The party and the Bill
Sir: Owing to the postal strike I did not, until today, read the article by Eric Helfer MP (13 February).
I would suggest to Mr Heller that the Labour party will lose many more votes if it persists in its senseless destructive criticism of the Industrial Relations Bill.
Is he, and are his colleagues, incapable of offering any construc- tive criticism, or are they afraid of treading on Ttic toes? Is he so mentally blind that he cannot see any advantages in the Bill? If so, I would remind him that his intervention at the begin- ning of the series of strikes which were mainly responsible for the delay of four years in the com- pletion of the Accident/Emergency unit for the hospital in his own constituency, was equally as in- effective as his actions against this Bill.
To be fair to him, the efforts of the local trade union represen- tatives of every shade from light pink to bright red, also had no effect on the militant shop stewards.
The Industrial Relations Bill may not be ideal, but I, like many others of the British public, know it is the only solution, until such a time as the trade unions are as effective at preventing strikes as they are at starting them.
John R. Peach Redmead, Poplar Bank, Huyton, Liverpool
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