Birmingham Labour Briefing no. 27

Labour right wingers have launched their long awaited counter offensive against the growing strength at tha late in Birmingham,

any Lllusions that the traditional ‘ald guard’ no longer had the stomach ta rasist the Left's advance have bean dispelled by a rapid sequence of avents aimed at forcing the left onto the defensive, The centre-piece af the

assault is a major attempt to discradit the new Birmingnam Summerfield Grou,

For some weeks, Laft wingers

have picked up indications that ‘somathing was afoot’, The right’s decision to go on the offensive has been precipitated by a combination of circumstances, Nationally, the pre-election mood has created an atmosphere within

which the ‘traditional party establishment has been able to reassert an almost autocratic

authority, Qna example was the imposition on the Knowleslay Nerth constituency party, The right's ‘invisible’ organisational machine

within the major trade unions has been reassembled and is undassiood to have had a maior influence in getting Sirmingham'’s old quara +9 stand and fight,

Within Birmingham itself, they have at last woken up to the fact that, on a simale head count, the broad left alliance naw centred on the Suamerfield Group will have won a majority on the Labour Group of Councillors by the AGM in May 1988,

Based on its present strength,

‘the left will win a majority by ‘virtue of its ‘picking up most of the selections

dual stratagy of

in the 'marginal' seats which the Torias are still losing to Labour,

and at the same time carving inroads deep into the safe inner city wards like Soho and

Handsworth, once the heartlands of the old right wing,

_ These simple calculations show that the broad left will contro! the council in less than two years, even if its political influence in the dranch parties makes no further advances. To stap

iu tecant is the

“co-ordinated ‘the Summarfield Group “press “these “softening up’

series of the prover 2 hurphy from the faz Equal Opporiunit was Yardlay/Northfi boycott’ thea 9 declare it

‘ aw s

oe

effort

‘Briefing’ is actions may

the way for by National aim ultimately is support for ire left amongst the

na a

Wider membership by portraying it as a vote lesing source of troudle cand bad publicity,

How the press raported the offensive,

focus

we fontinuad from page 1. 2

“It is no coincidence that the is for the right's counter offensive should be the Oistrict Party and the new Summerfield Group, Stewart Stacey, secretary of the Summerfield Group is Probably more surprised than anyone to be dubbed by the fvearag Mail as a “Labour rebel", Yet he typifies the broad-based, nonsectarian and pragmatic characteristics of the left's influence in the District Party and in the Summerfield Group, These qualities make it a far more dangerous threat to the right than

any other pore ideologically coherent grouping, It also shows the qualities necessary for

government and therefore makes the left credible as the basis for a naw administration capable of taking and holding om to powar, = |

Against this backcloth, the Birmingham Suamarfield Groug makes cits public launch on Saturday 123 ‘Decamber, batwean 10,30 and 12,30

_af the Summerfield Centre, Qudley

Road, Timed to capture maximum benefit from the political momentum, the challange now is for thea Summerfield Group to keep cool, Rold ifs nerve, stay united and prepare for power,

Roo Pocock (Perry Barr CLP),

AMIR KABUL DEFENCE CAMPAIGN

Amit Kabul Khan is a Kashmiri, living under constant threat of being deported from this country, & campaign has been set up to defend him in his fight to remain here with his wife, who is herself a British citizen, and their baby daughter, :

Amir first applied to come to the country in 1978 as the fiancé of Zahtoon Begum, now his wife, He was refused permisston in Islamabad and lost an appeal in this country in his absence, The authorities refused to believe he was the son of his claimed father or that the couple would get married and Live together,

amir then came to this country for a holiday, At last, in July 1983, they were able to get married, MP Denis Howell then advised Amir to return to Kashmir and apply to come to Britain again

