As noted in a recent article in the Stock Exchange Gazette, which was quoted in The Week, a new term has come into usage in speeches and White Papers: redeployment. A cynic might be tempted to say that this merely means that people lose their jobs and are forcel,if they are lucky, to go into other jobs where treir conditions and wages may or may not be as good as in their original ones, Experienced trade wionists will be certain to say that for large numbers of workers to be "redeployed" there is a very severe danger that the employers will force down conditions, However, Mr. Brown doesn't seem to see it in this light. Speaking at Portsmouth on Sunday he said:
"We have to have our people working on jobs and on projects which are immediately relevant and immediately earning," He could earn cheap applause by telling his owm union members: "Stay put". But this would not do them any good, ox» the country, Instead he had to say to thems "Change there has to be - moves from traditional jobs to new jobs, from traditional industries to new industries,"
He continued: "We are a revolutionary" (sic) "epoch-making Government, but there are limits to our revolutionary fire." One thing they did not want to do was to disturb the constitutional requirement that we should have another general election in October, 1969. “Unless something else happens you will have to wait until then," he added, No doubt Mr. Brown realised that these remarks would sound strange to trade unionists for he continued: The barriers to increased productivity must be tlrowm down, The “protective devices" of the trade union movement belonged to the days of heavy unemployment, injustice and inferior bargaining power. But we mustn't go on carrying -these beliefs into an age where they no longer belong." Mr. Brown declared, Thus one can see clearly that the Labour leaders are determined to the job the bosses would dearly like to do themselves,if they dare try!, that of tearing down the protective devices of the trade unions and using "redeployment" as a weapon in this.