T.U.C. and Steel Board
The controversy about the three trade union leaders who accepted seats on the Steel Board has been dragging its weary length along for many weeks, but only two days ag.0 was its existence openly recognised by the General Council of the T.U.C. The matter was raised by Sir Vincent Tewson, the debate was on, and it must have been ferocious: for although the appointments were entirely compatible with the declared and hitherto generally accepted policy of the Council, they have spread such bitterness among the unions as 110 not been known for years. The action of Sir Lincoln Evans, Mr. Owen, and Mr. Naesmith was vindicated on Wednesday when, by twenty votes to six, the General Council rejected as unfounded the assertion that it was incompatible with T.U.C. policy for responsible trade unionists to serve on the Steel Board. One would have guessed that this would be the outcome, for all but a minority of those who sit on the Council still support the policy of examining questions in the light not of political but of industrial and economic considers' tions. But there will be another story told at the Trades Union Congress in September. Then the controversy will really wine into the open.
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