“COUSINS,

just a amir

as Zahtoon's husband, So, week after his marriage, voluntarily left the country,

In November 1993, Zahtoon went to join him in Kashmir, She stayed for seven months before returning to Britain for the birth of their daughter Arzon, Yet when Amir applied ta come to Sritain as her

husband, the authorities . in Islamabad again refused permission, The Home Office appointed adjudicator in Bir-

mingham upheld that refusal, This time the authorities agreed that the couple were ganuinely married and even conceded they were first Now, however, they are saying that Amir's primary purpose in marrying was to settle in Britain,

Today Amir is here as a visitor, It is the first time he has been able to see his wife

: Ease

What you can do: .

since their daughter was born, But the Home Office say he is here on ‘temporary admission’ and are threatening to remove hin,

kX affiliate to the Amir Kabul Qefence Campaign and send a dalagate to campaign meetings (£10 organisations, £1 individuals):

¥ write in protest to the Home

Secretary, your MP, focal councillors and the press, with a copy to the campaign: % invite a speaker

from the

campaign ta your Labour Party or

trade unton,

The campaign meets every Wednesday at §,00 pm, For more contact!

Amir Kabul Bafance Caapaign, Birmingham Family Service

Unit, 723 Coventry Road, Small

“Heath, Birmingham B10,

details

c/o

- ITECE JDISTORICT PARTS

EFEND SUMMERFIELD,

City of Birmingham Feow COUNCILLOR DICK KNOWLES ‘Leader of the Council

‘The Councd House

PO Box i?

Birmingham 31 135

Dear Comrade

position on thems.

Many comrades will recently have ---Necaived a letter signed by Dick . Knowles as Laadar of the Council, _Ken Barton as Deputy Leader, John Charlton as Group Secretary and Bill Gray as Chief Whip. Lack of ‘space and the fact that many comrades will have already received or read the letter - even though it is not claar exactly to _ whom it has been sent ~ mean that it is not reprinted here. [t is claar that this is part of an ‘orchestrated campaign involving the press, It is equally clear, however, that the latter cannot go unchallenged, The following is an initial ‘pespanse,

In the section on tha Labour Group and the Oistrict Party there is one central point which is not ‘brought out, That, put quite simply, is that it is the District Party who hag the final say on the ‘content of the manifesto, That is why the committee to decide the manifesto has ftore representatives ‘from the party than it does from “the group,

The leadership of the Labour

‘Group did = onot like all the

ur

st cour ref OK due 21 November 1986

‘There are & rember of issues which have recently been reported in the press regarding the relationship between the Labour Group and the District Labour Party and wa felt that it would be belpful to let you have the Labour Group's

The Labour Group and the District Party

nolicies that the party proposed ifor canclusion in the nanifesto, (For that reason, the Labour Group laadership saw fit to ignore the ‘democratic process, Instead of a ‘District Party Manifesto we had

ithe Labour Group leadership's mmanifeste, This included only ‘those elements of policy with

which they were happy, The points about election victories and the ‘launching of this ‘manifesto’ are ‘of course complately irrelevant,

: The letter also refers to a delegate fram Selly Oak, Again, ‘the situation here is simple, The ‘District Party has no jurisdiction

over membership of individual constituencias, Its purpose, as has been made clear on several

‘occasions is to distuss and make

‘policy oon local government affairs. Selly Oak CLP has, quite tightly, informed the District. Party that all its delegates:

including the person concerned are members of the party and accredited delegates, The vicious with hunt being carried out by the ‘Might is outside the jurisdiction of the District Party, i j But, of “course, the right is

