Word: wildcats
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Some policymakers at Ford Motor Co. must rue the day, back in 1911, that the company set up shop in Britain. Though its pay scales run well above the industry average in Britain, Ford has been a prime target of wildcat strikes that torment the country's economy and damage its deteriorating trade position. Last year Ford lost 1.2 million man-hours to "unofficial" walkouts, often led by only a handful of professional soreheads. Lately the company has hoped to buy its way out of the strike nightmare by offering its workers a simple tit-for-tat: extra money...
...Matter of Honor. The row was started by a contract offer that included wage increases averaging 81%, holiday bonuses and a guaranteed annual wage in return for no wildcat strikes. Leaders from all 16 Ford unions approved, and the committee's chairman called the deal "bold and imaginative." Similar sentiments were voiced by Barbara Castle, Minister of Employment and Productivity, who has been pressing for a major labor reform, chiefly through sharp restrictions on wildcat strikes (TIME...
Then the deal broke down. The 480-odd union shop stewards, fearing that their power over "the lads on the floor" might slip if they could no longer call wildcat walkouts, ordered a strike of the 46,500 workers. Then leaders of the two top unions reversed themselves and fell into step with the shop stewards. Ford appealed to the courts, but in vain. As the judge said, labor contracts in Britain are "binding only in honor...
...touch with the people they represent. Prime Minister Harold Wilson condemned the strike leaders for imperiling Britain's efforts to build exports and employment. All that has happened at Ford, he said, only provides powerful support for his government's plan to enact laws against wildcat strikes...
...Harvard only increased its pressure wiping out the Wildcat's hard-earned lead with two goals in two minutes...