CAB129-35 — Page 309

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Page 309

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Page Woefbers of the Emergencies Pamille share the

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views of the Postmaster General, but others believe that no civil servant, whatever his grade, has a right to refuse to do work which is necessary to maintain essential services and iş of a type analogous to that on which he is ordinarily employed on the ground that by doing the work he would be taking sides in an industrial dispute, and they consider that it would be a grave mistake for the Government to do anything to imply that they recognised this right.

3.

(a)

The main considerations to be borne in mind are:

In law civil servants are in the same position as

other workers so far as the right to strike is concerned.

(b) The Government have taken the view that they would

take disciplinary action as employers against civil servants involved in a strike affecting certain essential services. This view has hitherto been taken in relation to services of the most vital character such as those concerned with the mainten- ance of law and order. Thus with the approval of the Lord President's Committee (L. P. (45) 45th Meeting, Minute 2) the. Attorney-General stated on 12th February, 1946, in the debates on the Trade Disputes and Trade Unions Bill that some civil servants stood, by reason of the nature of their employment, in a particular relation to the community and that in certain strike situations (e.g.

a strike of prison officers in disregard of the Whitley Council machinery) the Government would take disciplinary action in the shape of instant dismissal without hope of reinstatement.

(c)

In

In recent times there have been very few strikes by

civil servants and those that have occurred have been trivial in nature and short in duration. the general stoppage of 1926 no civil servants were called out on strike, but the Postmaster General was then faced with the same problems as are described in paragraph 2.

On that occasion the Postmaster General wrote to the Post Office staff associations as follows:-

"Sir,

In reponse to your inquiries, I am directed by the Postmaster General to say that, in the light of present circumstances, he is able to state that Post Office servants will not be required as a condition of service to perform duties previously performed by railway or trans- port workers in the event of stoppage of work upon the railways or in the transport industry. Instructions have been issued accordingly, but it is to be understood that this does not prevent the use of Post Office servants for loading and unloading vehicles used for the conveyance of mails normally sent by rail or by other means, or for duty for which any Post Office servant may volunteer.

It is possible that further developments may necessitate a reconsideration of this assurance, in which case notification will be Page 310 of 366 to the Union. "