BUILDERS' STRIKE

Evening Post, Volume LXXXVII, Issue 128, 1 June 1914, Page 8

BUILDERS' STRIKE

QUESTION OF NATIONAL LOCK-OUT PROVINCIAL MASTERS NOT KEEN DEPLETION OF STRIKERS' EXCHEQUER. (Bj Telserapb.— Press Association.— Copjricht.) LONDON, 30th May. The master builders in the provinces are not keen on the question of a national lock-out by the Federation. The council will meet within ten days to take the ballot which is necessary before a national lock-out can be declared. The stumbling block to a settlement is the employment of non-unionists, and, in a lesser degree, the non-recogni-tion of the men's Federation. The masters are convinced that the continuance of "lightning strikes" will paralyse trade. The method was for the workmen to appoint a certain day for the production, of a fellow- worker's ticket, and if this was not produced a strike was called without notice. After twenty of these lightning strikes the masters determined to secure from the men a prohibitive guarantee against them. This was refused. The strikers number 25,000 men actually out, but 150.000 workers are involved in the building trades allied to the strikers. There are 14,000 skilled workers. The dispute at present only affects the London Master Builders' Association, which has a, membership of 300. and does not represent the whole of the building trade,. The men's executive states' that the men have received 15s weekly strike pay, which was increased to twenty shillings in some instances by local contributors, according to the wealth of the local allied trades unions. Of 11,000 labourers, the bulk have received 7s, and some up to 12s 6d. , Many of the men, chiefly those, who had newly joined, are dependent on street collections, and receive as low as 2s. Many of the strikers obtain employment with builders outside the Masters' Association, and contribute to the general strike fund. The strike exchequer is being rapidly depleted. The Employers' Federation represents 6000 members, employing 600,000 men, and the wages bill is over £750,000 weekly. It is estimated that a national lock-out would cause a standstill to £150.000,000 of capital and £50,000,000 worth of work which is in progress. THREE THOUSAND IDLE AT PERTH. (Received June 1, 9 a.m.) PERTH, This Day. ' Three thousand men are idle in connection with the building trade trouble.