The first political meeting I recall was in the 1964 General Election, at Staines Town Hall. The chief speakers were Vic Feather, then Assistant General Secretary of the Trades Union Congress, and Fenner Brockway, a Conscientious Objector from the First World War, who was a committed Leftist.
Fenner Brockway was in his mid seventies. He was past his best as a speaker by then and he aroused no enthusiasm in me.
Vic Feather spoke about the Tory proposals to put strike leaders in prison.
Vic told us about a recent pay dispute in the Electricity industry in Eire.
The Electricity workers had threatened a strike.
The Electricity Board obtained a court order to prohibit the strike.
On instructions from the Electricity Union Executive, the workers went on strike.
The Electricity Board went to the courts again.
The court fined the union. The union executive refused to pay.
The court ordered the arrest of the union executive members for contempt of court. The Executive members were to stay in prison until they called off the strike and paid the fine.
The strike continued.
The Government had to intervene.
A meeting was arranged between the trade union executive – still in prison for contempt – the Electricity Board – and the Government.
The industrial dispute was resolved with a pay increase for the workers. The union executive agreed in principle to end the strike.
The prison could not release the executive until the fine was paid.
The workers were clear that they would stay out on strike until their executive was released.
But who was to pay the fine?
The executive said that they refused on principle to pay the fine. They were content to stay in prison indefinitely rather than agree to pay the fine.
The Government said that they could not pay the fine.
The Electricity Board very reluctantly agreed to pay the fine so the executive could be released and the strike be ended.
By now it was Saturday. The law of Eire was that fines could only be paid in cash.
The Eire banks were closed on Saturday afternoons.
How does one raise large amounts of cash on a Saturday night in Dublin?
Clerks from the Electricity Board toured the Dublin pubs, escorted by police officers. They wrote Electricity Board cheques to the publicans until enough money had been raised to pay the fine.
The entire audience was laughing at this image.
By the time the Electricity Board got to the prison to pay the fine, it was now Sunday.
The law of Eire is that fines cannot be paid on a Sunday.
The audience were beside themselves at this point. What a disaster for the Electricity Board.
The Executive members could not be released until the prison opened for business on Monday.
The conclusion Vic Feather drew from this is that fining trade unions and imprisoning trade unionists does not end or shorten strikes. The intervention of the courts can actually prolong strikes!
I liked Vic Feather!
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