" TRADE UNION TYRANNY "
SIR,—Will you allow me, without entering into the merits or demerits of the closed shop, to comment on two matters in Mr. W. J. Brown's recent article under the above heading? (t) He cites a finding of a Local Appeal Board approving the dismissal of some Glasgow workmen for leaving the A.E.U. He puts the opposite case of men breaking an agreed condition of employment that they should not belong to a union and, in rhetorical form, asks whether anyone would believe that the tribunal's finding would have been the same. My answer is " Yes." The gist of the offence is the breach of a substantial term of employment, and that has, in law, always been misconduct justifying dismissal. What the subject-matter of the agreed term is—whether union membership or non-membership—is beside the point. (2) Mr. Brown quotes Mr. Isaacs as saying that under the Orders he had no power to interfere with the tribunal's decision. But would not Mr. Brown agree that this reply was merely an instance of Ministerial modesty? The Orders give the Local Board in such appeals a purely advisory function. The effective decision lies in each case with
the Minister.—Yours obediently, HARRY SAMUELS. 4 King's Bench Walk, Temple, E.C.Q.
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