The Dagenham Drag To do the Minister of Labour some
justice, Mr. Hare did seem reluctant to order the official inquiry into the position of the seventeen dis- missed men at Ford's. But there should be no pretence that the Ministry's intervention is any- thing more than second-best. Apart from avert- ing the present threatened strike, just what the inquiry (which has, anyway, no legal power) can be expected to solve is in some doubt, unless it be genuinely thought that a decision over these seventeen men is likely to put the plant back on the road to sanity. As the Spectator said in an editorial two weeks ago, the dismissal of these men has become a symbol for the management of their new tough line, and the unions have no alternative but to resist. So whether the inquiry results in the men's reinstatement or final dis- missal, not a single one of the deeper issues will be so much as touched upon. The real chance of a long-term solution will come only when management and unions can come together and initiate their own far more reaching inquiry. By seizing any chance to do an on-the-spot deal with shop stewards, the Ford management is continually undermining the unions' authority. This may still be what they want, but it is of no service to British industry.
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