Public Services and Strikes The action of the Traffic Commissioners
in the East Midland area during this week has been swift, drastic, successful, and on the whole justified. They have, in effect, compelled the settlement of a busmen's strike, not by dictating terms acceptable to neither side, but by stating in uncompromising language that Since they are responsible for the proper conduct of the road transport services in their area, they cannot allow the public to stiffer indefinitely owing to stubbornness on the part of the partners in the private enterprise which provides the service. The Commissioners were on safe ground. The terms of an agreement had been negotiated by the Transport Workers' Union, whose members described it as one of the best of its kind, and it had come into force a few days before the strike, which was organised without the knowledge of the Union. The company refused to repudiate the agreement, stood firm against the strikers, and did their best to carry out the obligations of their licence by running a skeleton service with newly-imported drivers. The Commissioners merely threatened to use their statutory powers to cancel the licence and issue it to other operators employing other men. Settlement by negotiation was thereby rapidly induced. The men could have appealed to the Commissioner, through their Union, on the subject of hours and wages, but no such appeal was made. The method employed was summary, but the public has rights in public transport.
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