STABS BRITISH. SEAMEN IN THE BACK
_ BY John Walters
London
A standard move by any British government in an important industrial dispute is to have the Ministry of Labour set up a court of enquiry. True to form, the Wilson government did this. The court reported its findings June 8 and, as was expected, came up with the usual compromise in favor of the employers.
The court recommended that the seamen should be granted a * 48-hour week this year and a 40-hour week next year.
It also condemned the National Union of Seamen for calling the strike: "In our view the Executive Council were not justified in using the strike weapon without further attempts to resolve the position....The owners stood firm on their last offer. In our view this was in the circumstances not an unreasonable attitude.
The statement ‘caused. great resentment amongst the seamen, and exposes the court as being fundamentally an instrument of the. employers, who naturally jumped at the offer of a compromise in. their favor.
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~~ Another source- of anger for the seamen was the fact that this year's chairman of the TUC [Trades Union Congress], Joe O'Hagen, was a member of the court of enquiry. _
~The report emphasizes the good sense of the NUS in turning down all the attempts made to get it to call off the strike while the court of enquiry was sitting.
In a meeting June 8, the executive of the NUS rejected the report unanimously, thus dashing hopes voiced in the capitalist press of a split on the question. They stuck to their demand for a 40-hour week now.
The NUS appealed to the TUC for its official support in the strike. On June 9 the General Purposes Committee of the TUC met with the NUS executive to discuss this and the court of enquiry report.
The meeting is reported to have been a stormy one. Joe O'Hagen was in the chair. The seamen immediately objected as they consider him to be biased. However this was smoothed over and the meeting began. ,
It turned out that far from giving the seamen support, the TUC tried to talk them into accepting the findings of the report. After several hours, it became apparent that the NUS would not give way, being firmly resolved to stick it out for their original demands. After the meeting, ‘it was announced that the TUC was not recommending support for the seamen to its affiliated members.
This is a severe blow to the seamen and will certainly weaken their position. However, despite the attitude of the TUC, it still remains for the individual unions concerned to make up their own minds concerning support. The TUC position will nevertheless weigh heavily in coming to a decision. It remains to be seen how the unions most involved; e.g., the Transport and General Workers Union, will react. At the moment they are rather noncommittal.
What the TUC really decided was to let the NUS face the government and the employers alone. It gave the government a club for use if it should turn to the navy to break the strike, as it appears to be preparing to do.
Seeking to avoid a head-on clash with the unions, Wilson maneuvered to split them, and no doubt hopes to isolate the seamen.
The right-wing bureaucrats are pleased over the excuse not to support the seamen; some of the "leftists" are relieved at not having been called on to demonstrate their leftism in practice. However, there is powerful rank-and-file support for the seamen throughout the country, and any movement of ships by the navy will provoke militant action by the dockers and others.
The NUS have appealed to the International Transport Workers Feaeration to list all British ships throughout the world as "un-
fair." At the time of writing, the decision of the ITWF is not Known, but it will probably be affected by the TUC decision.
Messages of support have been coming to the NUS from all over the: world, but most.of the unions are waiting for the meeting of the ITWF | ‘before | applying a wholesale boycott of British shipping. It | should be noted, however, that the ITWF has already given its- back-~ ing to the NUS in the strike so far. Also the Transport affiliate of the World Federation of Trade Unions has called on all its members not to. load or unload British ships.
The ‘British seamen now face a much longer and harder struggle than would have been necessary had the TUC expressed solidarity with the strikers. It now remains: to be seen how well the NUS is able to obtain and keep. the support of. the rank and file in other British unions and the overseas unions. There is. every reason to believe that if they stand firm they will win their whole claim.
If they: do. win, the Wilson government will be faced with a spectacular crisis. The pound has been under heavy pressure in the. money market and a victory for the seamen opens up the possibility | of devaluation of the pound. This in turn would place in question © the. stability of the. Gollar. a ; :, - Already there. are rumors. in. the press that the government intends to impose a.wage freeze in the second half of the year. If: it does, this will force even those who are standing to the side in the seamen's strike to take up cudgels against the government. This is why So much depends on how the seamen's strike goes.
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