Mr. Attlee's Attitude In Dock Strike Praised

Chronicle (Levin), 2 July 1948, Page 5

Mr. Attlee's Attitude In Dock Strike Praised

Received Thursday, 7 p.m. LONDON, June 30. The settlement of ihe dock strike is regarded as a personal triumph for Mr. Attlee. Some newspapers remark that the Government should have acted sooher, but all are agreed that the firm and decisive tone of Mr. Attlee's broadcast to the strikers Was the turuixig point. The men themselves admit this, and whert. a Communist speaker at a Hyde Pafk rall'y attempted to attack Mr. Atflfee he Was roundly hooed and pulled down froni bhe platform. On the other *hand, both the Minister of Labour, Alr. George Isaacs, who was abseut in the United >States throughout the greater part of the strike, and Mr. Arthur Deagin, secret^ry of the Trahsport and General Workers ' Union, emerge with diminished reputations. There lias been much criticism of Mr. Isaacs 's action in leaving for California to attend an international Labour conference soon after the strike was declared, while Mr. Deakin's confident assertions — later proved entirely unwarranted — that . the strike would be over in -IS hours, and liis un successl'ul attempts to- impose the authority of the union upon the dockers. have strengthened th'e demand for a general overhaul of the union. . "Cumbersone and Unwieldy. " The majority of eommentators agree

that the dockers' quarrel was more with the officials of their own union than with the dock labour board, and that innuediate steps must be taken to ensure that the industry and commerce of the country are not upset again through the failure of the otficial arbi- ■ tratiou machinery. It is generallv agreed that the Trans[>ort and General Workers' Union, with a membership of 1,300,01)0, has l)ecome cumbersome and unwieldy, and that argent steps must be taken to make its leaders more sensitive of the grievUnces of its various sections. Tt is also plain that the Communists ,took full advantage of the situation once it became apparent that the dispute was lilcelv to spread, and were directly responsilde for fomenting the men 's dissutisfaction. The strike appears to have given a timelv warning to the established trade union organisation that it must overliaul its machinery, and has also coulirmed warnings given by union leaders against the damage being done to organised labour by Communist infiltration.