Discrimination!

The North:

iy / oyment is still rife.

at shouldn’t come as a surprise to any socialist or anti-imperialist. What should fill them with burning anger and a determination to organise and fight-back is the clear evidence that the trade unions and nationalist politicians have been quietly accepting the status quo and helping to preserve the sectarian practices in Northern industry.

The evidence of discrimination is clear:

@ Shorts:

A Fair Employment Agency (FEA) report some years ago showed that only from 4.5 to 8% of the firms skilled workers were Catholics. It is not surprising that the ‘U.S. based Irish National Caucus expressed some doubt about a Shorts statement say ing that not only did they not discriminate now but that they had never discriminated!

@ The Civil Service: A yet unpublished report indicated that since the reforms forced by the Civil Rights movement Catholics have been recuited into the lower ranks of the Civil service but discrimination still effectively bars them from higher posts. :

Local Government: - The FEA reports that Cookstown Council has a workforce composed of ulation and also unemployment among Catholic workers locally stands at 70%.

@ Transport:

A recent survey by Catholic workers in Belfast’s Citybus shows the same picture - exclusion from management and from skilled jobs.

But what’s really set the cat among the pigeons has been the demand by Irish Americans and American labour organisations that US firms in the North and US contracts be firmly linked to anti-discrimination clauses. This has thrown the spotlight onto the inactivity of nationalist and labour organisations in Ireland itself.

@ M@The newest source of capitalinvestment in the North is from the South. The following developments are either already in existence or are in the planning stage and have generally been supported by both Fianna Fail and Coalition Governments:@ A Dunnes_ Supermarket chain Binvestment in construction @ Dublin-Belfast and Dublin-Derry Air link @ <A new car ferry company WOrders for the Belfast shipyard and heavy engineering [both notorious for the level of La ee a BA gas pipeline BA whole series of cross-border studies and developments in conjunction with the eec.

In none of these cases has the 26 county Govt. even suggested that investment should be linked to anti-discrimination clauses nor has any section of the Labour movement called for such aclause.

In the Labour Movement LIA recent delegation from the American Longshoremen's union came out of a meeting with ICTU leaders expressing astonishment at their unconcern’§ with levels of discrimination.

LiShorts Shop Stewards demanded a statement from the the Northern Committee of ICTU giving Shorts a ‘clean bill of health’ and denying that Shorts discriminated. This was supported by a majority of the delegates but toned down after violent objections from Inez McCormick and _ other delegates.

(]Paddy Devlin, Northern secretary of the ITGWU commented on discrimination in Civil Service: ‘The moves to abolish discrimination are -well under way. They are held back only by the lack of jobs.”’ c=r b It= = (3 The most recent issue printed by Workers : in Nort pie vl Party’ carries an interview with a Shorts Shop Steward defending the company and goes on to suggest that Catholics will just have to wait until the economic sit-: uation improves! © There is a real need for a workers movement to investigate and _ fight discrimination in the North and any collaboration with it. Such a movement must clearly understand the role of the trades unions. Their collaboration is not confined to the North nor is it forced by loyalist trades unionists. The fact is that the trades union leadership, having turned their face against the Irish revolution and towards collaboration with imperialism are quite content to §efend sectional interests of organised workers as opposed to the interests of the working class as a whole.

They must be prepared to face the ol lie that opposition to discrimination is itself sectarian - the view of the Workers Party.

But they must organise. A really effective trade unionmovement, a really effective unity of workers and the foundations of an anti-imperialist party of the working class can really only be built by. smashing the discriminatory practices that help keep workers divided. PAGES 4&5. PD and Sinn Fein discuss Way Forward.

PAGE6 Chile; 10 years after the coup.

After the Referendum - What Next?

At the time of writing the result of the September 7 referendum is not known. Indications are for a ‘YES’ vote but with up to 30% voting ‘NO’.All things considered not a bad achievement for the Anti-Amendment Campaign - representing tens of thousands cf Irish voters who reiect a sectarian approach to the Constitution of the South.

The ‘NO’ vote certainly means that the issue has not been decided for ali time and to that extent also represents something of a set-back for the far-right supporters of the PLAC who wanted a sory ‘NO’ vote. A Woman’s Right To Choose will be more and more discussed in post-referendum Ireland.

