Government records of
1973 reveal security services were employed to pass
on information on workers at Massey Ferguson to the companies’ management
Documents from Government
Departments from over 30 years ago have revealed
that in 1973 Douglas Hurd, then political secretary to Prime Minister
Edward Heath, agreed to the security services help to provide
Massey-Ferguson with a list of ‘subversive organisations’ and, no
doubt,
individuals.
The decision came after lunch with Tom Powell, chairman of Massey-Ferguson
[UK], when the American owned company was under pressure from unions to
close the gap in wages between plants at Peterborough and Coventry, where
‘the differential’ in wages was £15 a week, a not inconsiderable
sum at a
time when wages were around £40 a week.
Powell had complained that Massey-Ferguson ‘had no means of telling when
they were recruiting trouble-makers’, which is clearly a euphemism for
workers seeking to improve their wages. Although he had no facts to back
up his claims Powell appears to have asserted ‘that academic
revolutionaries, often from abroad’ had played a prominent part in strikes
at the Peterborough.
Hurd is sufficiently concerned to write to Sir John Hunt at the Cabinet
Office asking whether Massey-Ferguson could obtain a list of organisations
which they should watch out for when recruiting staff.
Hunt is initially unwilling to sanction ‘information from official
sources’ being given to the company for fear that ‘anything in the
nature
of a black list might both hamper the work of the Security Service and put
the Government of the day at risk of attack for interfering in the
employment field’. Clearly Hunt does not want to reveal too much for fear
of jeopardising or revealing the names of Security Service personnel
working at the time within various workers movements, including, no doubt,
the trade unions.
Hunt suggests that Hurd refers Powell to the Economic League ‘who should
be able to give some help’. The Economic League was well known for keeping
lists of active trade unionists which it provided at a fee to companies.
Hunt is able to overcome his reluctance to allow official sources give
Massey-Ferguson the information they have requested after Hurd complains
that Hunt is being ‘a bit negative’ and that ‘Powell is too
serious a
person to be referred to the Economic League.’
After Hurd complains that he hopes this is not a case of ‘the security
services collecting information which is so delicate that no use can be
made of it’ Sir John Hunt then agrees to Mr Powell being given ‘a
confidential briefing about subversive organisations.’
As there are no minutes of what took place at the meeting it is only
possible to speculate that the discussions extended across organisations
to include trade unionists active within Massey-Ferguson, and ultimately
to what role the security services could play in reducing their influence
amongst workers within the company.
Mr Hurd went on to become Foreign Secretary in Margaret Thatcher’s
Government.