same day that thousands will be demonstrat against British imperialism's policy in d that there is concern e rank and file miners who conference and the new paper at lack of full consultation about of the first issue and the timing ence. We trust that these are misby pressure of work and a desire going. It is especially important appearance of manipulation or The right wing draws its strength of democracy in the union 2 the look out for ways of disew rank and file movement.
h smacked of organisational Id play right into their support the initiative of erence on the clear undermineworkers who support of the rank and file movehat is in their interests and what is not. By the programme falls back into ant trade unionism.
Secondly, the programme creates a split between trade unionism and politics by not taking up the question of the Labour Party. As we have explained on many occasions, what characterises social democracy is the fact that it divides up politics and trade unionism in such a way that the struggle in the factory, or in this case mine, is not seen as part of a struggle concerned with government and the state. A worker who carries on the factory struggle without linking it to the question of government and the state, or who simply sees politics as an adjunct of the factory struggle is just as much a Social Democrat as someone who works in the left wing of the Labour Party. I.S.'s failure to understand that 'doing your own thing' in the trade unions and ignoring the question of the Labour Party is to be a social democrat here trips them up again. 1. The Collier recognises that there is no solution to the problems facing miners as long as the mines are producing in an economy dominated by privately owned industry, and democratic socialism has not been achieved. The task of the NUM must therefore be to fight for Socialism and to defend all Interests of miners against the NCB and attacks by 2. As wages are only one of the chief toes facing the miner the aim of The Collier is to fight for workens" control of the mines. This must include the right to ensure that mechanisation, increased output per man, developments in working practices are used to benefit the miner and not the NCB and the profits of other industries.
A. Productivity and Profits As long as the mines are operating in a prid economy, and as lone as there is not cooter ana producton 1s г ecos any management ol rays be forced to act against the ens. For this reason the NUM try. For this reason it rejects all participation in management ctivity bargaining. erthelem the NUM can and should struggle to prevent the nationalised mining industry from being wed to boost artificially the profits of private enterprise. We therefore demand an end to all payments to previous owners, an. end to all interest pay: ments, an end of cheap coal to private industry and the immediate nationalisation of all distribution outlets and any unnationalised mining opcrations of whatever type.
B. Wages G) Existing wage levels must be protected against inflation. All wages agreements to have a built-in automatic cost of living increase. The cost of living index to be determined by the In No payments systems to be introduced unless agreed by the men concerned at properly convened branch meetings, after full information has been made available.
1i1) An immediate move to a wages structure of 30-E35-£40: no loss of pay on regrading: all DISS benefits to be in addition to full wages;
special rates negotiated by the men concerned for dirt, discomfort and hardship; wage agreements to run for no more than 12 months (November to November): full pay at 18.
(iv) Free housing and travel to work.
C. Shift working and overtime 6) An absolute and unconditional right of the union to reject any form of shift working. In particular a complete rejection of 'continental"
shift working.
(i) An absolute right of the union and men concerned to reject any amount of overtime, including weekend working. Travelling, washing and changing times to be counted as hours of work D. Modernisation, safety and benefits (i) The right of the union and men concerned to reject any new equipment which is considcred by it to harm the interests of the miners.
No reduction in manning levels.
(il) An unconditional right to reject any new method of working payments system or machinery which it is considered will run contrary to the safety interests of miners.
Rank and file safety officers on every shift to ensure the observation of all safety requireШСПІЯ (ill) Full wage pensions, with union rises as negotiated, for any miner disabled through an industrial accident.
(iv) A lowered retirement age for miners and free supply of coal to old age pensioners and curce miners E. Redundancy and job loss An absolute and unconditional right for the union to ban any loss of jobs. Any suggested redundancy to be met with the demand for a reduction of the working week with no loss of pay.
For with the demand of full maintenance for men forced to leave for geological, safety or other reasons. An immediate reduction of the workin week to 30 hours with no loss of pay. 3. In order that these policies can be fought for, and in order to ensure that any gains made are oper ated in the interests of the rank and file miners. changes are needed in the structure of the union.
Yearly elections, with right of recall, of all full time officials.
(ii) All national agreements to be voted on by the whole membership with a simple majority vote to decide striking and all other issues. All local agreements to be voted on by the men affected.
(li) Replacement of chargemen with elected stewards. Involvement of stewards in any local negotiations. Loss of working time to be financed by the union.
(iv) Voting on all issues to be at properly convened branch meetings with adequate pror notice given. Every branch to be entitled to commumicate wiw every omer.
(v) Fully lay executives at all levels with no full time officials having voting rights. 4. Democracy in the union is only meaningful if the union itself is free to defend its members' interests. Therefore:
(i) Complete opposition to the Industrial Relations Act. No registration; no use of any bodies established by the Act; no observance of cooling off periods; no payment of fines imposed under the Act; full support by any means necessary, including industrial action, of all victims of the Act.
(i) Complete rejection of any form of incomes policy. 5. We recognise that it is impossible for one single trade union to obtain these demands against the resources of the employers and their governments, and therefore, while struggling for these demands in the mines, The Collier campaigns for the NUM to put forward these and similar demands for adoption by other unions, by the TUC and within the Labour Party and campaigns for a government to guarantee the carrying out of thee policies. As a first step towards this we campaign for an alliance of all unions within the public sector of industry. We believe that any Party or government, and particularly of course the Labour Party, which was truly acting in the interests of the working class would carry out the policies we have described and therefore the NUM must continue to struggle for these policies until a government is achieved which will implement them. The Collier calls on all miners, whatever other trade union or political views may divide them, to unite together in a common struggle for the policies we have desonbed