None of the above is meant to understate the power and influence of reactionary forces in Ireland today. The intimidation carrried out by the Catholic hierarchy and its secret societies the Knights of Columbanus and Opus Dei in the final weeks of the campaign testifies to the real er which these ‘dark-age’ forces still weild. Without doubt there will be an attempt to carry a McCarthyite style witch-hunt into all areas of Irish society. Women activists, trade unionists, civil libertarians are all potential targets. The right-wing will want to isolate people associated with the ‘NO’ vote in order to make easier its planned aitacks on contraception, divorce and _ indeed democratic movements in general. We have to prepare now to defend these movements and individuals.

2On_ all the major issues of “ish Capitalists are in the British occupation in the North - the answers. lreland’s dependence on imperialism severely narrows the room for manouevre on the part of Irish capitalism which forces it to rely ever-more on repression as the means of keeping working people at bay and so some limited autonomy from its imperial masters. It is this bankruptcy of the established parties that allowed the far-right to organise around the Amendment and created the opportunity for the re-emergence of the Catholic Church as a direct political force in a way not seen since the ‘Mother and Child’ controversy of the 1950s. Like then the role of the Church is to curtail democratic rights and through pulpit bashing stifle the struggles of working people to get a solution to the crisis which is in their interest. Irish story. British television, radio and newspapers over the past few weeks have devoted tremendous resources to the story of how 13 young people have joined the ever lengthening dole queues in Thatcher’s Britain. Not that the capitalist media which was almost unanimous in supporting the return of a Tory Government in the general election in June of this year, has suddenly become concerned about youth unemployment or work as a result of Tory policies is a really big No such luck!!!

The capitalist media has simply joined the witchhunt against socialists, itrades unionists and civil rights activists in a big way. They want to do ‘everything they can to ‘help the British Tories cripple the ability of working people to fight back against policies which condemn them to a life of poverty and The Cowley 13 are accused of having told lies about their educational backgrounds in order to get jobs with British Leyland. If this is true, then the real question is how come people have to lie to get jobs in a country which boasts itself as the ‘Mother of Democracy?’ As we in Ireland know British democracy in the final analysis is the preserve of exploiters and tyrants - it offers nothing to the exploited nor to The swiftness with which the media moved on from the Cowley 13 to ‘exposes’of Trotskyist ‘moles’in the Labour Party and wild talk of ‘infiltrators’ and ‘conspiracies’ provides the real truth. The Cowley 13 were sacked for holding political views which put them on the side of working people which motivated them to be active trades unionists. British capitalism doesn’t want these sort of people in the factories helping to organise the defence of jobs and living standards And it doesn’t want them in the Labour Party either in case that organisation begins to take ‘socialist rhetoric’seriously. :

Of course the Tories and the media couldn’t get .away with this if it wasn’t for the pathetic mis-leaders of the Brit‘ish Labour and Trades Union movement. These latter have for some time now. bee ducting rie _ - rcn-n ut : against militant activists “As the’ recession has ruined the lives of working people the Foots and the Murrays have been running scared that the movement might demand they break with the capitalist system which is responsible for this misery. But that is something these right wing bureaucrats will never do.

Eric Heffer the left-wing candidate for leader of the British Labour Party has warned of _ the danger of McCarthyism (a red scare) in Britain. He has said :‘This is the time for all true democrats to say enough is enough before it is too late and the atmosphere develops into one of hysteria.’ We shall see at the upcoming Labour Party Conference just who the ‘true democrats’ are.

The media in Ireland have reported events in Britain and commented that this type of witchu y n aatio of the ‘pro-life’ brigade against opponents of the constitutional amendment is a warning that we shouldn’t be so confident. If a witch-hunt - succeeds in Britain make no mistake about it, the politicians, bosses and media will try to get the. bandwagon rolling here!

JOHN MAGEE. PD SLAMS

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25% Cainotic workers though they make North 45% of the local pop.

SSE tees a: aA aa o) J O

IN THIS ISSUE:

SEPARATE CHURCH & STATE!