On Friday week the Postmaster-General received a deputation from the
Parliamentary Committee of the Trade- Union Congress. The resolutions submitted dealt with the recognition of Trade-Union rates of pay, the enforcement of these rates in all contracts, and the publication of the names of contractors. Mr. Sydney Buxton in reply promised that there should be a House of Commons inquiry into the position of postal servants, their remuneration, and the conditions of their work. The deputation, together with that on the day before to Lord Tweedmouth and Mr. Haldane on the subject of naval and military workers, raises a very important question of principle. How far can the State admit the right of its employes to form Trade-Unions, with the necessary claim_ to enforce their demands by strikes,—how far, that is, can the whole community permit to one section of itself a separate and potentially hostile organisation ? Our own view is that the State cannot oppose the formation of such an organisa- tion. It must allow its servants the right of negotia- tion through the recognised agencies of a Trade-Union. The danger, of course, is that such servants are also voters, and can enforce their demands against the Govern- ment in other ways than against a private employer. But if such sinister expedients were resorted to, the Government has always the remedy of disfranchisement, the fear of which will be a powerful check to unpatriotic methods of agitation.
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