Alf Hodgson (Cyril Chamberlain, left) kept the corridors clean at Maudlin Street (Teacher)
ALLBRIGHT, MR
Played by Norman Chappell
Seen in Cabby, Mr Allbright is a driver employed by Speedee Taxis Limited. He’s also the firm’s shop steward. A pedantic individual who’s always consulting his union handbook to check his employer’s actions are legitimate.
ALLCOCK, MR
Played by Bill Maynard
Mr Allcock, the general secretary of the union in At Your Convenience, is called to W. C. Boggs and Son to try and help resolve the unofficial strike. But he’s a useless bureaucrat and does nothing to help the desperate Mr Boggs at a crucial time for the company’s future – or that’s how he would have been portrayed had he survived the final edit. (Note: the scene was cut.)
WHAT MIGHT HAVE BEEN
The workers at W.C. Boggs and Son are striking again and a meeting is arranged with the general secretary of the employees’ union to try and resolve the dispute.
EXT. THE WORKS – DAY
The wheels are at a standstill, the chimney’s dead, and there is no sign of life whatsoever.
EXT. THE WORKS YARD – DAY
A chauffeur-driven car purrs in. It comes to a stop in front of the works entrance. Vic, dressed fairly smartly and carrying papers, gets out and bows and scrapes to a large, stout, well-dressed, well-read, prosperous-looking gentleman getting out of the car. This is Mr Allcock, the general secretary of the union, who looks very sunburnt.
INT. BOGGS’ OFFICE – DAY
The Board Table has been set with paper and pencils, glasses and water jug for a meeting.
Boggs, Lewis and Sid are standing waiting tensely as the door opens and Withering looks in and whispers excitedly.
WITHERING: They’re here, Mr Boggs.
BOGGS: Show them in, please, Miss Withering.
(WITHERING disappears again and LEWIS turns to BOGGS.)
LEWIS: Now remember, Dad, be tough with them. We can’t afford to lose this contract.
BOGGS: Yes, yes, I know, Lewis.
(The door opens again and WITHERING ushers in ALLCOCK and VIC.)
VIC: Mr Boggs – this is our union general secretary, Mr All-cock.
BOGGS: How do you do, Mr Allcock. My son Lewis and Mr Plummer, our works foreman.
ALLCOCK: Pleased to meet you, gents. And sorry if I’m a bit late, but I had another stoppage this morning.
BOGGS: I’m sorry to hear that. You want to try Epsom salts. Marvellous stuff.
(ALLCOCK gives him a strange look.)
ALLCOCK: Work stoppage, I mean.
BOGGS: Oh, I beg your pardon.
ALLCOCK: Yes. Well, shall we get straight down to it then?
LEWIS: Good idea. We’ve already lost four days’ production over this.
ALLCOCK: Now, don’t let’s get off on the wrong foot, young feller. I’ve got a lot on my plate and I had to interrupt what little holiday I get to come ’ere today.
(As they sit …)
LEWIS: I’m sorry.
ALLCOCK: Not that I’m all that worried. Majorca’s a bit boring after the first three weeks or so.
(Confidentially to BOGGS.)
ALLCOCK: I got a deal going on for some building development there, you know.
BOGGS: How nice.
ALLCOCK: Yes. Do you fancy a piece?
BOGGS: (Shocked) I beg your pardon?
ALLCOCK: A plot of land!
BOGGS: Oh. No, I don’t think so, thank you. If we could just get down to business.
ALLCOCK: Yes, all right.
(He takes the open file from VIC and puts it in front of him.)
ALLCOCK: Well, I’ve had the basic facts from Spanner ’ere, and you know what your main trouble is, don’t you?
SID: Yeah. It’s the same old one about who does what job.
ALLCOCK: Ah yes, but the real basic trouble ’ere is – it’s an unofficial strike.
LEWIS: What does that mean, then?
ALLCOCK: It means my ’ands are tied. I can’t do a damn thing. Because it hasn’t got union approval, see?
BOGGS: Well, I’m delighted to hear that, Mr Allcock.
ALLCOCK: So your first step towards getting a settlement is to make it official!
BOGGS: Yes, but … how exactly can we make it an official strike if it hasn’t got union approval?
ALLCOCK: (Chuckles indulgently.) No, no, if you’ll forgive me for saying so, Mr Boggs, you’ve got it arse about face.
(BOGGS reacts coldly to this bit of crudity.)
BOGGS: If you’d care to translate that, Mr Allcock, I don’t understand these technical expressions.
ALLCOCK: What I mean is, the strike hasn’t got our approval simply because it is unofficial.
Make it official and we’ll damn soon approve it, don’t you worry!
LEWIS: All right then, just tell us how we go about making it official?
ALLCOCK: Very simple. We submit all the facts of the dispute to the Union Judiciary Committee. They’ll study them and pass on their recommendations to the Industrial Relations Committee. (Pause.) In due course of course.
LEWIS: How do you mean, in due course?
ALLCOCK: Well, the Union Judiciary Committee are over at a conference in Rio – and you know what that means, eh?
(He chuckles dirtily, nudges old BOGGS, and makes an expressive zig-zag gesture with his hand.)
BOGGS: Quite. Then how soon could we expect action to make it official?
ALLCOCK: Just as soon as the Industrial Relations Committee can study the recommendations and pass their findings on to the Direct Action Committee.
SID: Blimey, you seem to have more committees than the society for unmarried mothers!
ALLCOCK: Well, the Executive have got to have something to do, haven’t they?
LEWIS: (Getting angry.) All right, then what happens after all that, Mr Allcock?
ALLCOCK: I can tell you that all right. It’ll all be chucked right in my lap and I’ll have to hop on another plane back from Majorca, dammit.
BOGGS: