There are now compelling reasons why professional engineers should join a suitable trade union. This is one conclusion of a report by the Council of Engineering Institutions working party on ‘Professional Engineers and Trade Unions’* recently published by CEI. The report also recommends that the chartered institutions should ‘bring this forcibly to the notice of their members’. Both the institutions and the CEI are precluded by their Charters from carrying out trade union activities.CEI Chairman, Professor J. F. Coales, commented: ‘There was never a time when the country needed the expertise of the professional engineer more urgently than now. It is only through the development of our manufacturing capacity that we can really hope to survive. If the professional engineer is to be allowed to make his contribution to the full, then this problem of his representation must be overcome. I hope this report by our Working Party will enable professional engineers to make up their minds about the vital question of trades union membership.’