Wages and Dividends
SIR.—" News of the Week " (April 14th) contained a timely comment on the necessity for trade unions to resist the dangers of inflation by continuing to exercise a policy of wage restraint. An extract from the report of the managing director of the Rugby Portland Cement Com- pany, published in the same issue, provided a useful reminder that it is not only trade unionists who need to bear in mind the economic exigencies of the country. This speech contained a virulent attack on the Government's appeal for a voluntary limitation of dividends paid to shareholders, concluding with these words: " They [the directors] would indeed be failing in their duty to you [the shareholders] if they admitted for one moment the right of any outsider to dictate their policy."
It would seem that intransigence and lack of self-restraint in this matter are not confined to that section of the community represented by the various trade unions.—I am, Sir, yours faithfully,
Previous page
