• * * The Court of Inquiry has issued its
Report on the Covent Garden strike. The Court finds that the strike was at the beginning due to the unofficial action of the porters th-emseives. It thinks that if the Trade Union executive, instead of recognizing the strike thus declared, had ordered the men to return to work many misunder- standings would easily have been_ cleared up. Decasuali- zation of the industry is recommended, but it is pointed out that the porters should remember that one result of decasualization must be the employment of fewer men.
The Court reproaches the employers for having refused to discuss matters with the Minister of Labour when he invited them to do so. We quite agree. If the employers have a good case, as we are prepared to believe that they have, it must gain strength rather than weakness from publicity. The Report ends by suggesting a renewal of negotiations between the employers and the men, and suggests that if there should still be a deadlock the dispute should be submitted to-arbitration. At a meeting on Tuesday, however, the employers refused both further negotiations and arbitration.
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