DEFEND 3 ‘just using this as” an excuse to attack the District Party because they do not Like the policies it makes, They ata using it $0 disrupt the democratic process of policy making, No longer, it seems are they content to ignore parity policy, Now they want to pravent it being made in the first place, With regard to Phil Murphy, the letter goes nowhere towards justifying the comrade's scandalous removal from the Race Relations and Equal Opportunities Committee, No~on. who knows Phil Murphy will credit for one moment the allegation that he is opposed te increasing the staffing of the Race Relations and Equal ‘Dpportunities Unit, > Then there is the attack on the ‘Summerfield Group, an attack that chas been carried out not just in ithis letter but in the pages of the notoriously anti~Labour Birmingham papers, The press has been used in a completely cynical way to attack the left and the ‘Sunmerfield Group in particular, ‘For their part, the press has needed no prompting to continue ‘the attack, Yet what = the Summerfield Group stands for is District Party policy, All its ‘policies are those which have been ‘agreed by the District Party. They ‘propose a process at ‘democratisation long supported by ‘Briefing’ $a ensure these ‘policies are implemented, Far from being a small and unrepresentative minority they actually represent the voice of District Party policy

‘in the Labour Group, = Any. arganisational measures taken against councillors in the

Summerfield Group will not make ‘the political issues go away,

The District Party must respand ‘to this unprecedented attack on lits integrity, A detailed response ‘should be agreed by the party and ieinculated to all members of the ‘party in Birmingham, © The leadership must be called to order for the way in which it has chosen to make internal disputes public, °

Tha fight for a socialist ‘Labour Party and Council in Birmingham is now well and truly ; ‘underway, 7

a eeVOo

Caombghin 4 Caolain, Tariq Iqbal and Avtar Jounl,

(SIVA FEIV IV BIRMINGHAM.

October saw the visit to Birmingham of two Sinn Fein councillors, Lily Fitsimmons from Belfast and Caoimhghin 4 Caoldin from Nonagnan, At the same tine other Sinn Fein representatives ‘toured other parts of the country, . The Birmingham based part of ‘the four was busy although the reception in Birmingham in no way

matched avents likathe Civic Reception put om by the Labour Council in Mancnestar and the

welcomes given by several of the London boroughs,

Death threats from loyalist/fascist groups = which caused late changes ta a

Leamington Soa meeting, could not prevent a whole series of important meatings taking place. Contacts were made which will be crucial in developing work on the issue of Ireland in the Labour Party and the labour movement generally,

Two constituency parties - Ladywood and Perry Barr - invited speakers to meetings but contact with Birmingham Councillors was limited, It had been hoped to organise a formal meeting with representatives of the Race Relations and Equal Opportunities Committee, Despite the efforts of some councillors this proved impossible, Nevertheless, a necting did take place between the Sinn Fein councillers and some Birmingham councillors on the Thursday of the tour,

At the Trade Union Resource Centre a meeting was held with, trade unionists, Also on the intinerary ware meetings with Youth CNO, Wolverhampton Polytechnic Labour Club, the Miners Wives Support Group in Stoke-on-Trent some councillors in Sandwell and a visit to the Vest Midlands Prevention of Terrorism

‘Act project,

In particular links were made with the = Black = Community, especially at a meeting sponsored by the India Workers Association and addressed by Avtar Jouhl and a representative of the Handsworth Defence Campaign,

The specific struggle of women was also emphasised at a Saturday afternoon discussion sponsored by Women and Ireland and Labour Women for Ireland,

Sinn Fein’s socialist policies were clear throughout the tour, It ig just a pity that socialist policies on Ireland, like on so many other issues, are not a crucial component of the Labour Movement in Birmingham, Hopefully

this tour, by broadening the discussion and by exchanging experiences, will have gone some way towards changing that ‘situation, The struggle for socialism in Birmingham - and

indeed elsewhere in the country - has a lot to learn from the

struggle of Sinn Fein, (Tour organised by TOM, LCL and

TBR}

IG a

Send all articles and letters for “Biraingham Labour Briefing’ to: 48 Thornhill Road Birmingham B21 98S or telephone (O21-) 551 9174,

: 'Sriefing’ meets regularly on the “second Monday of each month, Next ‘meeting on Monday & December at 7,30 pm, Phone for details,

The next issue of ‘@riefing’ will

be out on 23 January 1997, Deadline for articles is 16 ~~ January - write them over the

Christmas holiday!

