Pin-ups cut no ice at Ford
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IF YOU can't believe all you read in the newspapers, it is not necessarily the fault of the Press. The Liverpool Post, reporting a speech by Paul Roots, Ford's employee relations director, explained how "page three pin-up pictures have . . helped to smooth over industrial relations". He stressed the value of Ford News, saying: "We see communication as a valuable management technique."
Shortly afterwards he had to communicate by letter with each of Ford's 57,000 hourly paid workers following 254 unofficial stoppages in 198 working days this year. At Halewood on Merseyside, where pin-ups apparently cut no ice, there were 70 disputes in about two and a half months. Paul Roots promised dire consequences of further indispline.
This angered the unions. Ron Todd, of the Transport and General Workers' Union, declared:
"To win the lads over you've got to do it by conviction. You won't do it .. . by hitting them over the head with a big stick."
An average wage of £110 a week is merely the price for wrecking the company. Honest work is extra. The lads need to be run over, not won over.