Foreign News: The Ostracized Workman

Meek little Jimmy Alcock, 54, was always a man to avoid trouble. But trouble sought him out at the Lancashire aircraft works, where he was a $25-a-week semiskilled laborer. When Britain's engineering (i.e., machinists') unions called a nationwide one-day "token" strike, Jimmy wondered what to do. He did not be long to the engineering union, and his own General and Municipal Workers union was not involved in the strike. He asked his union what to do. He was told to go to work as usual, and Jimmy did. He was the only man in the shop.

Next day Jimmy's workmates ostracized him. One young fellow threw an oily rag at Jimmy's face and knocked off his glasses. Jimmy did not answer back. He went off by himself and broke into tears. Four days before Christmas, his wife found him lying with his head in the gas oven. The coroner's verdict: "Suicide while the balance of his mind was disturbed. It would appear that this man has been overwhelmed by the treatment he received, or thought he was receiving, from his workmates."

"This thing should not have happened." cried the Rev. Jack Hesketh, the local vicar, at Jimmy's funeral. "We are living in an age that has seen the swing of the pendulum of trade unionism. It was formulated originally to claim for man the right to live according to his principles, the right to bargain for his labor. Men fought, and some died for that. Trade unionism today is the very antithesis of that attitude. Now men have not got the right to think or act according to their principles. Perhaps Alcock has died to call our attention to the dangerous situation."

None of Jimmy's fellow workers heard those words. Jimmy's widow had made it plain she did not want them at the funeral. "If only Jimmy had not bottled it all up inside him," she said. "If only he had answered them back and stood up for himself. That was his failing. He could never stand trouble."