Conference on Trade Union Sanctions

11,90 - 6,00 13 December 1986 Carr's Lane Church Coff High St, City Centre)

Supported by Public Services — Liaison Committee for City Council] Workers representing NUT, NALGO, VeATT, TGWU, NUFE and 6MBATU,

Anti-racist education - is the council serious? 5

.Race and education is set to be one oof )6=6fhe)=—o main = political battlegrounds in the run up te the ‘general election, The repeated attacks on Brent by the media and the Tories demonstrate vividly the fate of any local council trying to implement effective anti-racist policies in education (and that is a fundamental issue in the Brent affair, whether at not they made a tactical error in suspending McGoldrick),

At the end of October, the ‘race spies’ smear campaign was taken up in Birmingham in a series of articles in the local press ‘attacking the local education

cauthority's Multicultural Devel- --opment Unit (MOY - a support team ‘of some thirty teachers, Local iTory politicians “ito “the army of classroom race “;spies" in Brent, The most heroic jpasture was struck by Roger King (MP for Northfield, who said, *] _hope [ am around if an observer _idsic) turns up at the primary school my two boys attend so I can “sling him (sic) out bodily," > This hysteria is of course completely synthetic, The MOV has been working in the same way for the past three years, This racist backlash is the first shot in what ig likely to be a bitter struggle

“around the authority's proposed new city-wide multicultural -education plans, The right

Tecognises that there is a lot of electoral mileage in targeting the alliance of anti-racist teachers, black activists and = Labour councils implementing anti-racist polictes,

How radical is the new policy? It is a serious attempt to challenge racial inequality in education, drawn up by senior @ducation advisers, But it does suffer from a funder of weaknesses, If is far too vague on tacism itself and the concrete Measures schools need to take, gaing bayond simple ‘cultural divarsity‘, It needs a lot nore support teachers to help schools ‘put it into practice, (These and

‘is that

compared the MDU

other important points are contained in thea new policy document from the Ethnic

Minorities Liaison Committee and in amendments from ‘8rfefing'

:supparters to the draft Education

policy document for the 1987 District Party policy conference),

Sut the real danger right now the Latour Group will Teject the policy even as it stands, They don't mind policies

:on multicultural education just as

long as no-one has to do anything

drive for equailty and will lower Gycation standards even further. ment muinusters, who are power-

about them if they don't want to, But the ‘delivery’ document, accompanying the new policy and detailing now the policy is to be implemented in schools, contains a plan for avery school in the city to put the policy into practice Birmingham is not 8rent, When the inevitable onslaught comes fron the right, this council will back down, Any lingering doubts should have been dispelled by the sacking of Councillor Phil Murphy from the Race Relations and Equal

RACE SPIES

SHOCK

By PETER DOBBIE and PETER DAY

RACE commissars in a Left-wing borough are recruiting

180 Thought Police to patrot schools for prejudice. And they will be paid out of a £5 million Government grant intended to promote racial harmony.

But teachers in the London borough of Brent — who say they already work in a climate of fear — believe the classroom spies will cause lasting damage in the

COMMISSARS IN CLASS

Wilk the council back down in the face of headlines like this?

“this

Opportunities Committes, It sant a

message to all douotful headteachers: don't worry; we're Not serinus about anti-racist

education, And a message to every teacher: you can risk your nack trying ta put anti-racist policies into practice, but don’t rely on us ta back you against opposition from white parents, Tory politicians and the Evening Mail,

So we have 2 improve sharpen ua the policy, But

and nost

importantly, we have to build the -sort of organised popular support -among parents, black and white, in the unions and in the Labour Party that is capable of pressuring the

Labour into implementing

Group policy and unequivocally backing teachers putting it into

practice,

Richard Hatcher (Ladywood CLP, Socialist Teachers Alliance},

eee

Phil Murphy - the truth behind the headlines ss 6

Two years ago, if you spoke to any |

‘veteran’ of the Birmingham Labour Group they would have told you that the pariod of Clive Wilkinson's leadership was a “peigh of terror’, If you were to ask those same veterans why it was that a supposedly democratic party allowed such a cult of the ‘individual to prevail for so long ‘they would tell you that he was good at dealing with the Tories, After a few drinks, however, they might tel! you that Wilkinson ‘would ‘destroy’ any individual who opposed him, They would also tell ‘you that the coming of Knowles “brought the end of the Wilkinson

