The right to strike
Sir: It seems to me that, in your leading article 'The Right to Strike you have given words to a very common confusion of thought. Fundamental liberties, if ru . analyse them, must always ` passive. 'Freedom of Speech': cannot be prevented from 5301 what I think. 'Immunity from arbitrary arrest':. my PhYs'9"
movements cannot be constrained except in certain clearly defined situations. 'The right to withdraw labour': I cannot be forced to work for you if I do not wish to do so.
A strike, however, is not a mere withdrawal of labour, as when a man or a number of men decide simply to discontinue their present employment. It is an active move, taken collectively, with the object of coercing employers (and some- times the rest of the community) into doing certain things which they do not wish to be.
Such action may well be justi- fied, and quite often is. At its best it is a strong-arm method of re- dressing a wrong. Sometimes it is a strong-arm method of gaining a relative advantage over one's fellow citizens and in that circumstance the action cannot be classified as the exercise of a fundamental liberty. It is indeed reasonable to sup- pose that just as freedom of speech is qualified by the laws of libel— that is, by acceptance of the need to protect the legitimate interests of .private persons—so the right to withdraw labour, when exercised with intent to coerce, should be similarly qualified in order to pro- tect the general interests of the community. G. W. Mackworth-Young Rookery Farm, Westcott, Nr Dorking, Surrey
Sir: The article on the front page of your issue of 14 November seems to me .to be most untimely having regard to the deplorable re- cord of strikes (mostly unofficial) over the past few months. Many industries have conciliation pro- cedures which are almost invariably ignored by the militant and irres- ponsible persons who influence working men in favour of strike action. These dictators have taken it upon themselves to decide whether or not they will abide by regulations made by employers providing public services such as the railways and buses which are constantly being disrupted by one- day strikes and working to rule.
This of course is merely a pin- prick compared with the major stoppages over which trade unions appear to have no control. Decent working men are forced to go on strike owing to the tyranny of shop stewards and pickets and it is high time that the right to strike (which has been in existence only since the iniquitous Trade Disputes Act of 1906) was severely cur- tailed.
The forces of the Crown and the police forces have no right to strike and if the rest of the work- ing community do not know how to behave themselves they must be restrained by legislation and not encouraged by articles such as yours to continue their present course of conduct.
C. John Webb 14a Grand Parade, St Leonards- on-Sea, Sussex
Previous page
