Link to this page: http://www.socialistparty.org.uk/issue/494/2587
From The Socialist newspaper, 5 July 2007
National Shop Stewards' Network conference
Join the fightback against the bosses' offensive
This Saturday 7 July will see hundreds of shop stewards and workplace reps from all unions and industries gather together in London at the founding conference of the National Shop Stewards Network (NSSN).
Bill Mullins
The initiative for the conference came originally from the National Union of Rail, Maritime and Transport Workers (RMT) but this week's conference has been mainly organised by the Shop Stewards Network steering group (SG). The SG was elected last October at a previous conference and is made up of rank-and-file reps.
The RMT and four other national unions (PCS, CWU, POA and the NUM), along with dozens of local trade union branches, have already sponsored the conference and are sending delegates.
This meeting will be the first rank-and-file conference of shop stewards for many years. In the 1970s and 1980s the development of the shop stewards' movement was an integral part of the rise in militant industrial action in those years.
The shop stewards' movement was able to unite struggles at local level. And it led to the development of national combine shop stewards' committees in engineering, the car industry and other industries.
These in turn gave rise to national claims and national action against the attacks on living standards, jobs and conditions.
Much of industry has since been wiped out, in an act of sabotage by British capitalism not seen since the Romans' destruction of Carthage. But this does not mean the end of workers' power. The decisive nature of even relatively small sections of workers such as the rail workers and the postal workers means that their present example will and can be followed by many others.
It will not be an exact repeat of the past but the need for an organisation like the NSSN cannot be overstated. Many obstacles will be thrown up in its path, as has been the case in some of the more right-wing unions.
The conference will allow shop stewards to compare experiences but also to develop fighting strategies to apply to their own situations. The workshops on the anti-union laws, organising migrant workers and young workers as well as fighting privatisation and the government's pay freeze will be key sessions where these tactics can be hammered out.
For more information about the NSSN see the web site http://www.shopstewards.net
Come to the NSSN conference on Saturday 7 July, 11am-5pm, South Camden Community School, Charrington Street, London NW1.
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In The Socialist 5 July 2007:
Brown's government for the rich
Blair's toadying surpasses all clichés
National Shop Stewards Network
National Shop Stewards' Network conference: Join the fightback against the bosses' offensive
Campaign for a New Workers Party
Campaign for a New Workers' Party: Giving workers a voice
Lively CNWP meeting in Cardiff
What we think
Unite against war, poverty and terrorism
Postal workers strike
Postal workers: we're striking to win
Postal workers' strike gets solid support across the country
Socialist Party news and analysis
Under several feet of flood water - after flood defence budget cut
"A new gilded age of inequality"
Stop subsidising private schools
Surplus cash yet cutbacks continue
International socialist news and analysis
Why the United Nations fails the test of internationalism
Iran: Riots over petrol rationing
Climate change: socialist international planning needed
George Bush - a get out of jail ticket
Pakistan: Union activist has suspension withdrawn following protests
Tales from the council chamber
Tales from the council chamber
'Living in a parallel universe'
Socialist Party workplace news
UNISON delegates challenge leadership
Victory over bullying management
RMT conference: Fighting a thousand cuts
Socialist Party events
Socialist Party review
Two plays reviewed by Mark Baker: 'Philistines' and 'The Last Confession'
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