TUC talks
Sir: You rightly say that there will be no valid excuse for surprise if the geAternment and the TUC achieve any substantial results in their talks on prices and incomes restraints. There is, I believe, not the slightest chance of results which will be of value to the nation as a whole. Indeed, it might well be asked why the government should consult either the TUC or the CBI.
The TUC does not represent the working people of the country as a whole and there are strong conflicting interests between various sections of the unions as there are between sections of industry presumed to be represented by the CBI.
While all men must have the right to combine to further their own interests this whole question of industrial relations should be raised to a higher plane. What right has any individual or group of men to deny any other men the opportunity of offering their services in the market place at any price their services can command? Today, excessive rewards for sections of organised. labour are achieved through the excessive powers of organisation. These excessive rewards are often secured at the expense of ether working people or at the expense of the community as a whole. In the process less is available to properly reward character, quality and merit. Thus, quality declines.
In conditions of freedom it is possible that some wages would decline and others would rise. The essential requirement is that all wages should be paid in money of good purchasing power. A thousand pounds a week is of no value if it will not buy a loaf of bread. We need good money made possible by the cheap food policy which you so wisely advocate and we need freedom to secure the rewards of excellence. We need also the penalties for failure. S. W. Alexander,
The Cobden Club, 177 Vauxhall Bridge Road, London SW1....
Previous page
