We most sincerely trust that the Government will not give
its support to the Private Members' Bill interfering with the internal rules of the Trade Unions in respect of the political levy, with which we are threatened. It is proposed that Trade Union members should "contract in" if they wish to contribute to the levy, and not "contract out" as now if they do not. If the Trade Unions are willing to sanction this statutory alteration in their rules, well and good. If not, we hold that it would be madness to force such a Bill upon Labour. The Cabinet cannot surely desire to establish such a precedent for arbitrary legislation. The only excuse for interference in this domestic matter is that Trade Unions are recog- nized and given special privileges by the State and that therefore the State can demand the right to regulate them. Our answer is that it would be far better to abolish such special privileges than to carry out this dangerous coup d'état. We mean to return to this matter next week, and hope to be able to place before our readers the opinion of an expert in the matter.
Previous page
