A Clamour of Claims
The Minister of Labour's wish that there should be a truce between the guerilla electricians and their employers while the Court of Inquiry sits has been respected. At the, beginning of the week there was still some doubt. as the4 Electrical Trades Union and the National Federated Electrical Association growled angrily at each other, but good sense prevailed and guerilla strikes and the threat of guerilla lock.; outs are to be suspended while the inquiry is in progress. The dispute may not be brought to an end by the Court's findings (which will be published as a White Paper) but at least the facts will be laid out plainly for all to see, and the opportunities for intransigence accordingly lessened. Mean- while other, and bigger, wage claims are so far rumbling down the proper channels. They make an ominous noise. The dockers, who asked for a " substantial increase," have rejected the employers' offer, which is undisclosed, as unsatisfactory and.their claim is now to be referred to the Minister of Labour. The railwaymen have just had their claim for an increase of 15 per cent. in wages rejected by the Railway Executive and are considering their next move. Many other claims are in preparation. The most important of all those already made or now being formulated is still to be answered—that of the engineers for an increase of 15 per cent. About three million workers are affected. The sum of these claims is in flat contra- diction to the TUC's refusal to accept any suggestion that the days of restraint are over. The electricians' dispute is the liveliest symbol of the division within the trade union movement.
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