‘nightmare and installed a new .. liberal regime, Knowles was once heard (in

private? explaining one of the cardinal principles of conducting ‘the internal affairs of his ‘pegime: appoint a few to important positions as chairs of .committees and you kill any

potential left opposition and ensure a trouble free reign, Apparently Knowles suggested

Albert Bore as one ‘lefty’ he had thus neutralised,

Having mapped out this machiavellian method of deflecting opposition, how come Knowles

agreed to throw off the only AfroCaribbean member of the Race Relations and Equal Opportunities Committee? How come Knowles has had to sanction the right on the Labour Group denouncing the ‘loony left'? What has happened to Albert Bore to make him reveal himself to the District Party as = an appologist for an spokesperson of

the right? What has happened to

reduce the Labour Group to a state of panic when its approach was designed to prevent such disarray?

The answer is simple, Knowles and company believed that the simple establishment of a Race Relations and Equal Opportunities Committee in May 1984 was all that needed to be done to tackle raciaa and racial discrimination and disadvantage, The appointment of successive right wing chairpersons was calculated to ansure nothing positive would be done,

However, as is widely known,

“supporters

‘leftists’ ~

the struggle waged by Birminghan Labour Party and its Ethnic Minorities Liaison Committee and has succeeded in ‘pavealing this fraude perpetrated against the @lack Community, The most recent attack was the ‘decision to upgrade a member of the Race Relations and Opportunities Unit ta the lavel of

‘assistant Chief Officer without observing normal recruitment procedures, When this move was

opposed by Phil Murphy and Roy

‘Benjamin and the Ethnic Minorities

Liaison Committee it was decided that Phil Murphy was toe dangerous and had to go, Such opposition could nat be tolerated,

; The second reason for the panic is the fact that a number af Labour . councillors decided that they would no longer tolerate the way the Labour Group ignored District Party policy,

particularly in the field of race.

relations and equal opportunities,

Thus the Summerfield Group was”

formed to fight for the implementation of party policies, The fight was joined against the machiavellian regime,

| If we recall Knowles' basic principle of neutralising oppesition the reason for the panic is clear, The Group has no idea how to relate to individuals who take a serious and consistent ‘anti-racist stance, Their response

‘tg to try to ‘destroy’ such ‘individuals, They are forced to ‘repeat «othe methods of the

‘Vilkinson era against anti-racists

and all those conmitted to ‘isocialism and District Party policies, a

Equa!

beginning, ispilt, the vampires in the Labour ‘Group are clearly insatiable, They will not be

‘that the labour

‘the Guildford 4,

‘prison since 1974, isentences for ‘Woolwich pub bombings;

that connection whatsoever

] What lessons can be drawn from

‘all this? Capitalism and racism

wera Dorn together, The struggles ‘fagaingt racism and capitalism when ‘combined ‘dastruction of ‘those in the Labour Party who want

will result in the

capitalism, Thus

‘to protect and marely manage

capitalism will attack anti-

capitalists and anti-racists, “Comrades should note that the

sacking of Phil Murphy is just the With the first bload

content until they have sucked the bload from all the

ranti-racists and anti-capitalists van the Labour Group,

: Councillor Phil Murphy,

Regional Conference _

1987.

It is time to be thinking about next year's Regional Labour Party Conference, The deadline for resolutions is Friday 16 January so we should really get our submissions sorted out before Christmas, Some constituencies have decided their resolutions

already, oe The Labour Committee on Ireland

is sponsoring three resolutions, fine of these is in support of ther Guildford Four, With even Lord Scarman on television racently casting doubt on their guilt, it is even more pressing than ever movement should call for their overdue release,

Guildford Four: "Regional Conference notes that;

1, three men and a woman, known as have been in

serving life the Guildford and

2, that four other men have gone on record and given evidence in court to the effect that they were responsible for these bombings and the Guildford 4 had no with these

Continued on page 7...

5, affiliate to

_ Continued from page 6,

events:

‘3, that despite this crucial new evidence and other overwhelwing evidence of a miscarriage of ‘Justice, the Guildford 4's request

for a retrial was rejected by the

:Mo~jury court of appeal in 1977:

4, that no further legal route far appeal exists and they can only be ‘Teleased by decision of the Home Secretary,

We therefore resolve to: ‘1, write to the Home Secretary

‘demanding the release of the Guildford 4, 2, weite to the frish Enbassy

asking them to pratest to the Home Offica, ‘3, inform

local regresentatiyes

rabout the case and call on them to

support the demand far the release of the Guildford 4,

4, raise the matter with the NEC, the free the Guildford 4 campaign,

~~&, donate £,,, to the Guildford 4

~ campaign, * oe (Note: the six items are adjustabla according 49 circumstances, The address to contact for mora information is

‘Free the Guildford 4 Campaign', BM Box 6944, London WCIN 3XX,)

——

Another resolution is from Black Section supporters and has baan supported by Ladywood CLP:

"This Conference believes the Labour Party's aconomic palicy and Jobs and Industry Campaign do not take into account the racism faced by Black people, Slack people face “much higher unemployment than white people, are more likely to be made radundant and face discrimination when thay apply for ‘jobs, In this context, it is not

“enough for Labour 9 promise one

/Million jobs in two years as thase ‘fobs are unlikely to go to Black ‘people sinner city areas,

mts

| women i} there

A policy for women

The Women's palicy statement produced for this year's Qistrict Labour Party policy conference begins by restating its support for last year's greposals, This is 2 necessary point to make as the Women's Committee has not received whole-hearted suoport from some parts of the Labour Group in the past year,

Perhaps the most important new issue is the rapreasentation of women cauncillors oan council committees, There ara still major committees which have no Lagour members, We believe that should be women on each major committees, both because ve want to see the best possible use of the talents of our women councillors, and because = wa beliave that women's views on, for examole, planning and = leisure services have an important part to play in the development af socialist policies in Birmingham,

Admittedly, women councillors are in short supoly at the moment, We hope this will improve, ¥Ve also want to see women councillors’ committee preferences respected,

Therefore we ara also proposing

include: _ a, the adoption of contract compliance policies by local authorities, central government departuents and nationalised industriss aimed af ensuring companiss which supply the public sector are equal oppartunitias anployers:

.b, the adoption of ‘aquality

targets’ within the public sector and the use of contract compliance

‘to ensure private firms do the sama; c, the amanding of the Race

Relations Act to place tha burdan on amployars to prave they are nat discriminating against Black

co-options of women to council committees fa isprave the tepresentation of women, This

strategy could also be used to improve the representation of Black people and disabled people on the council,

Rewriting council official documents, such as standing arders in gandar neutral language is a further proposal, It is a long time since women gat the right to ‘vote, 50 why should council documents continue to refar to ‘he’? The same principle should apply to promotional material, including photographs, filns and the like, Birmingham women should be presented in a positive way, not always in the same old staraotypad réles,

“Apparently he couldn’t get a child minder.”

Finally, we are asking for the implementation of one small policy: a small 1S-place creche in the Council House for use by visitors, councillors and council workers in an emergency, Such a creche would not go very far towards meeting the needs of ‘council workers and councillors for affordable, good quality childcare, but it would be a first step,

Not to commitment

carry gut would be a

beat

this clear the Labour Group

anne

Carol Cummins (Ladywood CUP),

VICTORY: __

Amir Khan and mysalf would Like ta

thank 'Sriefing’ peadars and ‘Sriafing’ itself for the “magnificant support during our campaign far te-instatemant inte tha Labour Parrty which finally triumphed on 26 Novenber,

Sparebrook GC backed down at its meating on 25 Noveaber and the NEC ratified its recommendation to reinstate us the following day, Roy Hatterslay had been told by cLarry Whitty that the NEC would have no alternative but to ‘reinstate ug because af a pending legal cnallenge, due to de heard in court in aarly Decemoer, Whitty told hia that he coulg either persuade Sparkdrook reingtatenant or the imposa it the maxt day, Having deciced the fire: course was the lass humiliating, he came down to Sparkdroox and told his supporters that ha had ‘a bitter pill‘ that thay had to swallow, They svalloved it despite benind the scenes protests from CLP officers that they had always been assured

NEC would

‘The

to propose the.

‘party conference,

that the expulsions would stick, At the GC meeting they sat in stunned silence as he told them that the expulsions had breached natural justic2 on nine counts, feeling at the meeting was even more acrimonious than usual and at ona point a tired and emotional Sir Stanley Yapp told Hattersley to shut

“down,

The strength of the campaign

-wasa that it had managed to unite

left opinion the aarty, In Birmingham, the locai ‘Srsefing’ played a central role in publicising the cas2@ and kesping activists informed of developments, The local Labour Co-ordinating Committee, albtheugh and despite having one ot the leading Sparkbrook witchhunters among its founder members, supported all the local campaigning activities. ost important of all, the local

al sactions of ingice

wear,

cLabour Party brancjes prioritised

our case in the run up to national

up and sit

But,

Sparkbrook will take a long ‘time to recover from the witch hunt, Although the party is more divided than ever, the activists have been given a tremendous boost by the success of the campaign and will now attempt to turn the party

outwards, away from witch hunting and intolerance, It will not be easy, however, with the current

leadership who will have to be forced to step down because of ‘their continuing commitment to ‘expulsions,

> Ms Keane, the Sparkbraok chairperson, unwittingly gave a ‘flavour of Sparkbrook right wing ‘politics when she was interviewed by the ‘post! after the ‘reinstatement, She said, “I fell ‘Like a US paliceman whe has to let ‘a quilty man go because he forgot ‘to read him his rights," With Dirty Harry alive and dominating “Sparkbrook CLP, our task will not ‘be easy,

Kevin Scally (member - Sparkbrook ICLP),

BORDERWAY

More than 200 West Midlands trade unionists joined the sacked workers at Borderway factory in Birminghan in a rally on 12 November in solidarity with their ‘Tight to join a trade union,

Banners from TASS, Metal Mechanics, the firefighters! ‘union, public sector workers and

Birmingham Trades Council hung on the wall of the factory, The boss, Mr Newashangi had closed it far

the day, Speaking to the rally, former

Longbridge convenor, “Derek Robinson, said the workers were sacked for joining the

-manufacturing union TASS and then

replaced by scab labour, He said “What we need to do here is go out

‘to the factories which deal with

Borderway and ask workers not to handle its products, What we need in the trade union movement is solidarity, It is very simple, but very important,”

He also went on to say that the

Tory government was hell bent on

_ destroying

“the

‘in the liquidator,

‘said,

‘seeking atest developments, * |

the trade union movement, The answer was a Labour Government that would abolish the

ranti-union laws,

: Jerry Bartlett, representing NUPE, calleed for more cash to be collected for the sacked workers, Local vicar, Richard Bashford said it was time the church got off the fence and joined people like the sacked Borderway workers in the struggle, He went on to say; "If I don't speak out on this matter 1 am not doing my job,* | Encouraged by the turnout at

rally the workers are determined to fight on to win

‘theit right to belong te a union,

Meanwhile, Barderway has called MR terry Pye,| Midland district organiser for the. Metal Mechanics section of TASS. “I find it deeply disturbing that the company solution is nat.

‘te sit down and discuss the matter!

but ang

legal

cut tun, We will be

advice an these