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Press Statement, 16 June 1980.
Transcribed and marked up by Ciaran Crossey.
One of the most representative political gatherings of the Labour Movement to have been held in Northern Ireland for years is taking place this weekend in Belfast.
The 1980 Annual Conference of the Labour and Trade Union Group is being held on Saturday in Queen’s University. Branches of the Group in Belfast, Derry, Ballymena, Strabane, Coleraine, Antrim, Omagh and Fermanagh, as well as Young Socialists branches in Ballymena and Belfast, have submitted resolutions for discussion. In addition, up to 6 Trades Councils have agreed to send observers to the event as have a number of important trade union branches.
The Irish Labour Party Executive Committee is sending an official observer and other members of this body have agreed to attend in a personal capacity. It is likely that one member of this Executive will address the Conference. Some Labour Party branches in Dublin, and also a number of branches of the Irish Labour Party youth organisation, Labour Youth, have indicated that they will attend.
In addition, a member of the National Executive Committee of the British Labour Party has agreed to come. He is Mr Tony Saunois, who is the Young Socialists representative on the NEC and who will be officially representing the Labour Party Young Socialists at the Conference. Tony Saunois has been an outspoken advocate of left wing ideas on the NEC and is known for his support for the constitutional changes sought by the left wing of the LP in relation to the selection of MPs, election of the Labour leader and control of the contents of the Manifesto.
Tony Saunois recently successfully proposed at the NEC Home Policy sub-committee a motion calling upon the Labour Party to take up the issue of prison conditions in Northern Ireland, including the conditions in H-Block. As well as speaking on the struggle for socialist policies being pursued with the Labour Party, he will be explaining to the Conference the aims of the recently formed Labour Committee on Prison Conditions in Northern Ireland.
The Conference is expected to reaffirm and seek increased pressure for the Labour and Trade Union Group’s call for the creation of a Labour Party, based on the trade unions and committed to socialist policies in Northern Ireland.
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Last updated: 18 May 2020