A N ugly question now moves into the centre of
British politics; the question 'Are we going to have a wages war this winter?' The list of trade union claims is long, and exten• sive. In all they cover about five million workers. On the ways in which they are handled will depend whether or not the Government can maintain its grip on inflation. Some of theta —for example, in the coal industry—will probably be diverted into agreements about non-inflationary fringe benefits. But the crunch will clearly come in nationalised transport. Before very long Mr. Harold Watkinson, the target Minister there, will have to take policy decisions of crucial importance.
The transport pattern has now become as stylised as a minuet. Every autumn, as the football season opens, the rail- way unions vie with each other in demanding higher wages; and every winter they are bought off. The process exhibits all the gradualness of inevitability. But now it can continue only if the Government is willing to be pushed off the Macmillan plateau. Two issues face Mr. Watkinson.
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