STRIKES AND THREATS

Evening Post, Volume CVII, Issue 26, 31 January 1924, Page 4

STRIKES AND THREATS

Mr. Bromley states that the wages saved to drivers and firemen bs' the new mileage clause will exceed the cost of the strike to the union. • The railway cpnipanies say that the locomotive men could have obtained as much before the strike. Certainly the concession made appears to be covered by the offer of the companies to adjust particular' grievances. Also, Mr. Bromley's statement as to savings takes; no account of the cost of the strike to the' public or the'companies or to other workers. He speaks only of his own union, and he appears to have,taken a similarly narrow view all the tiine. The result is a loss which is certainly heavy, and without compensation to any party except the locomotive men, and it i3 doubtful if even that compensation could not have been obtained by sensible and peaceful means. It is to be hoped there will be wiser counsel before the dockers put their strike threat into operation. The "Daily Chronicle " claims that the grievances of the-dockers arise from the evils of casual labour, and that bne way out is decasualisation. It is a way out certainly,' but when that way comes to be taken it is just about as simple as the way out of a labyrinth. Various experiments have been made, but* so far as we are aware no experiment has disclosed a system so thoroughly stnke-proof and fool-proof that it can be recommended without reserve for general adoption. Under any circumstances the establishment of such a system within a foittught would be well-nigh impossible, and the dockers propose to strike on 16th February. Hope of avoiding this lies in speedy investigation of the claim for immediate wage.relief; but if this is successful, it would certainly be wise afterwards to make a further attempt to solve the casual labour problem.