from Sony Topham
"It's no fish ye're,buying, it's men's lives", said the fishwife in Sir Walter Scott's The Antigary. IT'S MEN'S LIVES is the title of Humberside Voice's latest Industrial Series pamphlet, Prepared and written by three ex-Ruskin mature students, it exposes the network of | monopoly, public subsidy and featherbedding which makes up the system of ownership and control of the industry, The penetration of Ross Group and Associated Fisheries into a dominating position, the assistance they receive from a friendly state (through the Whit Fish Authority) and the extending control which these firms exercise in processing and distribution are laid bare. The primitive and disgraceful conditions of the fishermen are described, and the conclusion drawn that they require much greater control over their working lives, The industry itself, the pamphlét argues, is ripe for nationalisation, in which the fishermen again should extend their controls considerably, The foreword to the pamphlet has been written by Jack Ashwell, who is the Hull fishing officer for the Transport and General Workers' Union, and who is currently campaigning vigorously against the grossly excessive hours of work of the fishermen, and for extended worker control over safety regulations at sea, (He was previously a bus-driver on the Hull corporation buses, and whilst chairman of his branch, wrote the Voice pamphlet Four Steps for Progress on the democratisation of the management of the transport system in Hull. That pamphlet has recently received renewed attention in the light of the EYMS busmen's strike and the growing understanding of the facts of monopoly control of the private section of the bus industry, )
The fishing pamphlet is most timely in its appearance, for feeling is running very high - amongst fishermen, their union, and the Hull Labour Parties - at the news that Harold Wilson is to present the Silver Cod trophy next March, This bauble is awarded every year by the fishing vessel owners to the skipper of the trawler which catches the highest tonnage in the year, It is a great publicity stunt for the owners, but to the fishermen the trophy symbolises the terrible system of work, with its attendant dangers and excessive hours, (Eighty hours a week is common whilst a trawler is at the fishing grounds!) In chasing the trophy, skippers are tempted into even greater riskss than are normai,: and may be induced as a result to fish in dangerous weather sonditions (ice-formation and gales).
The fishermen's accident and fatality rate is higher than any other industry, not excluding mining. No doubt Wilson sees the trophy as another example of his "productivity drive." In pursuit of this, he is prepared to be associated with the most hated symbol of exploitation in the most dangerous trade in our country, The fishermen, the wion, and the labour parties (all shades of opinion are united in their view of the Silver Cod) will be campaigning against Wilson's participation in the ceremony, and Hull Labour M.P.s, Kevin McNamara and Jim Johnson can be in no doubt about the feeling on this matter, It is a good time to buy and read "It's Men's Lives,"* * Available from Janet Blackman, 42, Pearson Park, Hull. 2/- post paid.