continuing to work for us.” T heNational U nion of Journalistshas decided that its m em bers should not go to W aping and the union's general tercsary H a r r y Conroy, has granted neb executive powers tocalhis members out on strike ifm agement tries tah to insist journalists prepare work forthe East London plant. G O SAT general secretary B renda Dean yesterday accused Murdoch's .rM company of being verydeceitful in rejecting talks forsixmonths. She added: "When they did enter talks in October, they knew full well that puthey had set two secret companies, Secretlyimporting equipment.” This, she said, had been at for nine months “ with the
Declaration of war on print unions at N ew s International's Wapping plant where Rupert Murdoch aim s to produce scab ed ition s of his papers. intention of making sure that their existing employees would not be given rhe chance to go to Wapping." The major print unions have been kept out of the Wapping plant where electricians have been trained to do their work. Ms. Dean said: “ We obviously hope that no w orkers in the United Kingdom will blackleg on us” . N GA general secretary Tony Dubbins described the conduct of News International as one of “ lies and deceit, and we cannot tolerate this.” He said he welcomed the T U C ’s statem ent which “ sees the actions of the electricians being a major hurd le to reaching a common approach” . Mr. Dubbins accused the E ETPU of displaying “ naked am bition” and putting in jeop ardy the jobs of 6,000 print workers. This was “ intolerable,” he said. He blamed the company for “ threats and intim idation” against the very people who created its wealth, adding “ we cannot accept the situation where a company simply casts off workers". He gave his support to other papers, which were making efforts to increase circulation at the expense of the News Inter national titles. Eric Ham m ond, general secre tary of the maverick electricians’ union, said there was “ definitely” no chance of him instructing his members at the Wapping plant to refuse to work the presses. The recruitm ent of electricians at Wapping and Glasgow to do The work of other unions’ m em bers has isolated the EETPU within the TUC, and disciplinary action against it will be discussed at a special TUC general council meeting next Tuesday. According to SOGAT national
officer. Bill Miles, Mr. Murdoch wants to chop around 3.200 jobs at established plants near Fleet Street. After meetings last night print Father of Chapels (union repre sentatives) moved to put pickets on Mr. Murdoch's establishments as they sought to make the strike completely effective. Mr. Dubbins said that after being told the details of the situation the FOCs reacted with disbelief, angered by the way they had been treated. Ms. Dean said that picketing would be organised under TUC guidelines, but appeared to be lieve that a picket would be taking place at Wapping as the Murdoch organisation got into gear. Mr. Dubbins said that "any
crossing of picket lines would am ount to union busting. There is an attem pt going on to put working people back into slavery” . Express Newspapers told its unions last night that it wished to cut its 6.145 workforce by a third, as it was "impracticable to meet existing labour costs.” The company said yesterday that plans were being made to meet print unions' national officers next week to discuss the proposed cuts. The Manchester South’s branch of the EETPU has condemned their executive's action in the print dispute, and particularly their role at the Murdoch Wapping plant, as having “ more to do with gangsterism than with trade unionism".
THE STAR SAYS THE print workers have taken up the gauntlet thrown down by Rupert Murdoch, the big business press tycoon who ow n s the Sun, The Times, the N e w s of the World, and the Sunday Times. They must not he left to stand alone. They are facing a dictator w ho has set himself t w o aim s— to smash the print trade unions and sack around 5,000 workers. N o workers in this country can allow an em ployer to get away with that. This is now the most serious challenge to the British working class since the m iners’ strike. N o worker can stand aside. If Murdoch gets aw ay with it, then every big business em ployer in Britain will rush through the breach. W orkers will find their trade unions being presented with take-it-or-leave-it ultim atum s to cut jobs and screw m ore profits out of those remaining in work. T he T U C general council m ust now m obilise as it has not d one before. W'e want no m ore statesm anlike backing d o wn, such as w e saw w ith the N G A at Warrington, and no more pious resolutions devoid of real solidarity action, as w e saw with the miners.
