Unions and the Labour Party NEW STRAINS

The strains between the trade 4nion leadership and the Labour Party have in recent weeks begun to take on the form of a public squabble. On the union side the main critic of Labour’s performance in Coalition is John Carroll of the ITGWU.

The Labour Party’s role in the lition of spearheading the cious attacks on workers living standards in the recent budget in exchange for a few cabinet positions has forced Carroll and others to take their distance. The question is save Carroll and the other Tades union leaders an altertative strategy to the governnents policy of making the workers pay for the economic crisis? Can they force the Labour Party to act as a pol itical leadership for the work ing class and resolve the economic crisis by fighting for workers’ solutions? If we look at the past record of the Labour Party and the trades union leadership the outlook isn’t promising.

| Si mt GARY THE LABOUR PARTY Since ditching the traditions of Connolly in the 1920's, the Labour Party has never been a real chall.nger for the political leadership of the working class. Refusing to recognise the role of British imperialism in Ireland has historically left the Labour Party to play a minor role in Irish politics. The only time they have entered government has been as a mudguard for the most reactionary capitalist party, Fine Gael, while the majority of workers have voted for the pseudo-republicans of Fianna Fail because of its historical identification with the national struggle.

THE TRADES UNIONS Is John Carroll saying something new in his criticism of the Coalition? The answer to that would be .. is ohn Carroll’s own house in order? His own opposition to Coalition is not very radical. In the past the ITGWU union has had fightback against austerity he strong links with the bourgeois would first get rid of all the nationalists of Fianna Fail. trappings of the past period Tying the trades union move- Of ‘social partnership’. The followed by the trades union of national understandings and start to rest his confidence on wage agreements packaged in _ the militant action of union a collaborationist concept members instead of hobof social partnership has done nobbing with ‘progressive’ nothing to protectjobs and Capitalists. living standards. Indications are that the unions are still holding on to this concept and are hoping through such a deal to moderate the severity of the capitalist austerity offensive.

This is 4 pipedream. While a Fianna Fail government might make some temporary concessions to ward off militant action, its general objective would be the same: defence of profits at the expense of workers’ living standards. If there was any willingness by John Carroll to lead a real IRISH TRANSPORT & GENERAL WORKERS’

UNION ‘The Trade Union Alternative’ put forward by the Northern Ireland Committee of the Irish Congress of Trades Unions (NICTU) will undoubtedly ° be endorsed at this month's Annual Conference in WhiteAbbey. What is equally undoubted is that it will do little to halt what NICTU call ‘the Basically the NICTU plan is a rehash borrowed from the British TUC’s ‘Alternative Economic Strategy’. It calls for increased investment in the public sector and social services: ..@ target of 10,000 new public sector houses a year ..new capital investments in hospitals and more preventive health care facilities ..@ comprehensive system of secondary education and _ more facilities for the underfives Outside of developing a Strategy for independent workers action, withdrawal of the political levy is most likely to lead to a wholly negative rejection of politics. That’s not what the working people of Ireland need today. What is needed is a working class party committed to workers action in opposition to the attacks of Irish capitalism and the British imperialist power that stands behind it. an extra £150m investment in energy to equalise prices between the 6 counties and Britain .. modernisation of the railways and an improved road network increased subsidies for agriculture particularly the processing industry BUILD AN ANTI-IMPERIALIST WORKERS ALTERNATIVE! importantly, the discussion in the unions and the workplace is already centering not on April 13 itself, but what todo of working people is dividing the 26 counties between who support its pro-rich policies and those who say, ‘Let fight back!’ April 13 could well be the opening shot in f massive confrontation between on one side the bossesand their political stooges in Fine Gael, Fianna Fail and yes, even in the Labour Party, and on the other the overwhelming ma ity of working people who refuse to pay for the mess that cap italist governments of all hues have made of Irish society.

would replace it? A Fianna Fail government or a National Government would still seek to make workers pay for the capitalist crisis - they would be the old jackals in a new suit, driving down our living standards and democratic rights.

of workers and small farmers would offer a different remedy. It would stop spending tens of millions of pounds protecting — Britain’s‘partition’ border and serve notice to quit to the Britwould tax the profits of the multi-nationals and nationalise the banks finance and insurance companies tofundthe __ creation of jobs and provision of social services; it would _ confiscate the plant and resources of any capitalist employer threatening redundancies and place them unde! the control of the workers. It would uphold and rights of women and youth. It would oppose the race and give support to the movements for natic liberation worldwide.

It is just such a government that James Connolly fought for in 1916. The Labour and Workers’ Parties have long since abandoned the aims of Connolly. A new party must be buil£ a party that stands up unconditionally for the interests of working people, that defends all those rights that are under attack. -A new party that unites the fighters against imperial rule with the class conscious militants in the unions, if womens movement and amongst the youth. It is that type of | party -in the Connolly tradition - that Peoples Democracy fights to build.

The NICTU estimate that if all their proposals were acc- Buteven if it was 20 years ago, Casill eect new [the NICTU plan would'be Se”

jobs which by today’s figures less in tackling the traditional would leave over 70,000 wor- Mass unemployment and : kers still on the dole. But poverty that passes for life in NICTU pleading that the of the political and economic North should be treated as control which British imp‘a special case’. erialism exercises over Irish This ‘special case’ argument in Ireland North and South an serves to emphasise the total international recession simply absence of reality from the means going from a bad sitto the problems of unemploy- to-disaster. Imperialist domNorth. It refuses to recognise is such widespread fear tha that the present international even in the event of an uptum recession is not just some hic- in the world economy, partitboom and prosperity: it Keynesian measures - such as understand in theirown way the Callaghan government’s __ that the ‘Trade Union Altersocial contract - would sort - native’ is irrelevant to their every thing out, that the daily struggle againstjob‘mixed economy’ (ie capitalism lessness and poverty. There with a human face) is still the were no howls of protest at — best way of organising society. Prior’s arrogant dismissal of Margaret Thatcher and her of protest will be matched br y ‘monetarist experiment’ ignor- an equal lack of interest in t ing the truth that in every fighting rhetoric of the NICTU c4pitalist country unemploy- | leaders at their seaside confThis confrontation could bring down the Coalition. But what 1 Only a government of those who are exploited, a government _ standards collapse.

Bae re itish Tories _ if the crisis was just a hiccup, down by Prior despite the is an inevitable consequence 4 society. That is the reason why whole approach of the NICTU uation to worse and eventually } ment and poverty in the ination also explains why there cup in the normal order of _ioned Ireland wouldn’t benefit Workers in the North seem to _ thinks that the adoption of d So the problem becomes NICTU’s proposals; this lack — ment is soaring while living erence in Whiteabbey. “

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acacia: aa sneer, ../mproved industiral training ing people in the 6 counties. ..import controls

even this modest plan has the 6 counties. The misery of already been given the thumbs working people in the North