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Moss Evans has been elected to replace Jack Jones as general secretary of Britain's
largest trade union, which has over 1,900,000 members. In a 39% poll he received 46% of the votes cast. It says a
lot about democracy in the T& GWU when one notes that this is only the fifth clection For a full time officer in the history of the
Union and that Moss Evans is declared elected until he reaches retiral age, after receiving a minority of the votes cast.
There were fourteen candidates and Evans
was clected by receiving the highest number of the fourteen. There is no second found or transfer of preferences.
The democratic question aside, this
vote represents a defeat for the left. There was no united campaign around a left candidate opposing the machine organisation of Moss Evans, groomed as
successor to Jack Jones. John Cousins, the
most publicised anti-Social Contract candidate, came second with 16% of the
vote while Alec Kitson with the support of the Morning Star, Tribune and Militant came third with only 10% of votes cast. Kitson did not come out clearly against the Social Contract and as one of the leading national officers, his vote compares with the votes of the two revolutionary lay candidates, Tommy Reilly with 27.445 and Alan Thornett with 11,493 votes - together getting 5% of the vote.
With so many candidates, the vote was confused. Evans cannot count on controlling the Union in the same way as Jones. A grass roots revolt among the membership is taking place against the Social Contract. Whether the left can place themselves at the head of the coming workplace struggles is the questions which now faces T&GWU militants.
ROWLAND SHERET (T&GWU, in a personal capacity)