Retired general hails ban on unions

Press, 31 January 1984, Page 11

Retired general hails ban on unions

NZPA-AP London A retired American general, hailing Britain’s ban on trade unions at its top secret Intelligence-gather-ing centre said yesterday that the move probably had been prompted unofficially by Washington. The move would eliminate “subversive penetration” of the union movement, he said. The intervention by Major-General George Keegan in what has become a British controversy sparked new outrage from trade unions. It came as the 10.5million member Trades Union Congress, Britain’s umbrella union organisation, said that it would try “persuasion,” but gave a warning of strikes unless the Conservative Government dropped its ban on unions at the Government Communications Headquarters in Cheltenham.

General Keegan, who retired as Chief of United States Air Force Intelligence seven years ago, said in a 8.8. C. radio interview that the ban would mean a “more uninterrupted” service to the Western allies

from the crucial British centre in south-west England. “One of the most vital Intelligence services the free world gets will now be assured of more uninterrupted service — that is, uninterrupted by frequent strikes,” he said. “In view of the past history of subversive penetration of our unions, from the United States point of view, it will be a very pleasing prospect to virtually eliminate that security problem.” Asked if he thought Washington had pressured Britain into imposing the ban, announced on Thursday, General Keegan said: “Officially, I would say, no. Unofficially or privately, yes.”

The Prime Minister, Mrs Margaret Thatcher, facing jibes from angry Opposition members, has denied that the ban was imposed under American pressure. John Sheldon, secretary of the 40,000-member Civil Service Union, denounced General Keegan’s remarks as “outrageous.” “All the staff go through a strict security check ... I am certain there are no

subversives at the Government Communications Headquarters, and certainly not in the unions,” he said. Union leaders suspect that the ban was prompted by staff opposition to polygraph, or lie-detector tests, proposed since a Russianlanguage translator at Cheltenham, Geoffrey Prime, was convicted in 1982 of spying for the Russians for 14 years. American sources have said that the treachery by Prime — now serving a 35year jail term — was the most damaging penetration of Western Intelligence since World War 11. After days of sporadic! walk-outs by civil servants across the country, the executive of the T.U.C. was scheduled to meet today in an emergency session to debate a protest campaign. The congress’s general secretary, Mr Len Murray, said that if the Government did not “back off’ through negotiations, more “pressure in terms of non-co-operation or beyond that” would be brought.