A Spectator's Notebook
I SEE THAT the Chairman of the AEU, Mr. W. J. Carron, in trying to order back the men striking at Ford's against the employment of one non- trade unionist, had some harsh things to say about 'those un- principled workpeople who accept wages and conditions negotiated by the organised workers and their trade unions but will not contribute towards trade unions.' This argu- ment is at the best of times mean and petty, but at the moment it is footling. For one thing, there are plenty of workpeople who are prevented by the 'conditions negotiated by the organised workers' from working as hard as they would like and therefore forced to 'accept wages' lower than they could otherwise earn. For another, work- people are often thrown out of work because two trade unions cannot agree on which should do what work. And for a third, many workpeople, trade unionists and others, get higher wages and better conditions than those 'negotiated by the trade unions.' Indeed, one union leader, Sir Tom O'Brien, recently complained of the wage increase that had been given by the Commercial Television people without consulting his union. Are the workpeople who accept these increases all 'un- principled,' I wonder?
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