711 / 736
tory regulation, and the shop stewards are elected
by the workers.
In relation to the short term context of this Bill,
one must note
two
changes in Britain in certain
areas: —
Unemployment, until recently, was confined to
certain specific areas. This meant, in effect, that
only minimum standards of wages were laid down
and pressure was applied, if necessary, by informal
groups to strike for better wages. A new impetus
to
the recognition problem in unions was un
doubtedly the growth of the white collar worker.
In the circumstances, the Donovan Commission
recmmmended
that
the principle of collective
bargaining should be reformed urgently without
legal compunction and that many causes of strikes,
such as unfair dismissals, should be condemned.
The essential features of the new Bill were that
there was henceforth going to be legal enforcement
of collective bargains, which had to be in writing,
as it was contended this procedure was more
orderly. The newly-constituted National Industrial
Relations Court could declare that the procedure
for the settlement of disputes could henceforth
be made binding on both sides whether they had
agreed on it or not. This would seem to preclude
a legal strike until the procedure had been applied.
As Lord Denning said in
Morgan v Fry —
(1968)
3 A.E.R. 458 — "The legal basis on which a
strike notice of proper length is held to be harm
ful in an inter-union dispute, is that the men can
leave
their employment altogether by giving
a week's notice
to
terminate
it. The
truth
is
that neither employer nor workmen wish
to
take
the
drastic
action
of
termination
if
it
can
be
avoided.
It
is,
therefore,
an
implication read into the contract by the modern
law as to trade disputes that each side is content
to accept a strike notice of proper length as law
ful. If a strike takes place, the contract of employ
ment is suspended during the strike but revives
again when the strike is over. Here the defendant
were not guilty of intimidation, because they gave
a strike notice of proper length. They were not
guilty of conspiracy to injure, because they acted
honestly and sincerely in what they believed to
be right and in the true interests of their mem
bers."
Henceforth, under the Bill, only legal registered
trade unions can be protected against actions for
damages under the Trade Disputes Act 1906, and
non-registered trade unions will be liable to penal
ties if they strike.
The study of Labour Law will consequently
assume more importance, as there will be innu
merable regulations and decisions arising out of
the new Bill.
Professor Michael Fogarty, Director of
the
Institute of Economic and Industrial Research
in Dublin, thought that in practice the new Bill
was unlikely to produce fundamental changes; it
tended to reform much sloppiness in the pro
cedure which had existed hitherto. It seemed to
him that a trade union as such should not be
allowed to be incompetent or a nuisance. In the
Post Office Union dispute, Mr.
Jackson had
admitted that he did not know what he was strik
ing for, nor did he take the trouble to find out.
It was, on the whole, preferable that legal inter
vention should be replaced by a tribunal of spec
ialists operating with the flexibility of the Labour
Court. He considered that on the whole the Bill
gave effect to proper procedures. It would also
be necessary to provide by statute, as in Germany,
for the representation of workers on the Board
of Directors. There appeared to him to be no
merit on stressing divisions between law and col
lective bargaining. The voluntary approach had
been sharply challenged by unimportant strikes
which ruined the economy, and behind the intel
lectual challenge of opposition to the Bill, there
appeared to be a concerted effort at mass hysteria.
Mr. Ruaidhri Roberts, of the Irish Congress of
Trade Unions, favoured the voluntary approach
in negotiations, and praised the Government of
Northern Ireland for negotiating with the Trade
Unions before deciding whether to bring in a
similar Bill there.
CRIMINAL LAW HAS FAULTS
IN CROWD CONTROL
In a public lecture in Trinity College, Dublin,
yesterday, Senator Mary T. W. Burke-Robinson
said she agreed with the view that there was too
great a dominance of summary trials, and there-
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