Christmas Greetings from Euston
A strike, preferably in one of the transport services, threatens to become a permanent feature of the English Christmas. The annual attempt to move persons and parcels about for the promotion of peace and good will has coincided so often with an attempt by certain groups of workers to gain some sectional advantage or press some grievance that a connection between the two is difficult to deny. But never has the excuse been more tenuous than that given for the strike of varunen and porters which disorganised the heavy seasonal parcels traffic at Euston Station for over a week. A vanman resigned. Some 400 of his fellow workers struck on the ground that his resignation had been forced by the imposition of a duty roster which left him insufficient time for his duties as a trade union official. The National Union of Railwaymen disowned the strikers. The railway authorities offered to reinstate the man. But the strikers stayed out because they said there should be a special inquiry into the case. This was a little too much for the forbearance of their employers, and the strikers were dismissed. But this whole story is full of morals. It is one more case of a strike not only against the employers, but against the union. Answering a Parliamentary ques- tion on the subject, the Minister of Labour actually said that relations were good between the management and union, but not good between unions and men. Unions and men are now dearly separated in the official mind. In short, there are now two authorities for the men to strike against. Again, the fact that a general discontent with present wages was the real cause of the present strike points to a further imperfection in union machinery and to a further threat of inflationary wage demands. But the main threat in the transport field is reserved until next month, when London bus drivers and conductors have threatened to strike for extra pay for Saturday afternoons. The London busmen are clearly preparing to add New Year greetings to the Christmas message from Euston.
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