A.R.O. Supporters Reply to Mr. Flin
Page 47
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nPEN letters to Mr. F. A. ELM, in reply to his statement on the merger position, which was published in The Commercial Motor last week, have been re
ceived from two prominent London members of Associated Road Operators. Our correspondents have no wish to prolong the dispute, but, in common with ourselves, they desire both sides of the question to be viewed impartially, so that a better understanding of the situation may he achieved.
Addressing Mr. Flin, Mr. Rush°Im Brown,
a director of the Eltham Transport Co., Ltd., says:— In considering the wording of your article, you should have remembered, first, the composition of the old A.R.O.
National Council and, secondly, that the revolt against the merger originated from, and had most of its strength in, the rank and file—not from any section of the National Council. , It was a revolt which, once again, has established the axiom that " those who pay the piper call the tune."
No Mandate from Members.
The first fundamental is the composition of the old AR.O. National Council. Can it be denied that the Council as a whole had no mandate from the membership, or that those few members who had been properly elected to the councillorship and who, therefore, represented their electorate, continually found themselves outvoted by a majority which was almost completely out of touch with the wishes of the membership? The subsequent spectacle of councillors leaving A.R.O. for the but leaving the great majority of their area members in A.R.O., proves to what extent the so-called leaders represented the rank and file. The second fundamental is that it was a revolt of the rank and file.
agree that the broad principles of the proposed merger were agreed; so far as the unrepresentative National Council was concerned_ I even agree that the rank and file might be said to have acquiesced, the broad principles not having been repudiated by it. But no repudiation came from that direction because it was generally realized that the import of those broad principles was dependent on details which were to be grouped around each of them to form the terms of the merger.
Knowing the rights conferred upon us by our Articles of Association, we rankers never doubted that we should have the opportunity of approving those vital details before the merger was allowed to become a physical fact on October 1_ Not until the end of September, when we were sure that we were to he denied our rights, was the writ issued and the merger stopped. We rankers stopped the merger because we insisted on calling the tune.
The Industry Placed First.
Do not conclude from this that we think more of our rights as members than we do of the industry itself. We joined the R.H.A. and A.R.O. because we thought that, hy so doing, we should be best advancing the interests of our industry. Remember that the R.H.A. came into being because there seemed to he no existing association capable of safeguarding our interests. Remember that we were being asked to sit back and allow our Association to be given into the control of the C.M.U.A., without any assured safeguard. We stopped that merger for the good of the industry.
Events to come will vindicate our actions, and, meanwhile, it is useless to-waste more time in arguing about the merger. We road transporters have something far more urgently important to do in fighting the persecutors of us all. Even if there be several associations of road , transporters, there can still be Unity if only we will ignore the petty jealousies, and the vainglorious aspirations of those who talk so much and do so little. To all rankers within the CIVI.U.A., I and my fellow hauliers should appear as brothem in arms—not enemies.
-Remembering that the merger stopped at the end of September, let us now get down to subsequent events.
On December 15, only one member of the proposed Committee of Management was opposed, and that opposition came from the whole body of the meeting—not from National Council members. Again, I deny that it has ever been held that the passenger section was a liability on the organization, but if you look at the audited figures of the liquidator of the R.H.A., which were recently issued in conjunction with the meeting held by him on January 22, you vill receive a good indication of which part of the passenger section was a liability.
With regard to the " indiscriminate" dissipation of A.R.O. funds, I would point out that on December 15, Mr. Fowler agreed that he had much more money available in the previous September, when the merger was expected to go through, than he had on December 15.
Mr. Sewill and the " Lions' Den."
Mr. Sewill's appointment was only one of the stumbling blocks. Many of us feel grateful to Mr. Sewill for the efforts he has made, and is making, and we insisted only on knowing what was going to happen to him after we had allowed him to be put into the lions' den. We could gain no assurances from the lions beyond a year and we were certain that, by then, the lions would be hungry! Mr. H. J. Lloyd's alleged statement on securing Mr. Sewill's position seems to imply that, in Mr. Lloyd's opinion, the merger fell through solely on this matter. Knowing Mr. Lloyd as I do, I leave him to deny this.
You are the first person to tell me that it was ever suggested that Major Long was suspended, When, in early December, you " pro-mergers " tried the Coup d'aat, I agree that Major Long absented himself from headquarters. You see, nobody there was likely to work with him, and, what is more, I would refer you once again to your own little pious reference to loyalty. Mr. Sewill and Major Long are loyal to one another.
I do beg of you to forget the merger and to get on with the real job of defending our industry and recruiting members from those not within arty organization.
Mr. T. A. McDowall, proprietor of the P.D.Q. Transport and Garage, whilst regretting that the dispute is still being ventilated, feels that the following two points should be mentioned : Members' Approval Not Sought.
The A.R.O. members suddenly found that they were to be presented with a fait accompli, in that a merger, the terms of which they could not ascertain, was to be consummated before they were asked to approve, and they decided that dictators' fashions did not suit them. Although Mr. Flin has told us about Mr: Sewill's terms of engagement, hp has refrained from mentioning the treatment meted out to that gentleman, which treatment made it hard to believe that he would be allowed to carry on after the first year_ He has also refrained from putting besitle Mr. Sewill's terms the terms which were to be given to Mr. Bristow.
Why sugar the pill by saying, "Mr Sewill was given leave of absence "? " Summarily suspended," tells the truth in two words, and, if Major Long stopped away with him, most of us will say " thanks be that we had some loyalty where it was needed; good for the Major!"
The whole truth is that A.R.O. members are determined to control their Association.