More Trouble in Durham
Those thoroughly bad employers the Durham County Council have never, of course, at any time abandoned their notorious " closed shop " policy, despite the fact that the professional organisations concerned—covering doctors, den- tists, teachers, engineers, midwives and nurses—have refused to have any truck with it. The stubbornness with which the Durham Councillors—those Tolpuddle magistrates in reverse— have insisted on interfering with the freedom of action of their employees no doubt springs from a belief that injustice will prevail provided the unjust do not weaken. It will prob- ably have to be regarded as a semi-permanent phenomenon. But it is quite impossible to tolerate for one moment the sheer meanness of the latest device the Durham Councillors have resorted to in their perverse attempt to get their own way. This takes the form of a requirement that any applications for an extension of sick pay must be made through a trade union or other appropriate organisation. In other-words it is an attack directed at those employees of the Council who have the mis- fortune to fall sick. How much lower can the Durham County Council sink ? The National Union of Teachers has already decided that, rather than submit to such contemptible devices, it must advise a proportion of its Durham members to be ready to resign.- This is, of course, a very serious step. It is quite wrong that teachers should be forced into any such action. But it would be even more wrong to weaken for one moment in the face of the illiberal _policies of the Durham County Council.
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