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26th September 1958

It started on Friday morning.

by ROBERT MILLAR E year millions of -IL/ working hours are lost in Britain through strikes which never receive any publicity. They are usually short in duration, clearcut in origin. The blame is easy to apportion. The facts may differ slightly from one dispute to another but the results are always the same.

SNAPSHOTS IN TIME
12th October 2001

These are the facts- of one such incident . .. It starts shortly after 11 o'clock on a Friday morning in a section of one of Scotland's biggest engineering factoriesAn a few hours' time the men will be paid, the machines idle, the pubs filled.

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In a department of the factory a ratefixer completes his calculations as three welders put down their rods and helmets. Fixing the piecework price for a new job is routine, rooted in a long series of- precedences. Men sacked A few minutes' haggling between them and agreement is reached. The ratefixer goes off to have it approved by the manager. The welders light cigarettes and talk footbalL Ten minutes later the foreman walks up to the three welders and orders them to start work. Quietly the position is explained to him The price for the job had not yet been okayed by the boss and pieceworkers, by tradition, never work on a job until the rate has been definitely fuied. This cuts no ice with the foreman. Obdurately he insists that they start work immediately. If they don't, he says, they will be sacked on the spot. The welders stand by their policy and they're given their cards. There is no appeal, no reference to a higher authority. Half-an-hour later the shop stewards meet the management and demand that the three men be reinstated. Thy demand is curtly rejected. Immediately the call goes out. A lunch-time meeting of the 600 workers' in the department is arranged. With a few rare exceptions the workers, trade unionists and non-trade unionists, turn up.

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The convenor of the shop stewards explains the facts to them. Work has slackened off. Overtime is being cut. Efforts to cut piecework rates have been made. Now come the sackings. Out on strike If the management win this fight they'll try the same- tactics with other workers. There's no telling who will be next. The men must make a stand. The shop stewards recommend strike action. The discussion doesn't last long. Even the most peaceloving and timid trade unionists see the logic- of the case. On a show of hands the decision to down tools is unanimous. Without fuss the en take off their overalls, on their coats and walk t side into the sun. Inside the t ilding the machines are silent for how long no one knows Now the union mach, ery goes into action. The 1 . net secretary of the Confede ion of Shipbuilding and Engi - ing Unions is formally noti of the dispute. Reinstated He in turn gets in touc I his opposite number in gineering Employers' Fed who, it is presumed, 1.e touch with the mana: - Standing around outs' factory in small groups, discuss not whether i taken the right decision whether the foreman ha ' r. put up to his acti superiors. Is it a deliberate strength, which means and painful dispute, or an example of stupid la, Wiens by the lower ec management-not an occurence. At 4 o'clock the mana send for the workers' r tatives and informs the the three welders are to instated right away. can now return to wo By now there is time clear up, get ready to leav for the day, and pick u pay packets. The ski over. The workers have their point. ith Enion in t. the ,1 en y've but en by of ong ply reof ual rent nthat reen to rk I it I is on Count the cost But at what cost financial loss to both - s probably infmitesimaL it is less important them effect on management- II The is inly the lafien Vaatever confidence had existed between before the incident shaken. A few more ar foolish decisions and th will be an open war a it 4 , '. What of the cost the nation? In this "4,- the loss or production tote sver 2,400 man-hours of w4 by itself not a significant ober. ;:ch 'en One reason But thousands of such ightfling strikes take place over the country each year. The cumulative total must be immense, a gigantic loss of pro(Inchon which can never be made up. And mostly because agements continue to the same archaic, aggressiv il l : un civilised attitude which amineterised the days of heart unemployment and weak I rade unions. The attitude, in fact, t aken by the foreman at a Socttish factory on a Friday mot rJ ng a week or' so ago.
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