One of the hardest fought battles for a threshold agreement has been at the Plessey factory at Beaston, Nottingham-photo shows pickets during strike The economic crisis is getting worse and worse, and the tactics of the amployers tougher and tougher. It is becuming clear that the old ways of winning working class demands, factory by factory or even industry by industry, are no longer chough. Some employers, for example the Engineering Employers' Federation, have even held international conter ences on now to co-ordinate the tight against the trade unions. All this is in addition to the centralised attacks hy incomes policy and other methods.
The fact that workers are more and more fighting nationwide problems, for example inflation, also shows the need more and more clearly for united actions going beyond the bounds of individual factories and unions. Indeed, judging the CBI, if united action is not decided upon some very serious defeats indeed could face the workBut, despite the pressing needs of the situation. the union bureauc racy continues to play its usual tricks of allowing cach scotion of the working class to go into struggle individually. Last winter, for examp le, they separated the struzgles of the miners, engineers and the train drivers — all of whom were moving towards struggle at the same time The result was that although the miners won a lamous victory, the train drivers did not achieve all their demands and the engineers struggle ended in a humiliating sellout. A united struggle could have won everything. Even now no unite
Ere bureaucracy has soid out on all fronts notably on the Shrewsbury pickets. Here minents loboy The VLAIT conterence last week, at which the Executive was censured for its line on the issue. struggles are being prepared on thres holds, national minimum wage, equal pay etc.
BUREAUCRACY
At the present time the bureaucracy is doing nothing to develop a united fight around the thresholds, a national minimum wage, or equal payIn this situation militants have to be continually looking for demands ffor example, equal money increases for all, a united struggle for a national minimum wage, a sliding scale of wages) and forms of struggle (such as action committees and strike committees), which can unify workers in struggle, The employers' resistance to thresholds is a perfect ekample. Various emplovers in the same town, whole companies, and even industries have refused to grant thresholds. For British Leyland and Chrysler, have retused anything, while GEC are trying to set a E1.00 maximum Both the British Leyland and Plessey combines are refusing thresholds, while the Engineering Employers' Federation is telling its members only to concede monthly reviews. It should be obvious in this situation, to all except the union bureaucrats, that united struggles should be of capitalists. An action committee in Coventry co-ordinating and centralising all the struggles, a united combine-wide fight in British Leyland, or a national struggle against the EEF would soon bring the reluctant employers to heel.
NOVEMBER
An even more serious development will occur in November, Then all the threshold agreements run out nationally. You can bet your life that the employers are going to really fight against giving any important protection against inflation at all when that happens. But what reply are the unions going to give? The union leaders, left to themselves, will almost cerfainly decide to leave individual groups of workers to try and get what they can. But that will allow the weak and low-paid to go to the wall. Since any employer who makes concessions is likely to open the dam, we can expect all the employers to centralise their action. Even the strongest groups of workers face a very hard fight.
The alternative to thir da clear. Million and million of workers will see even the minimal protection against aflation they have won threatened, Precisely becuure they face the same probiem, the struggle of all these workers could be centralived into g massive fight, a general strike If necessary. Thir could not merely defend the threshoids, but could wir a reaf sliding scale of wages.
These types of class-wide problems (thresholds, unemployment, low pay, oqual pay) are going to keep coming up in the coming months and years. The campaign has to start now for a united struggle on all these questions. Militants must base themseives on the perspective of a general example, in Coventry the big car firms, strike to secure the most important basic working class demands.
The atart of this campaign must be the fight for united industrial action to defend the thresholds, and extend them to a real sliding scale of wages, in November.
ALAN JONES of the National Health Service hus provoked protests from even such archaic and deeply conservative tion. Dr Stevenson, secretary of the BMA claims that the service is only "porters to consultants.
ent in every section of the service, from badly-paid nurses to ward closures, and new buildings not used to ages and chronic under-financing.
cost of the Health Service to rise Firstly, there is the labour-intensive nature of the NHS. If wages in the Service follow the national trend, The decline and steady disintegration policies.
bodies as the British Medical Associaticking over' by exploiting staff from The effects of this crisis are evidprices.
their capacity because of staff shortBASIC There is a basic tendency for the the crisis in social expenditure and determines its links with incomes As these inbuilt tendencies bave led to swelling costs, capitalism has attempted to place the burden for these on the net real wages of the working class. In the last three years a higher proportion of revenue has been raised by borrowing, but all this has done is to fuel the rise in FALLING Money spent on the NHS rese from £493 million in 1951 to £2277 million in 1971. As a percentage of the gross national product the rise was much slower.
In the 1950s the share spent on the health services actually fell. By diverting large amounts of taxes, it rose by one percentage point during the 1960s. But this does not PAVEMENT have reaped the benefit of a healthy. more productive working class paid for by the taxation imposed on their workforce, and the exploitation of health workers Furthermore, both Governments have tried to resolve the crisis of the NHS by maintaining very low wages, increasing productivity and speedup, putting greater emphasis on "community care, improving managerial efficiency, and raising charges and developing private services.
VAST
The labour force employed in the health service is vast. In 1972 there were almost one million workers -the huge majority of whom are paid abominably low wages. The major groups such as hospital nurses, ancillary staff and technical and clerical stall have in recent years suffered a decline in their real in-