BRITISH LABOUR IN 1911.

Dominion, Volume 5, Issue 1360, 10 February 1912, Page 6

BRITISH LABOUR IN 1911.

A TROUBLED YEAR. The year 1911 was marked in Gread Britain by a wave of industrial unTe&t and turmoil unparalleled ill its extent since the great London dock strike of 18S9 and the protracted coal stoppage in the niining districts of England in the autumn of 1893. The outstanding disputes of the year were:— Transport workers' strike. Railway servants' strike. : Coal strike in South Wales. Dispute in the coiton trade. The protracted strike of the- 12,000 men employed at tho pits of tho Cambrian Colliery Combine in South Weles cost the .South Wales Miners' Federation up. wards of .£250,000, and involved a-lose,, of wages exceeding ,£1,000,000. From tho workmen's point of view it proved the most disastrous strike.of tho year.. In the ten months from January 1 to October 31n o fewer than 757,520 workpcoplo were involved in labour disputes, ■ and tho loss of working days amounted to 9,476,900. If the avcrago wage is estimated at 4s. a day (says the "Daily News") this represents a loss of jei,895,350 in wages, with tho much heavier loss in production. Tho trades principally affected by the strikes of the year arc coal mining, 3,918,100 days; transport, 2,601,800 days; engineering and shipbuilding, 1,117,200 days; textile, 891,300 days. It is pleasant to turn from the strike record of tho yecr to tho returns of unemployment in the principal trades. Thesobiivo been tho lowest for many years past, and indicate a generally high, average of industrial activity. Tho perceutago of unemployment for each month up to the end of last month was as fol lows:— January 3.9 February 3.3 March 3.0 April 2.8 May 2.5 Juno 3.0 ' wy , 2.» August •••• •>••' September ~.. 2.9 October ■ 2.8 November 2.6 Average 3.0 Considering tho widespread industrial activity of the year , and tho small amount of unemployment, the advances in wages obtained during the eleven months aro not so largo as might hav« Ijocn expected. The net effect of all tho changes is au increase of i23,60S in the . weekly wage bill, or an addition of more, than one million a year. . Tho monthly toll of industrial fatal , accidents is heavy, thongh happily the , year has not witnessed any great colliery, or railway disaster 6uch ns saddened the previous year. The nnmbcr of fatal, accidents for each completed month of the year was as follows: — January 378 February »G March ■"L April 283 May 288June '-*> July MO August 259, September 3C9 October 36November — •Iβ Total 3770 ' ' ■"■'