Last-minute bid to clear way for return of electricians to TUC fold

the errant EETPU electricians at next month's annual TUC Congress.

At separate meetings he will ask the Amalgamated Engineering and

Electrical Union -- which now incorporates the former EETPU -- and the

four main construction industry unions, whether there is any scope for

resolving their differences before congress.

On the face of it only a climbdown by the AEEU, by agreeing to

dissolve the old EETPU's controversial Construction and Building Trades

(CBT) section, could resolve the issue in time. The CBT stands accused

of poaching members from other unions, expecially the Union of

Construction Allied Trades and Technicians.

This appears almost as unlikely as Ucatt dropping its objections,

which were renewed as recently as last month. Tomorrrow's TUC general

council may have little choice other than to recommend that

reaffiliation of the EETPU, expelled in 1988 for its recruiting

activities, be deferred beyond the September congress in order to allow

more time for discussion.

Currently, under a temporary arrangement, only the engineering section

of the AEEU is affiliated to the TUC with the electrical section outside

of the TUC pending processing of an affiliation request by the AEEU.

The TUC will today make an official complaint to the European

Commission in a bid to reverse the abolition of Wages Councils, which

set minimum pay rates for 2.6 million workers.

In a report to the EC, the TUC accuses the Government of being in

breach of its obligations on equal pay by scrapping the councils. The

abolition, due to take effect on August 30, is ''discriminatory''

because two million of the workers whose pay is set by Wages Councils

are women, according to the TUC.

In its complaint, the TUC argues that the Government is removing one

of the last forms of protection against wage-cutting, which will lead to

increased discrimination and will widen the gap between the pay of men

and women.