Standing Over the Unions

Before the negotiated settlement was announced, Muldoon warned that he would call a snap Cabinet meeting if the final announcement was "too high". He denied that he was using stand-over tactics. Yet it is hard to see what else such a threat could be. On the other hand, he accused the drivers of using stand-over tactics themselves. "The Government, acting on behalf of the public, could not accept settlements that were produced by strike action," he maintained.

What this means is that workers, in fighting for their own living standards, are not allowed to use the only tool that is really their own: the right to withdraw their labour. Posing as a condemnation of "extremists" in the union movement, this remark is really an attack on the whole trade union movement.