- Illusion of Quiet
This has been an extraordinary week, at any rate up to the time of writing, in that the many industrial disputes now in progress have been edged off the main news pages. But this illusion of quiet does not mean that cause for just concern has lessened. The wave gnes momentarily back but the tide keeps advancing. In the electrical industry the dispute seems to have settled down into a long slog.' Eighteen hundred workers are on indefinite strike at various sites throughout the country and 7,000 are out this week in London. Not a conciliatory word, has so far been spoken. Both sides behave like opposing armies on the look-out for a main assault. This may come from the union, for it looks as if its Communist controllers, tiring now of guerilla warfare, are feeling their way towards the possibility of bringing about a national strike. In other induStries trouble continues. Seven thousand London dockers have refused to work overtime (apparently because the employers are supposed to have suggested that overtime should be made compulsory), and a similar number of foundry workers in Wales have done the same. No progress has been made in the dispute between employers and employees in the National Council for the omnibus Industry. The busmen have been offered and have rejected an increase of four shillings a week. London busmen have recently been awarded seven shillings, and those outside London will not be satisfied with less. But all these are small issues compared with that still undecided—is there to be peace or. not in the engineering industry ? The courts of inquiry have still to announce their findings. Much will depend on them.
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