The Right to Shirk
The founders of the British Labour Party constantly claimed the right to work. The present Labour Government constantly—and rightly—emphasises the duty to work. And yet it is still possible for 14,000 London dockers to strike to defend 32 men who had been dismissed, after an exhaustive process of enquiry and appeal, as " ineffectives." They were not redundant—though if they had been dismissal would still have been the right course. The Stevedores' Union, to which seven of the men belong, knows all the facts about them and about the correct procedure in disputes. Its leaders have decided to ignore both. The strike has been condemned by the Transport and General Workers' Union, and the full facts of the case have been given in Parliament by the Minister of Labour. There is no doubt whatever that the strike is utterly wrong. But it is not enough to attribute it to irresponsible elements. Over 14,000 men were on strike on Tuesday, and some thousands of them were members of the Transport and General Workers' Union. There is plenty of evidence of a will to keep men on the books even when they do not work. Redundancy strikes are not a new thing, and there is some danger that, during the next few years, when the fight for markets is bound to call for large-scale transfers from one kind of work to another, such strikes will become frequent. This week's London Dock strike must not be dismissed as an isolated phenomenon. It is a symptom of a state of 'mind which can be repeatedly exploited by the Communist elements in circumstances which are running in favour of trouble-makers.
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