This Sunday, Case Con, a left wing organisation of social workers, holds its London conference against a background of a series of struggles over the last eighteen months. These have included initiatives against punitive and degrading treatment of homeless people (Hackney and Southwark), support of squatters (Islington, Lambeth and Tower Hamlets), defence of gypsies being run out of the borough (Waltham Forest), agitation against the Housing Finance Act (Camden and elsewhere), defence of a social worker against political victimisation (Islington), and other struggles directly or indirectly connected with the functioning of welfare services.
MAJOR WEAKNESS In some of these struggles a high level of militancy and political awareness has been displayed. However, the fact that nearly all these struggles have remained localised remains a major weakness. This fragmentation con•demns militants to struggle in isolation against this or that aspect of social service policy, while the ruling class is able to generalise its offensives through the use of the state apparatus and to centralise its attacks on the working class through the Tory Government. It is this weakness which the Case Con conference must begin to resolve this weekend.
Case Con has already shown itself capable of playing an important role in generalising one or two such struggles. When social workers took action over night-time 'standby and callout duty last year, Case Con played an important role in the formation of an allLondon co-ordinating committee to centralise the social workers' struggle. Earlier this year, when Islington Council attempted a political sacking, an all-London meeting and demonstration initiated through Case Con strengthened the fight against the victimisation at a crucial stage.
Two main questions now face Case Con's London organisation. The most immediate is the strike by Islington social workers which started on Monday against bad working conditions. Under the Seebohm rationalisation, social work teams were sent scurrying to the different localities of each borough with the idea that increased 'community contact would mean a more economical use of resources. The lack of proper offices resulted in many social service workers being accommodated in near-derelict shops, converted scout halls, old council baths and other such run down and uncomfortable premises. The Islington social workers are quite clearly taking a lead on a question which affects the mass of social workers in London.
HOMELESSNESS The second question, and one which has wider long-term significance for the whole of Red Weekly Reporter the working class, is that of homelessness. At nised the need to centralise efförts on the housing question by setting up a sub-group around this issue, and the last issue of Case Con magazine publicised secret government moves to deprive homeless people of their right to a home.
Schedule 23 of the Local Government Act 1972, removes from local authorities their obligation (under the 1948 National Assistance Act) to house homeless people and legalises what is already the current practice of nearly all local authorities — the punitive and degrading treatment of the homeless. This must be fought. In Camden, a new Case Con group which has just been formed has taken this question up, producing a leaflet for circulation, not only to social service workers but to all other local government workers, as well as to trade union branches and tenants associations in the Camden area.
It is this type of initiative which can successfully be taken up at an all-London, and national level by Case Con. Such a broad and centralised initiative can do much to strengthen the hand of the militants locally, as well as helping Case Con to evolve as a coherent fighting organisation. Jack Lewis For further information about this Sunday's conference, phone 226 8720.
is not resolved within the next few days. But on Monday Adwest still refused to give any guarantees about job security, and insisted that there should be no joint agreement covering both the Sunderland and Reading workers. They also refused to come up with any sizeable wage offer, and made speed-up and unprecedented job flexibility a condition of any wage increase.
With further pressure likely from other customers like Jensen and Jaguar, an all-out fight is clearly on the cards in which the Ad west workers will require effective solidarity action from other workers in the industry.