Trade Union Crisis OCTOBER 01, 1956 by COLIN BROGAN Mr. Brogan
is a British journalist, author, and advocate of competitive
private enterprise. Years of easy credit, malinvestment, union
domination, and other aspects of political intervention lead to
a day of reckoning for Britain’s auto industry. Ever since the
end of the War it has been the proudest boast of British
politicians that full employment has been maintained in spite of
all difficulties. Conservatives and socialists have disputed as
to which party can claim the major part of the credit, but both
parties, at least in public, take it for granted that full
employment is an unmixed boon. That has never been the view of
serious economists. Full employment in Britain has meant roughly
ten jobs for every nine men, and the results have been highly
damaging to industry in a variety of ways. Laborers have been
tempted to shift from job to job in the most casual way, which
does not help industrial efficiency. There has also been a large
amount of concealed u