CITY Council staff in Liverpool have decided to take strike ac tion and to implement selective disruption. The decision passed overwhelmingly mass meeting of members of the local government union, NALGO, on 7 December.
After five months of strike action, council-employed machine operators had forced council leaders to agree to talks about an inquiry into their claim over pay grading and training.
The strikers were preparing to return to work once the terms of theinquiry were agreed.
Now Liberal Council leader, Trevor Jones, is making it a condition thal NALGO must agree not to take action against union members who were involyed in strike-breaking. Local union officers see this as an attempt to weaken the union.
Strike breaking has been an important issue during the dispute. In his artempts to crush the strikers, Jones has suspended 250 workers without pay for refusing to scab and members, mainly in senior posts, have left the union.
The proposals carried by the mass meeting include refusing to prepare next year's cily council budger.
for absentees, strike action in key departments and refusing to work with officers Socialist Challenge 10 December 1981 page 6 strike-breaking. was at a workers' ficers.
typists and hunt leaders.
ceeding.
NALGO mendations.
Vice-Chairperson, PO COVERS who have left the union during the dispute or who have been involved in Uf there are any sackings, the union will take all-oul strike action.
The decision is a massive vote of confidence in Liverpool NALGO's union ofTrevor Jones had written to every council employee asking for support for the position he had adopted in the talks and had attempted to whip up a witchPete in une wron He was quoted in the press as saying: We are having to defend the members against their own branch executive which is connected to the Militant Tendency. Jones also gave all council workers time off with pay to attend the mass meeting. no doubt hoping that his red-scare would result in a big defeat for the union's local And his campaign did seem to be sucOnly a few days previously, Peter Cresswell, the branch secretary, along with the assistant branch secretary, had lost their union positions to right wing candidates in an election ballot. But of the 3,500 members who turned up to the meeting, only a couple of hundred voted against their executive's recomAl Walker, Liverpool NALGO'S toid Socialist Challenge: It just goes to show what a difference it makes to people's views when they have a chance to hear the arguments debated out. TREVOP COUGH