Socialist Resistance

An archive of socialistresistance.org, 2002–2022

A turn to the left in T&G?

by Margaret Manning  |  Socialist Resistance no8  |  page 4-5

This is scanned newsprint, not web text. The original PDFs carried no text layer at all, so every word here was read off the page by OCR. Expect dropped opening letters, run-together words and wrong characters. There was no contents page to cut the paper up by, so the articles were found from the size of their headlines: a headline may carry its kicker, and where an article ran beside a boxed panel a few lines of the neighbour can appear. The scanned issue is the authority; this text is here so the words can be found at all.

THE LEFT in the Transport & General Workers Union (T&G) are buoyed up by the election of Tony Woodley as General Secretary - to take over when Bill Morris retires in the autumn. Many committees and individuals have sent their congratulations to Tony, with a wish list to follow!

Some of the issues we hope he will tackle speedily are the reinstatement in Ireland of the Regional Secretary and Regional Organiser who were disgracefully sacked by Bill Morris.

We hope to see an end to the climate of fear that exists in some regional offices and an end to bullying and intimidation by some national officers. Tony has promised to put more resources into the Trade Groups where they are needed and do what the members ask rather than what the administration says. He has said he will campaign for a much bigger minimum wage and will stand up to the government when necesDisappointment: Bill Morris sary to pursue members interests.

Graham Stevenson will be the left candidate for Deputy General Secretary. A win for him and a majority for the left in the general Executive elections later this year are needed to ensure that the T&G again plays a progressive role in the Trade Union movement.

It is a shame that there are no leading black or women candidates. Despite the Prosser we need to ensure in the left that women, black and asian members are encouraged to come forward in the future and gain support in standing for leadership positions. We need a union leadership that reflects our diverse membership.

The agenda for the union's Biennial Delegate Conference for the first time includes resolutions calling for a review of relations with the Labour Party and a cut in its funding. Any direct rule changes will have to wait for next year's rules conference. the Labour Government over labour laws, privatisation, the war on Iraq, treatment of asylum seekers and other issues. Assuming the resolutions are carried we need a left leadership to make sure they are implemented. disappointment of Bill Morris and Margaret

ised work force.

The rest of the agenda is mainly critical of

page 5 of the scan

nce Summer 2003 5