Fly sparks | Socialist Action 1983

Uncorrected machine reading. This text was read by machine (Apple Vision OCR) from a scan of a newspaper page, and the page was cut into articles by machine, at the headlines found by their type size. Nothing has been corrected: expect misread words, text from a neighbouring article, and titles that are the machine reading of the headline, some of them only fragments. Quote from the scan, not from this page.
How this article was cut and titled: headline found by type size in the OCR geometry (split_tabloid.py); 1-2 of 7; machine-segmented newspaper page; uncorrected Vision OCR.

page 4 of the scan

LABOUR PARTY secretaries all over Britain will have been surprised and gratified to receive the letter from Eric Hammond,general secretary of the EETPU, preparing political funds the political levy. No doubt the union's intention of relying on the efforts of members who are supporters of the Labour Party seem entirely praiseworthy. But then there is the sting in the tail. takes the opportunity to advise of a change in procedure.

By P. McDermott From now on, filiations of the EETPU branches to CLPs will have go through the EETPU's head office.

This change is a clear attack on the rights of the union's branches filiate individually to their local parties, and is designed to further tighten head office control of EETPU members the Labour The previous EETPU to launch a campaign to retain upcoming ballots on the The letter countal secretary Frank Chapple made tremendous efforts to get right wingers Paraelegated to Labour ties at the time when Tony DCLI was running for deputy leader. 1ле роші was to stop the left where friends of Chapple were under threat.

ne new move by the EETPU will obviously make it much more difcomputerised information will enable leadership to put plenty of obstacles in the way of left branches trying to affiliate and give it the ability to veto candidates.

Hammond's efforts to influence the Labour Party will of course be aided by the new editor of the SDP 100 N ourlal member John Grant. ONC unnamed senior of ficial of the union told the Financial Times recently: 'We're moderate We're a right wing ullull.

The complete centralisation of the EETPU around right wing leadership, will cue saulting down of branches and of all opposition makes it that cean uCh porocedures will be used against the left, both in the union and the party.

The EETPU alread stood out out at the TUC with its recent drive for 'no-strike' deals with ma### EAH/JFS/LS/RE:

SURNECT Political Fun то:- ALL CIR SECRSTARIES Dear Colleague Я. А. La jor companies. These have the praise of Mr WOl Parry Rogers personnel director of Plessey's, who called it 'the best union we deal with'.

page 5 of the scan

Socialist Action 21 September 1984