Free The Unknown Industrial Prisoner by David Ireland Page B

controls.’
    â€˜Let’s have one, friend,’ said the man waiting patiently for attention, in a hard voice. Should I, in surprise, gave him one and went on reading. The Colonel fiddled with a new work, Diversifications, as he listened.
    â€˜The avoidance of waste, waste of human resources which carry a high cost factor, management of expenses, banish inertia, the disinclination to move or act. Inertia is the product of prosperity, we should not hesitate to depart from our traditional ways, constantly strive for better and safer working conditions, the Puroil Team, shaping the future of Australia, tremendous future, it is up to each of us to give of our best!’
    Should I paused for breath, his chest heaving, a prominent Welsh vein throbbing in his right temple.
    A phone rang and broke it up. Should I went away. A worker had gone to hospital with a back injury and his wife was asking for food money.
    â€˜Can’t be done,’ rapped the Colonel. ‘He’ll have to call and see Calamity Jane the nursing sister and fill in the compo papers.’ He listened a bit. ‘Madam, your husband might be on night shift, but Calamity Jane isn’t. He should have reported to the sister and then seen the company doctor. Two in the morning? Then he should have waited outside the casualty room. Couldn’t stand? What sort of wound was it? Did he lose much blood? No blood? No wound? I fail to see, Madam, how a man can be incapacitated by an invisible injury. Madam, his pain is no concern of ours. There is no claim until he fills these papers in. How do you know he suffers, Madam? Can you prove pain? Can you measure it? We have no pain-gauges, Madam. He could be fooling you, the doctor, everyone. Our rules are laid down. We can’t take anything on trust. We don’t make the rules, Madam. You can talk to a dozen Unions, Madam. He must call and see the sister, see the company doctor and fill the papers in. With back injuries, he’ll need all the witnesses he can get. He was alone? That’s bad. A man should never be alone when he has his injury. It’s not doing him any good delaying this way. It’s not my problem, Madam, I’m only here to help and I’ve done my level best to give you all the information at my disposal. Goodbye, Madam.’
    He put the phone down quickly and his fingers flew as he put the finishing twists to Diversifications. He listed it in a little notebook along with a drawing of it, in case barbarians destroyed his art in a forthcoming invasion of the pay office, smiled at it, then placed it on the shelf behind him.
    â€˜Was that 1444?’ slimed the Black Snake and the Colonel nodded.
    â€˜He done his back in the other day,’ said the Black Snake.
    â€˜That’s what that woman said.’
    â€˜He did that once before. Walked like this.’ He got up and did an imitation of a bent man, putting an agonized expression on his face. The office laughed and laughed.
    The thermostat reacted to the warming office, and the tone of the air conditioning system altered, filling the large room with a deeper hum. The air vents in the ceiling showed black patterns round them; the air they breathed was the air that circulated outside, with a high soot level. The system had filters to keep out rocks. The man waiting patiently for attention shifted from buttock to buttock on his chair and fiddled with something in his overalls. The tea-lady trundled in with her mobile urn and morning tea was on. The Garfish came out immediately to get his cup, trying to set a good example. Too much time was wasted if the woman had to go round with each cup. But the woman was against any limiting of her functions, she started to take cups round immediately, she wanted her job to fill all the available time. If the Garfish had his example followed, there might have been no Mother and Child from the Colonel to enrich our heritage, no Communication, no Will to Progress, no