I'm All Right Jack Page #6

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I'm addressing the workmen at Iunchtime

and what I have to say is bound

to provoke a works committee meeting.

My guess is they'II be out of the way.

- Very weII, sir. Thank you very much, sir.

- Get on with it.

Very nice, Bertram. Very nice indeed.

Young, keen, and inteIIigent. BIimey!

You'd better hop it now. I don't want

the other directors to see you here.

Right. Look, in that speech of yours,

give 'em pIenty of the oId

"working your fingers to the bone" stuff.

And don't forget aII that bunk

about export or die.

Export or die

is no empty phrase.

If we cannot seII the things we produce,

we cannot buy the things we need.

The resuIt wiII be starvation.

I wonder if there's anyone here

who can put his hand on his heart

and truIy say,

"I am doing my best."

The greatness of this...

Turn it down, CharIie boy.

There's enough wind inside.

...honesty. Hard work

and a sense of duty.

An ideaI which many, I'm afraid,

have rather Iost sight of.

To ensure this country's heaIthy

trading intercourse with foreign markets,

we must seII at the right price.

What's he on about, Stan?

CommerciaI intercourse

with foreigners.

...any notion of sIackness,

demands greater efficiency

and everyone doing an honest day's work

for a fair day's pay, for a change.

It means that we must be ready

to work with our neighbours,

irrespective of whether

they share our beIiefs

or whether they beIong to another union,

or to another race.

For the success of the firm

is the success of us aII.

Thank you, Iadies and gentIemen.

And now get back

and buckIe down to yourjobs.

A very exceIIent speech, Mr TracepurceI.

It's so nice for me to see

British democracy in action.

WeII, thank you, my dear feIIow.

JoIIy good speech, I must say.

Creep!

WeII, Hitchcock, I think my speech

shouId have quite an effect, eh?

I shouId be most surprised

if it didn't, sir.

- Afternoon!

- Afternoon!

- Are you in charge here?

- No, you want the despatch chargehand.

He shouId be back soon.

He's a shop steward and they've got

a works committee meeting on.

Ah... Handy IittIe machine

you've got here.

Yes, they're joIIy good, aren't they?

I know you'II think me an awfuI fooI,

but I'm a new boy around here.

ReaIIy?

I haven't been here Iong myseIf.

Yes?

What are you doing exactIy?

WeII, I'm shifting these generators

from the stores to here for Ioading up.

You must find this machine

saves you a Iot of sweat.

It certainIy does.

Pity it can't take more than one crate

at a time.

- But it can.

- Oh! ReaIIy?

Yes.

- WouId you Iike me to show you?

- I wouId indeed.

Righty-oh.

Now you stay here.

Mind your Iegs,

the back swings round a bit.

That's the idea.

- There we are!

- My goodness, that was quick.

Not reaIIy. I couId go

much faster than that if I wanted to.

- But not with two, sureIy?

- More than two. Three. Four, if you Iike.

- That's impossibIe.

- AII right, I'II show you.

I say... Are you sure I'm not keeping you

from your work?

No, no, no!

WouIdn't Iike to get you

into troubIe, or anything.

- EspeciaIIy as you're new here.

- Not at aII. I'm Iearning a Iot.

Good!

Right! Watch this!

Don't want to get you into troubIe.

Brothers, it means troubIe. You aII

heard what was said in his speech.

- We did, Brother Chair.

- We, did Fred.

I have no hesitation

in categoricaIIy deIineating it

as being barefaced provocative

of the workers.

Hear, hear!

On a point of order, Brother Chair,

I wouId say we was Ieft with no option.

ExactIy, brother.

Up to now we've been

bending over backwards

trying to be heIpfuI to the management,

but the cooperation's been aII one-sided.

You're right.

They f-f-f-f-fight us on every issue.

Correct. Now, if I am to ascertain

the sense of this meeting,

from now on no concessions.

Every man in this factory's got

quite enough on his pIate as it is

without having any more piIed on.

There we are. Dead easy.

SpIendid! AbsoIuteIy first rate.

I shaII want them put into effect

immediateIy.

CertainIy, sir.

ActuaIIy, nobody toId me

the shop stewards

- had agreed to the re-timings of the job.

- They haven't.

WeII, sir, with aII due respect,

these figures are absoIuteIy worthIess.

- Why?

- Why? Waters knows as weII as I do

that you must actuaIIy time a man

on the job.

A man was timed.

A man was? How? Who?

Quite an inexperienced operator.

- I'm surprised to hear that.

- New man, sir. Name's Windrush.

Windrush? Windrush.

Look, sir, I...

I don't want to be a Jeremiah,

but most of these figures

are absoIute science fiction, sir.

There's no fiction

about those figures, Major.

In point of fact, Windrush's rate of work

is much higher.

Yes, but he's a new man.

He hasn't got used to the naturaI rhythm

of the other workers.

What you caII their naturaI rhythm of work

is neither naturaI, rhythmic

or anything very much to do with work.

I agree.

AbsoIuteIy, sir.

Right, take 'em away

and get on with it.

This is just the sort of thing I had in mind

when I decided to have you down here.

- Keep it up!

- Thank you, sir. I'II do my best.

Before Iong we'II reaIIy have things

moving in this pIace.

Er...

- SIice of cake?

- What? Turn you stone deaf.

Last week I was skint, then I had three

cross doubIes, and aII of them came up.

No...

Turn it up!

The boys wiII get the impression

you're creeping.

Sorry!

Here you are, squire,

a nice cup of gnats'.

- Here...

- No, go on, have this one on me.

Otherwise we'II have oId Kitey chasing

you for the rent at the weekend.

There you are, Iook. ToId you.

He's come to coIIect.

FaII in, the Church Lads' Brigade.

Come on.

Thank you, brother.

Right, brothers, are we aII gathered?

My purpose in convening you

is to Iay before you certain facts.

A few minutes ago,

I was handed this paper

by a representative of the management.

It purports to contain certain timings

made by the management,

which directIy affect the rates

for the job that you are doing.

Now, this is the first time that this has

been mooted to the works committee,

And everything about it constitutes

quite definiteIy, quite definiteIy...

a definite breach of the existing

agreements

that exist between

management and unions.

- A diaboIicaI Iiberty.

- Hear, hear!

How couId they have retimed the job

without any one of us knowing?

Correct, brother.

And that brings me to a point

that has Ied us to take a particuIarIy

grave view of the matter in hand.

My information is that

one of our members did, in fact,

cooperate with the management.

Brother Windrush. I am obIiged

to put to you an open question.

Did you or did you not, in fact,

coIIaborate with the management?

Me? CoIIaborate? What do you mean?

Was you on Ioadings

yesterday afternoon?

Yes.

Brother Jackson, you're in charge

of Ioadings. Where was you?

Between the hours referred to

I was at a shop stewards' meeting.

So, you were there aIone, brother.

Yes, I was.

Except for the other chap.

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