A recent report in the Wall Street Journal shows that whereas white collar jobs had risen by 2.81% per year between 1950 and 1960 this tendency began to fall off in 1962 when the rise was 2.6%. Last year there was an actual drop (of 0.9%) This decline is attributed almost entirely to office automation, for comprny presidents report that sales and profits are rising. The report suggests that the trend is likely to continue: computer manufacturers estimate that sales are rising by between 20 and 25% a year.
A pamphlet published this week by the Institute of Persons. Management reports the experiences of nine firms who either had or were installing a computer and warns: "A number of firms were able to cut down drastically the number of school leavers they would have normally recruited for clerical jobs each year."" Redundancy of this sort is obviously going to pose an increasingly serious problem to the white collar unions. Experiences at Fords! Dagenham plant suggest that inter-union solidarity will be an essential weapon for opposing management on this question. At Dagenham the attack on the unions was followed by wholesale dismissals of office workers, A.E.I. VOICH STARTS PUBLICATION: Another publication has joined the Voice stable: A.E.I. Voice. Its appearance at this time is most appropriate, and as can be expected much of the paper is taken up with the present strike, In fact one might say that it is essential reading for an understanding of the very important fight which is taking place at that factory. A.E.I. Voice can be obtained from: Labour's Voice, 8, Ashkirk St., Manchester 18. 6aA PeDe
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