LIGHT AND SHADE
Page 64
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behind the Coloured Workers
IN Egypt one day about 17 years ago I received a more-in-sorrow-than-inanger lecture from a very senior officer regarding a report I had submitted for transmission to higher authority. Briefly the fault lay in my stating that in a particular area some Syrian civilian employees of the British military organization were making a better job of maintaining vehicles than were the members of our own technical corps.
The V.S.O. took the view, first, that I must surely be mistaken and, secondly, if the statement were correct, it was no thing for mention in polite British circles. Now, 12 months previously I would have backed our own men against. anybody, but in the intervening time the case had altered. All the same, on reflection, I came to the conclusion that perhaps the senior officer was not far wrong in his general approach. .•
There really was no future in reporting the facts as they were. Higher authority, sitting in its well-upholstered chairs in London; would not have been ready to appreciate that with the fighting war over, the troops were hardly likely to produce their best work, suffering all the while from prickly heat, wishing ardently to get back to their families, friends and jobs, and most of the time being exasperated by the vagaries of a lot of run-to-death trucks. Local weekly wage earners, living at home and glad to have a regular job, were obviously a much better prospect. The whole qnestion was one of psychology rather than competence or racial characteristics.
The Implications The implications of that situation have returned to my mind recently whilst investigating various aspects of the employment of immigrant labour in the transport field. In the areas through which I travel regularly there are quite a number of undertakings making use of immigrant workers.
People who have not come close to this question are invariably certain that there is a quick and straightforward answer to the practical aspects of employing immigrants and, particularly, coloured staff. Summed up concisely, it is that in times of stringency immigrant help is of immense value in running systems.
The immigrants' efficiency level . is B38
generally not so much below that of the British staff, the proportions of those who are good, indifferent or positively bad for the job are much the same as those of the home product. On the whole our dark-skinned brothers, as individuals, are getting along quite nicely. But as a rule the more experience managements have had with coloured staff the more reluctant they are to make any kind of unqualified statement for publication. And I agree with them, just as I found myself concurring with that V.S.O. in the Middle East years ago. With the psychological reactions that are involved even the most carefully considered commentary could lead to immediate misunderstandings on one side or the other,
Without Friction There may be odd cases where an individual is unpopular with his workmates but, on the whole the coloured employees, so long as they are in the minority, take their places in a depart ment without any sign of friction. A factor possibly having some influence on this situation is that men who are engaged as conductors in transport undertakings, or as bin-carriers in cleansing departments, will have at least in some minor degree the qualities of " mixers ". In fact, one transport personality contends the coloured conductor needs more than that; he should be something of a saint for it is a good week when he does not encounter provocation from some member of the public.
The attitude of British employees in many undertakings shows that there would undoubtedly be a clash of personalities or customs sooner or later were the number of coloured workers to constitute a Majority, or even a substantial percentage of the total.
In Cleansing Circles In cleansing circles any such feeling is somewhat less noticeable but here there is every sign that managements have studied with some care the lines on which the immigrant labour situation may be expected to develop. In this sphere, also, a strong body of opinion is opposed to the number of coloured personnel reach ing any high proportion. This arises chiefly from the employing side which in
various places is clearly determined to avoid the risk of cleansing department work being regarded by the public as a "coloured job ". On this policy there seems to be a substantial measure of agreement among all managements who have given considerable thought to the matter.
So long as immigrant workers are confined to the lower ranks of the staff and are not in evidence in too great numbers, the whole problem is insignificant. But trouble is liable to arise when a foreigner shows signs of making faster than average progress. " We'll have the foreigners on the transport committee if we're not careful and we're not standing for that," one driver said to me.
Personal Backgrounds
Personal backgrounds of coloured workers vary tremendously and a transport manager described recently how smartly one of his platform staff was turned out, how efficient was his work. He shared a well-kept house in a decent street, had a neatly dressed wife and a daughter who was understood to be doing well at school.
"But I was glad when he packed the job in and took a post in an office," his boss remarked.
" Why? "
Because the coloured man deserved promotion which it was going to be difficult to give, he explained. And at the same time other employees were apparently showing signs of irritation, probably purely as a result of sheer inferiority complex.
The fact has to he faced that without immigrant workers some of our public services would be on the point of collapse. Their presence is accepted today in a manner that would have been impossible 25 years ago. Who knows to what extent the pattern may have changed after the lapse of another quarter of a century? For the moment however, there remains much thoughtless prejudice.
In the complex situation that exists in connection with coloured staff at present matters are likely to be more difficult for the management than for the immigrant worker. In all this just one thing is certain, that some of the most frustrated employers are those who have devoted the deepest study to the whole problem.