SCAPEGOAT Leon B rittan y e s te r d a y resigned fro m the c risis -to rn T h a t c h e r C a b in e t — leaving the T o ry g o v e r n m e n t in chaos. The Prime Minister's own credibility is now in utter tatters after the bungling of the Westland fiasco, the leak letters and the resignation of first Defence Secretary Michael Heseltine and now Industry Secretary Mr. Brittan. Now senior Tories as well as disaffected backbenchers will be gunning to ditch her before the general election looms. The heat was on as soon as the influential Tory 1922 Com mittee demanded late on T hurs day night that Mr. Brittan should quit before M onday’s crucial three-hour debate on Westland. In the Commons on Thursday Mrs. T hatcher claimed that Mr. Brittan had without her know ledge authorised the leak to the Press Association of a letter from Solicitor - General Sir Patrick Mayhew to Mr. HeselCine, criticising the then defencr secretary’s stand in rhe battle for Westland. The letter accused Mr. Heseltine of ‘‘material inaccuracies” about the consequences if Westland accepted the rival US Sikorsky rescue package. Fever-pitch tension gripped Westminster yesterday as official sources neither confirmed nor denied rhe resignation rumours. The crisis had dramatically deepened that morning when Mrs. Thatcher cancelled her nor mal weekend at Chequers. She stayed to work cm her speech for Monday when she faces a bar rage of Opposition fire. In the afternoon, she went to the Com mons to vote on a Bill
6r ALAN BROWN
Jam es Nicolson, who held the sitw ith a 1,500 vote majority atthelast election, was defeated
by SDLP candidate Seamus Mallon by a margin of 2.500 votes. The figures for Newrv and Arm agh were SDLP 22,694, Official Unionist Party 20,111. Sinn Fein 6,609 Losing the Newry and Armagh seat is a m ajor blow to the Unionist cause. The SDLP have campaigned on their support for the Anglo-Irish agreement which provoked these elections Clearly the result was made
possible by a significant swing of Sinn Fein votes over to the SDLP and much of this is being seen as an anti-Unionist tactical vote. The total Unionist vote of 418,230 was also far below their vaunted half a million target, the figure they hoped would show a united opposition to the AngloIrish pact. The Unionist share of the overall vote was dow n 1 per
cent from the 1983 elections. Last night Official Unionist Deputy leader Harold McCusker said he would not go to Parlia ment following the result. He would, he said "w ork to make N orthern Ireland ungovernable.” Leader James Molineaux con tradicted Mr. McCusker. claim ing that it was "n o t very sens ible” to boycott Westminster. He was supported by Mr. Enoch Powell w ho stated that his
amending the Obscene Public ations Act. It was there she agreed to a meeting with Mr. 'Brittan *ind speculation of his impending resignation spread like wildfire. In reality Mr. Brittan called the crucial summit at 3pm. It lasted just 30 minutes, with him offering to quit and the Prime Minister said to be pleading with him to stay. When Mr. Brittan came out he declined to answer reporters’ questions, and strode silently to his car and was driven away. The official announcement came three hours later. In his letter, beleagured Mr. Brittan said: "Since your statement in the House it has become clear to me that 1 no longer command the full confidence of my colleagues. "In these circumstances, mv continued membership of your government would be a source of weakness rather than strength and . . . it is for this reason that 1 have tendered mv resignation.” Accepting his resignation with sadness in a letter addressed "Mv Dear Leon.” Mrs. Thatcher said “ I hope it will nut be long
Yemen appoints head of state ADEN radio announced last night that the new ruling body of People’s Yemen had appointed Prune Minister Abubakar al-Attas as interim head of state. The Socialist Party's central committee had removed all official and party titles from for m er president Ali Nasser Mohammed, it said. This latest statement comes after increased reports that forces associated with former President A bdul Fattah Ismail
Leicester pits stick to NUM By JIM SA UN DERS
Miners in the moderate Leicestershire coalfield yesterday voted by nearly two to one in favour of staying in the National Union of M ineworkers. Voting was 885 to 490. Area NUM secretary Jack Jones said: “ T oday’s result is a setback for MacGregor and the UDM, the bosses’ union. I’m highly elated." “ The miners of Leicestershire have spoken in a loud voice for their national union, which is the only hope for British miners.” UDM meddling: p2
Jnionist leaders split after election ploy fails RESULTSin Wednesday’s northernIreland elections have far nelaf short of Unionist ex itacepons and there were signs night tsal of a major splir am ong loyalist politicians, T he SDLPvictory in Newrv Armagh was the most pro.ailf naunced indication of Unionist
BRITTAN: resigning in a bid to restore T hatcher’s credibility.
