La Jobs before profits PUBLIC INDUSTRY in Wales came to a halt last Monday when 200,000 workers struck in protest at the threatened closures in the steel industry and the prospects of pit closures in the valleys.
There were no trains and the docks were at a standstill. In Gwent the buses did not run and council offices in the Rhondda were closed. 30,000 miners joined the 40,000 steelworkers in South Wales in an all-out strike on the day of action called TERRY THOMAS (South Wales NUM):
*Some members are hiding behind their union constitutions and simply waiting for instructions from their national executives. But no one should criticise the action of the Miners. We abstained at the TUC general council meeting on delaying all-out strike action, but we're determined to fight. We just don't want to fight alone.
'I hope the steelworkers will turn their present dispute over wages into a campaign against closures. It would cost the government £33 million to subsidise Welsh coal and stop the closures of the pits. It will cost them £70 million in redundancy payments if the closures go ahead.' COLWYN WILLIAMS (Swansea Trades Council, member of the SWP):
'You can't play games with a general strike. You can't keep backing down. If we are to get action on jobs then it has to come from the men (sic) in the factories. It has to be organised from below and aboye simultaneously.' JOHN PERRINS (National Union of Blastfurnacemen, Port Talbot Strike Committee):
"Thirty-five per cent of my members have already lost their jobs through closures. They will not be too enthused with a day of action. They are already very active in stopping the movement of steel.
'We were provoked into this strike because the Tories thought they could weaken us during the strike to accept the closures in Port Talbot and Llanwern. This is not a fight against a frugal employer. It is a political fight against the "We're not enamoured by the way the Wales TUC has related to this strike. After cancelling the action on 21 January the TUC nationally has taken things out of our hands. We're weary of Len Murray.' railway workers are in fight on jobs.
in Wales on 10 March.
clear leadership.
The Britain.
problem.
sicer and ine by the Welsh TUC.
The message from the industrial heartland of Wales was loud and clear. Steel union leader Bill Sirs, quite overwhelmed by the degree of solidarity of the Welsh workers, put it this way at a rally in Cardiff: "Today is the starting point of a revolution — a revolution against a mood to The TUC both for Wales and nationally is committed at the moment to backing strike action But how can the strike be made solid? Only if it has clear goals and TUC's vacillation the about action and their demands for a new management, a stay of execution and tighter import controls do not get to the bottom of the problems faced by the steel and mining industries in profits, managers, that are the source of the Fighting for the right to work in mines today means taking action now to challenge the dictates of profit, arguing that job come first. 10 March is a clerr focus general strike action against the Tory offensive.
Steelworkers and miners need to initiate a debate inside the labour about plan for nationalised industries — a plan that uses the new technology to working week and takes decisions about investment out of the hands of the bosses and puts them in the hands of the workers themselves.
Only through such a plan for the economy can workers permanently protect their jobs from the anarchy of capitalism.
The Tory government and the bosses will resist such a plan all down the line because it hits them where it hurts - in their pockets. But the policies that are crippling this country and which will force us to become a nation looking after tourists. I'm prepared to go to jail if my executive instructs me to.
"This is not just a problem for Wales but for the workers throughout Britain. What about a general strike? A general strike is the last thing people in responsible positions like me want — but if it's the only thing left to you...' political implications of a struggle on jobs cannot be avoided.
If the battle on jobs is to be won by the labour capitalism itself must be confronted.
the the support from local trade unionists marchers •Save Wales', lodge after 15,000-strong Sophia Park. "TO OUR dying shame we let divide us at Shotton, East Moors and Ebbw Vale. Now we're all in it together at Port Talbot, at Llanwern and in the pits. Pay and jobs are part parcel - same issue. We're not going to take it.' This was the mood of the AUEW contingent from Llanwern and it was unanimous feeling of the Cardiff on Monday. steel' 'Save pits', •Save "Coal not dole, said the placards carried by steelworkers and lodge of miners as the demonstration made its way through the city to rally at