MUCH TIME LOST

Evening Post, Volume CXXXII, Issue 37, 12 August 1941, Page 9

MUCH TIME LOST

INDUSTRIAL UPSETS

RECORD NUMBER OF MEN INVOLVED

Industrial disputes during the year 1939, the latest for which complete figures are available, affected a record number of workers, according to the latest Official Year Book. In that year there were 66 disputes, and they involved 15,682 workers, who suffered an estimated loss in wages of £60,394. There were 636 firms affected. This was more than six times as many as in the previous year, when 11,388 : workers were concerned in 72 strikes, . involving a loss in wages of £42,104. ' In a brief review of the history of industrial disputes, the' Year Book states that the greatest number of disputes in any one year since 1894, when the Industrial Conciliation and Arbitration Act was passed, was recorded in 1y25, when there were 83 —mostly of trivial importance. Although the year 1939 saw the greatest number of workers involved, it was only slightly in advance of 1920, the next highest year, with 15,138 workers. In both years the industries most affected were mining and shipping. From the point of view of lost time, the maximum was reached in 1923, when the lost time represented more than 200,000 working days. This year was marked by serious disputes in the coal-mining and shipping industries. Of the 66 disputes in 1939, 50 were of less than two days' duration. Twenty of the disputes were settled in favour of the workers and 22 in favour of the . employers, while 16 were indeterminate and eight represented a compromise. It is interesting to note that of the disputes ending definitely in favour of ! one party or the other during the five years, 1935-1939, workers succeeded in 79 instances and employers in 68. In the previous five years, 1930-1934, workers were successful in 25 instances and employers in 41. The score over the ten-year period, therefore, was fairly even, with the employers leading by 109 to 105.