The Wildcat Has Nine Lives

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 for no wildcat strikes. The result is a crippling strike against the no-strike clause.

For two weeks, all 23 Ford plants in Britain have been paralyzed. Every day, the company has lost almost $5,000,000 in production and Britain has lost about $2,400,000 in exports. Britain can ill afford the drain, especially since its trade deficit widened from $214 million in January to $338 million in February. Ford assembly lines in West Germany and Belgium are also pinched. The lack of British-made components has turned production schedules upside down. Ford executives have hinted that they may drop their expansion plans in Britain and divert some of their operations to calmer shores.

A 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, Jan. 31).

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," not in law.

Near Anarchy. Both the Trades Union Council and Barbara Castle's ministry have tried to mediate. The union leaders seemed to be adamant about scrapping the "penalty clauses" and asked for additional pay increases. At week's end, negotiations had produced proposals acceptable to three of the unions, the company and the government--a development that could end the strike quickly. In Parliament, Mrs. Castle said: "Some industries are getting near anarchy today." British Ford's negotiators confessed that they felt like characters in Alice in Wonderland. They could hardly overstate the absurdity of bargaining with scores of union leaders who do not have to consult their membership either before or after an agreement and who are often out of 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.

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