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'Work together' call by SMMT president
Page 21
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THERE was a standing ovation for the president of the Society of Motor Manufacturers and Traders. Sir Raymond Brookes. when he spoke at the Society's annual banquet in London last week.
Sir Raymond made an impassioned appeal for the forces of moderation to work together constructively to thwart the destructive efforts of Leftwing extremists in our society, and he urged industry to accept that worker contribution to policy-making was a positive step towards elimination of the "them" and "us". syndrome.
By normal standards Britain was irredeemably broke, yet the average man seemed sanguine in the belief that the State. or his union. or his company would indefinitely preserve him and his family from the poverty of national bankruptcy. Yet to be successful was to be stigmatized as antisocial.
Prescribing ways of restoring our solvency, Sir Raymond thought union power had to be recognized 'as a reality, and that every thing possible should be done to reinforce the TUC and the CBI. Industry and the unions were better able than Whitehall or Westminster to hammer out a code of industrial conduct and practice. They had a vested interest in saving British industry.
Trades unions should be required to discourage restrictive practices, but in return the unions should be given a say on "plant participatory councils" to consider efficiency schemes.
He was against statutory wage control but in favour of a national business plan, the introduction of a differential corporation tax to favour "producers" over "moneymakers": and he called on the Government to stop misusing the Industry Act as a politically expedient means towards back-door State ownership.
Sir Raymond was scathing about "the unenviable track record of public enterprise". and reminded foreign guests that "we are the people who left the beaches of Dunkirk, but went back again, and thereby made the Common Market possible! Do not yet sell us short."