electorate d id n ’t "wish me to go to Westm inster with a return ticket here.” The split over future loyalist tactics seems likely to lead further down the road of sectar ian violence and this latest vote has manifestly provided no sol ution. N orthern Ireland secretary Tom King said yesterday that the Anglo-Irish agreement would be going ahead.
in the two week conflict had achieved a military hold. It was also reported that 55 officials from the politburo had died in the struggle which may have taken up to 10,000 lives overall. Speaking in Moscow yesterday, new interim head of state Mr. al-Attas. after communication with a Kuwaiti newspaper, said it was reported that f rmer President Ismail was "in good condition" despite injuries
US silent on reasons for jets off Libya T H E US government yesterday refused to come clean on the purpose behind its stepped-up navy operations off the Libyan coast, although officials refused to rule out a challenge by US jet-fighters to Libya’s claim on the Gulf of Sirte. In a show of military belliger ence. jets from two US Sixth Fleet aircraft carriers have b e gun a week of flight operations in the M editerranean north of Libya, delib erated heightening tension in the area. “ We have announced that we will exercise our right to use international air space in the Mediterranean and that is all we are saving,” Pentagon official Robert Sims said. Libyan leader M uam m ar Gadaffi yesterdav put his country’s troops on total alert. He said that planes would be sent out over the Gulf of Sirte to protect Libyan territorial in tegrity and he denounced Presi dent Reagan's latest move as “ aggressive provocation." Soviet am bassador to Turkey Vladimir Lavrov said yesterday that his government had “ called on the US not to seek results which would escalate the matter to serious proportions.”
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before you return to high office to continue your ministerial career.” Mrs. T hatcher considered him a loyal colleague with wide ministerial experience. But she could not ignore the anger of her backbenchers who might otherwise have rebelled wholesale on M onday’s crucial debate on the Westland leak. Now she will clearly hope some of the political pressure will depart with Mr. Brittan when she faces the flak. Mr. Brittan’s future was in jeopardy from early last week when he at first denied to the Commons knowledge of the ex istence of a le tter from British Aerospace about a crucial con versation he had held with Sir Raymond Lygo, their chief exec utive, less than 24 hours before Mr. Heseltine's resignation. Within hours of that denial, Mr. Brittan had to return to the Commons to make a grovelling apology and retraction. The letter claimed that he had told Sir Raymond that British Aerospace's involvement with the European consortium in the battle for Westland was against the national interest and that it should withdraw Mr Brittan fiercely denied this. Labour leader Neil Kinock said last night that Mr. Brittan “ has been a casualty of this whole dirty business. "He must n>>t be regarded as a sacrifice that will satisfy d e mands for a full and honest ex planation of what has been going on. "The Prime Minister has still got a great deal of answering to do.” An announcement of Mr. Brittan’s replacement is expected over the weekend. Paul Channon. his trade and industry deputy, has been tipped to succeed him.
STAR-FUND Make it a big win G IFTS are arriving with special thanks for Greenham reports, the promotion of anti-racist policies, and coverage of the teachers’ dispute. One of them, a very generous £200, was in appreciation of all three aspects, and came from a couple in Oxfordshire. Add to that news of £541.55 coming yesterday, and it can be seen we are doing better. But the end of the January campaign is now near. We have raised £3,981. More than £15,000 is required by W ed nesday, February 5. So January’s big win is not yet assured. Rush to make it so. Some of the gifts which arrived yesterday: £10 from Reading branch CP and friends; £10 from Dumfries Morning Star Supporters Group; £10 from a Kingston, Surrey, reader.
T H E FUN D NEEDS MORE TH A N
£ 11,019 PETER PINK Send donations to Peter Pink, PPFF, 75 Firringdon Road. London F C I M 3I X Phone 01 40 5 9 242
EEC unemployed The num ber of people regis tered as being out of work in EEC countries rose bv 150,060 in December, taking the total to 12,9 million, according to official figures published yesterday.