U.K. TRADE UNIONS

Press, Volume CXIV, Issue 33450, 4 February 1974, Page 20

U.K. TRADE UNIONS

(N.Z.P.A.-Reuter—Copyright) LONDON. About 750,000 Communists and Left-wingers in Britain are seeking to gain control of the main trade unions, and, through them, to control the Labour Party, according to aims of Industry, a group sponsored by private firms. A pamphlet entitled “Reds Under the Bed” issued by the group says that the Communists have gained union power by diligent work at grassroots, and it adds: “Now their strategy is to make Britain ungovernable unless the elected Government follows policies dictated by the trade unions.” The pamphlet, which notes that 80 per cent of Labour Party funds comes from the trade unions, urges shopfloor vigilance to keep Communists out of union office, and, if necessary, even demonstrations and sit-ins at union headquarters. The pamphlet ends: “The harsh fact is that the Reds are now in the beds, with a lethal embrace round Britain’s crucial institutions, the trade unions.”