It’s time to strike back

Dear Editor London area commuters continue to suffer misery because Southern Rail management and employees cannot agree.

I thought that strikes would have been past history by now. In a modern, civilised state they should not be necessary - or allowed.

At the moment we have industrial tribunals and ACAS, but time after time they prove helpless to prevent constant disruption by striking employees.

The present situation should not be allowed to continue. It would seem elementary that some radical reform is required to bring industrial relations out of the Dark Ages.

To my mind, the solution seems very straightforward. At the moment, we have criminal courts and we have civil courts dealing with various disputes between individuals and between companies and organisations, but we have no court system dealing only with industrial disputes in a similar way.

Once set up, industrial courts would have the power to order both sides of a dispute to cease further action, either lock-outs by bosses or strikes by workers, and to appear before the court. Meanwhile, the business concerned would continue to function as before and strikers would be ordered back to work.

After hearing both sides, the court would reach a decision which would have to be honoured by both sides. No lock-outs or strikes would be possible thereafter.

If either side wished to appeal, again no industrial action would be allowed until the appeal hearing, then the appeal court’s decision would be final.

Any strike action by workers or lockouts by bosses would not be legally permitted at any time and any breach of the court order would be regarded as a criminal offence and the matter would then be referred to a criminal court.

George K. McMillan, Perth