95,000 WORKERS IDLE.

Dominion, Volume 5, Issue 1496, 19 July 1912, Page 5

95,000 WORKERS IDLE.

WHAT THE TRANSPORT STRIKE MEANS. By Tclejrraph<-Pre3s Association-Copyricht London, July 17. Directly and indirectly there oro 95,000 workers idlo owing to tho dock strike. The sum lost in wages is set down at Tho sum of .£206,000 has been expended in strike- pay. Twenty-five thousand families are destitute. Lord Devonport, chairman of tho Port of London Authority, did not attend a conference with tho Premier and tho men's leaders, as previously reported. Mr. O'Grady and tho others merely 6aw the Premier on private business. The owners will not acquiesce in any third party's intervention. Police boarded a train conveying nr.-n----unionists to Tilbury, and cenfiscated fifteen revolvers. UNCONDITIONAL RESUMPTION. LORD DEVONPORT'S TERMS REJECTED. (Rec. July 18, 11.10 p.m.) London, July 18. Lord Devonport,' chairman of the Port of London Authority, has informed Mr. Gosliug, president of tho Transport Workers' Federation, and Mr. Orbell, of the Dockers' Union, that tho employers will only assent to the following conditions:—All classes of workers nmst forthwith resume work without stipulating for any conditions, and relying en tho assurances of the employers to consider any grievances submitted by the men or tho representatives of a particular union. The Strike Committee has lejected tho terms, and has issued n. statement declaring that the latest ultimatum adds insult to injury, and is a direct challenge to trade unionism. The committee is prepared to advocate an immediate resumption of work on tho conditions obtaining prior to the dispute.

. CENSURE MOTION DEFEATED. • (Rec. July 18, 11.10 p.m.) London, July 18. During the debate in tho Houfe of Commons on the Home O/fico vote, a motion by Sir Charles Cripps (Unionist), intended to censure Mr. M'Konna, Home Secretary, for failing adequately to protect free labour at Tilbury, was rejected by 287 votes to 253. .

A DISCREDITABLE QUARREL. DISREGARD OF AGREEMENTS. • "Ti ho T con(li °t which has broken out in the London transport trades, and which threatens to extend its area of disturbance, is characterised by two ugly features, equally discreditable to both combatants," says the "Nation." "The first is a reckless disregard for the explicit and implicit terms of an agreement, the second a callous repudiation of the rights aud interests of the general public and of its authoritative agents, the Board of Trade. It- is not easy to apportion between the parties the discredit of a method of procedure which, it it were habitual, would dstroy all reasonable hopes of industrial settlement now or in the future, and would leave the country a helpless prey to bands of employers and of workmen who recognised no law' but might, refusing to obey the ordinary rules'of civilised warfare. Tho men's case, taken by itself and judged on the admitted evidence, seems indefensible. , "The first avowed reason for the strike w.as the refusal of the .union- jiion,-,em-ployed ~': by tu'e',;MercantiJo;'Xightera{je Company, to work alongside of a nonunion man, and the consequent refusal of union men, employed.by other firms to handle the-traffic, turned over, to them from the Mercantile Lighterage Company. Now the report of the proceedings leading to the Devonport Agreement, which terminated tho strike of last August, makes it absolutely clear that the workers had pledged themselves not to insist upon the trade union ticket, but to allow members of their union to work with non-unionists. Whether they had forgotten this pledge—a not impossible supposition— or wilfully disregarded it, defending their infraction by imputing other breaches of the agreement' to employers, is not clear. But it is noteworthy that, at a quite early stage in the fight, they dropped the first explanation for their action, substituting a more general charge against employers of failing, to carry out the terms "of last autumn's agreement in respect of wages. • "Unfortunately for their case, whether the_ narrower or tho.wider explanation of their action be- taken, it involves a further disregard of the provision of last autumn's agreement, which required that, in tho event of nny dispute not finding settlement by the joint action of the Masters' Association and the Men's Society, it should bo referred to the' Board of Trade, and that in the meanwhile 'no member shall knock off work.'

Sir E. Clarke's Report. "On the essential points, Sir Edward Clarke, in the Report of his- Inquiry, declared against the men. But, as the same report makes manifest, tho case of tho employers is quite as crooked, quite as indefensible. In their letter, refusing the proposed conference under Sir George Asknith at the Board of Trade, tlw> shipowners, indeed, allege that 'Sir Edward Clarke does not point to any breach of agreement on the part of the shipowners,' and we observe that their defenders in the press confidently repeat the same, assertion. "But a , reference to the text of Sir Edward Clarke's Repirt makes it quite clear that he holds the barge-owners to have broken their 'agreement, by a refusal to pay the increased rates aud to pay the arrears the men were entitled to demand. Again, the wharfingers are charged with a refusal to carry out the award of higher wages in respect of the unloading of oversea ships:, and a master carmnn, who was at the time a member of his association, refused to carry out the ngreed terms of payment to Ms men. The?o charge arc held-by Sir Edward Clarko, in default of nny answer; to l>o true, and they stigmatise as little short of hypocrisy tho around assigned by the general body of the employers for their refusal to meet the mon in the proposed conference. "None of the vital industries of the country "can be allowed to conduct its business as if it merely existed to earn profits for its employers nnd wages for its employees," adds tho "Nation." "It nerforms a necessary public function, and in virtue of tin's necessity, the claim of tho public, ithrongh its representative Government, to exercise such a measure of control as is required to keep it in regular working seems irresistible."