Word: heaths
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Politically, Heath cannot afford to look as if he is caving in after putting his country through the trauma of the three-day work week. But such a settlement could provide a face-saving way out. By and large, Britons agree that the miners are overworked and underpaid on a base pay of $57 a week. Because wages are not high enough to keep an adequate work force, the miners must work overtime to keep the country from collapse. There has been no strike, no walkout. "I am dead against breaching Stage III, but at the same time...
...predicament of Prime Minister Edward Heath's government last week recalled a World War I cartoon of two British tommies huddled miserably in a crater at the shell-scarred front. "If you know a better 'ole," one says sharply to the other, "go to it." Like the tommies, the Prime Minister badly needs a better 'ole. Heath is faced with a crisis that shows no sign of immediate relief-and threatens to wreck the nation's economy. His confrontation with the country's coal miners has reduced Britain to such austerity measures to conserve energy...
...time last week it appeared that Heath had found a solution: a snap February election to show whether the country supported him or the miners. At the last minute, after a lengthy meeting with his Cabinet, Heath postponed that drastic step. Instead, he decided to meet once more with the powerful Trades Union Congress to resolve the dispute. The T.U.C., which represents 10 million British workers, has promised that if Heath would make a settlement with the 247,000 miners for a wage rise above the government's anti-inflationary Stage III guidelines, other unions would refrain from citing...
...paycuts and layoffs, some Tories argue that the Prime Minister would be better off taking the matter to the country with an antiunion campaign fashioned on the theme "Who Governs Britain?" But an election waged on the labor issue would be divisive. It would also spotlight the fact that Heath's policy of unfettered economic growth had failed. Warned the London Times: "The class bitterness and political mayhem would leave behind social wreckage that would take years to clear...
Toss-Up. Nor is there any certainty that Heath would win. Although the Conservatives seem to have an edge, recent polls show that an election now would be a tossup. Indeed, there is a feeling in many quarters that Britons would prefer to vote against both Heath and Opposition Labor Leader Harold Wilson. As the Financial Times's Joe Rogaly put it last week, "My first reaction [to news that an election might be called] was, goodness, how awful if one of them wins...