Those old enough to remember the last war will be
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familiar enough with the time "The fifth column". It was explained to me thus — ahem. "The fifth column was an unidentifiable force who infiltrated, integrated and mixed freely with the enemy with little fear of detection. They were different from spies because part of their role was to demoralise the other side." Now you might think that the report in a national newspaper last week that the NUR has a vast number of members in the West Country among NBC staff suggests a type of fifth column operation.
That, apparently, and to the reported concern of the TGWU boss Jack Jones, is the NUR recruiting method. They are using beer drip mats which carry the slogan "NBC means NUR — the specialist transport union for bus workers". Now you can't be more open or stupid than that. As Larry Smith, the TGWU bus officer, says: "It is nonsense to suggest that the NUR are a specialist bus union."
Sidney Weigh;II of NUR thinks TGWU are making mountains out of molehills. Now before you express an opinion think about the possibilities. The foot platemen's union ASLEF might start recruiting the few remaining conductors and Mr Jenkins might cast his net for the white collared bus inspectors and before we know it the railways will have taken over the NBC. A kind of NCL in reverse, if you see what I mean.
However, it could also mean that the busmen feed back intelligence to their railway colleagues how to run a service that the customer wants at the right price.