In a recent article in the Morning Star (13 November) entitled "Root the Charter in the unions", the Communist Party made a very revealing attempt to combine support for the Working Womens" Charter with rej:
ection of the Charter campaign.
According to the article, the disorg delegate conference of the Campaign suffered, vindicates the CP view that the Charter should, from the beginning, have been raised entirely through 'the existing structures or the unions. perorman te function of a militant pressure group for the demands of women within the move ment" (emphasis added).
Unfortunately, the Inaders of the CP are rather slower to grosp twainty than some of their women members. Because the CP equstes the women's movement' with women militants in the trade unions, they ignore the fact that many of the women fichting tor the sort of demands in the Charter are not primarily organised In this fight by a trade union, but by the womens liberation movement. This, and articie suggests] is mainly what explains the high proportion of white collar wom en at the London Charter Conference fit should be noted that this was equally wue of the meeting or conised by the London Trades Council in March which launched the Charterl What is so important about recent Developments is that tor the tarat turne women militants in the trade unions and in the women's liberation movement are coming together for a united fight agsinst aspects of their oppression.
But this development is evidently distastetul to the CP. They would like to squeeze the "women's movement into the official channels of the trade unions - primarily at the level of the district conlident they can control it. It was an embarrassment to the CP that during the equal pay strike of the SEl women in Manchester the Charter campaign trade union movement in support of restricted by its "inadequate" structurel.
Several hundred people from different unions, and from outside the unions, were mobilited to one rally which raised over E100 for the strikers.
What did the CP do to put its list whore its mouth Is on the issue of equal pey for women? Did it call for a lavy of AUEW members to finance the strikers?
Or organise sympathy strikes, blacking, miss picketing to stop male blacklegging?
No: the CP-controlled district committee hour week and E7 across the board inerease, Well, they had discussions and manpoint a mess meeting was hald, and the work-force decided on a go-slow, This had the required effect of making man#gement talk to us.
Enter the AUEW district secretary / to help negotiate, However management / did not really went to talk, and so at the mass meeting held on Friday 20 September the decision was taken to give the company ten days notice of industrial action.
To shorten a long story, out we came /Istrike pay had been delayed by the AFEX strike at AUEW headquarters/.
38 November 1974 the Working Women's We have received the following letter from an IMG militant active in the London Working Women's Charter Campaign. We print it in full in the belief that it can begin a useful debate, and invite of the AUEW with as little fuss as possible as little fuss as possible, for Tear of dis rupting their cosy relationship with Seanlan and Co. So much for "militant pressure group' politics. This incident aione has done much to convince women that "pressure only means any thing when they take the struggle into CAUT ON CHU SIR BUT TO HE widest possible support.
It wus because of the need to org anise themselves in this way that a the London Trades Council meeting in March voted against the motion put by Mary Davis (co-author of the Morming эtaг вест упіст пошо пис панох the task of organising the campaign to the LTC on a basis of district comm INCES LIO LOIES COUNCIS IADO TORI the fact that the LTC was shortly to disappear due to TUC reorganisation.
The CP now wishes to sunstiture for it the southeast regional council of the ALTERNATIVE What the Morning Star "forgets" to mention is that when their motion fell the meeting was bureaucratically manonuvred to prevent voting on an akernosed an orginisational form that would draw on air pooes one individusis preg ared to be actively invoived in a campaign besed on the Charter. It was in Yet the strike was solid - at mass meeting after mass meeting there were averwhelm ing votes 12000 to 12) to stay out.
Then came the sickening sell out -there are no other words for it. After six weeks management offered E5 across the board, Our negotiatars acceptad, and recommended to the shap stowards committee that they accept. Subsequently to the mass meeting that we should accept.
ones: management couldn't afford our full claim; the strike was in danger of collapsing (less than a week after a solid vote to stay out!!; anyway, it wos only The mess meeting wes virtually railroaded into acceptance, Nobody from the floor had a chance to put up serious Pace 10 order to prepare tor a rapid move to a representative delegate meeting which the LTC meeting was not! shat a temp orary ad hoc committee was proposed Enis resotution was cicarly ammico to root the campaign fiemly in the unions las well as ail other organisations of the working class). But it proposed a way of actually perring on with that job. ratner than passing the buck to orners in the hope that they might do something. inning in getting bodies of the trade union movement to take up the campaign, and only a few women militants on the shap-floor yot know about it. But those who live in glass houses should not throw stones, The local conferences being organ ised jointly in many areas by the Charter Campaign and the trades councils represent a big step forward both in raising the issues taken up in the Charter within the labour movement, and in creating the besis of support for etruggles of women on these issues.
their article by asking: Will the South East regional council pioneer the way? But we ask: Will the CP light for all trade union bodies to support the Chart er Campaign, which is already pioneering the way?' - FIONA FREDENBURGH, London.
All The questions were answared by the AUEW district secretary, who is after all the most experienced at sell-outs, spery "negoliations. All questions about the This, of course, had the effect of isolating the best union members. So we go back to work for less than half that throughout this strike no political leadership emenated from the left talker the shop stewards committee recommended committoos. The I would attribure to on the negotiating and shop stewards their rejection of a Marxiat analysis of the situation, and their failure to sec a need for theary, What we required vess on elected atrike committee directly responsible to mass meetings and subjec to recall if we didn't like what they wan up to tale of two sell outs - one economic terparts.
Certainly, we have only made a beg saved these two.
Mary Davis and Linda Smith do and To sum up, this can be seen to be the AUEW SHOP As a socialist and activist in the AUEW, I've been pleased to
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/ to answer this question. * After Phase 3 our union negotiators met / management to discuss a claim for a 35
and the management laid-off most of the A workforce not on strike. For six weeks Four only income was from tax rebates
responses from other activists in the Campaign - both those who agree and those who disagree with the remarks below. ONT БЕССМІНО noe inadequate" ad-hoc structures las the The SEI women strikers - sold out by the CP-controlled district committee
¡'A tale of two sell-outs' What is it like to be sold out7 After six weeks on strike I think 1 am qualified I work for Thom's Consumer Electronics (Bradford) — the largest colour /TV factory in Europe - repairing TV's before they leave the factory.
35 hours demand were shouted down - by shap stowerds, among others.
our claim, But we go back 'united'! The really disappointing thing is
and the other political. STEWARD. Bration Photo: