“After all its pious mouthings about the low paid,…”

After all its pious mouthings about the low paid, the British Government hae initiated a campsign of propayanda and repression against those under-paid sections of the working class who have dared to stand up against the.pay freeze. Ard the JUC has refused to build a united movement im opposition to the measures, they have allowed the Government's plan to pick eff one section of the workii: class at 2 time to be The task now before the British working class is to unite in strupgle against the freeze. If the TUC will not organise action then it will be for the workers themselves to prepare such action. And workers in the six counties mst not shirk their respnsibilities, they too mst fight the freeze. Some are already doing so. in the public sector and in essential servic-on all the time. They occur because every es. Because of thie they are doubly oppressed government this country hss had puts the started, From March 1, hospital ancillary workers in the north of Ireland will operate a ban on overtime and a campaign of non-cooperation with management. Selective strikes in hospitals throughout the North are also being planed. They mist be supp -orted, The Confederation of Health Service Employees his asked that students and children should refuse to be brought into t-e hospitals as blackleg voluntary lebour.

But the fight againat the freeze can only be effective, for workers in individual industries, whether hespital workers, civil servants or gas men, and for the working class as a whole, if a resolute and united stand is made.

Civil servants in the six counties have decided to be "responsible" and not to strike in the present situation. But "responsibility" ¢doesa not win improvements in pay or conditions. It is the Government that has forced workers to take action, it is the Government that mist carry the can for the effects of that action.

public sector 4t present it is workers in some of the most ill-paid occupations that are putting up the fight against the Tories, These, auch as the hospital workers and in Britain the gas men, have also tended to be employed Being in the public sector, the Government hes had the power to clamp down directly on their pay demands. This power the Government hag not hesitated to use. Secondly, as essential service workers they have the full power of the Press propaganda michine turned against them - “they endanger lives by their reckless actions" ete etc, | SOLIDARITY WITH THE HOSPITAL be.’ WORKERS! SmASH THE FREBZE!

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ee But workers do not strike and lose pay for fun, It is the refusal of employers to offer workers a fair wage t at Teaves people with no alternative but to strike. The hospital workers have mide it clear that they will not place lives or health ir danger - bit that will not stop the propaganda.

poverty-stricken Gas workers in England are already feeling the effect of the Press's poison pen. The "Red Mole", paper of the International Marxist Group, British Section of the Fourth International, made these comments on the Bress campaign - "fhe Daily Mail called the tune for 2 well orchestrated Bress hysteria by shrieking 'this etrike could kill', Charity orgarisstions urged gas men to ‘search their hearts’ and sugrested that half a million might be killed off by the gas strike! This means that half a mliion people in this country are so poverty stricken that they will freeze to death. Who is reseporsible for that scandal? Millions of people are finding themselves priced out of essesntials, are the gas workers responsible for that? This is exactly what the gas workers are fighting against and whst the espitalist class which the Tory Government leads has created. Soon we will hear ahout desths. Why haven't we heard chout then before? They are an outrare and they herve been going profits of the capitalists before the eafety and living standards of the workirg class", In Britain, workers are preparin? for a General Strike. Workers in the six counties mat five them fullest support.

HinaTH AND THE IYPERTALISTS MUST BE OPPOSED ON ALL FROMTS!

DMASH THE FREEZES

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