BLESSED DISUNION
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he very public spat between the Transport and General Workers Union and the United Road Transport Union will do nothing to reassure liberal-minded truck operators (if indeed such operators exist) that trade unions are good for the road haulage industry. Setting aside the reasons for the dispute, it's the public slanging match that's the most damaging aspect of the whole brouhaha. If two trade unions can't see eye to eye, what hope have they of striking the right kind of deals with employers? With a new Labour Government poised to publish its white paper on union rights, both the T&G and URTU must realise that wrangles like the one at Ford can only damage what little remains of the socalled special relationship between Labour and the unions. Bill Morris and David Higginbotham might do well to recognise the fact that derecognition, rather than demarcation is a far greater threat to their respective memberships. Plenty of big fleets have already realised that they can get along very well without trade unions, whether For annual wage bargaining or for terms and conditions. Their managers reckon that it's the top floor, not the shop floor, that's in the best position to deliver a decent package to an employer. For some companies that might be true. For others, trade unions represent the best, if not the only, bet against outright exploitation. Right now the mood of British industry towards union recognition is one of wary apprehension. And rumblings from various union officials that the present Government is more right wing than the last do nothing to ease that. It is ironic that while most unions are faced with declining membership amid general apathy, two prominent transport unions should be scrapping like schoolboys. It's hardly a ringing endorsement for the sons of Keir Hardie,