The Evening Star TUESDAY, JANUARY 28, 1936. BRITAIN’S COAL MINERS.

Evening Star, Issue 22248, 28 January 1936, Page 8

The Evening Star TUESDAY, JANUARY 28, 1936. BRITAIN’S COAL MINERS.

Muon .satisfaction is reported in Britain over the successful issue to the dispute between the coal owners and the minors. It has been demonstrated time after time in the Empirb that a , strike is the most futile and wasteful way of conducting an industrial dispute. The experience of many failures should demonstrate to the workers that the strike weapon is becoming obsolete and that the way to obtain fair conditions is by friendly negotiation, relying also on the verdict of public opinion to assist them when their cause is just. After much discussion between the contending parties in the present case, in which the Secretary for Mines in the British Government worked unceasingly to bring about an agreement, the workers’ federation, urged to such a course by their leaders, agreed to accept the employers’ offer of an increase of a shilling a day in wages, instead of the two shilling rise demanded by the men. The miners do not regard this concession as a final settlement. A further advance is expected after time has been given the owners to make an extensive reorganisation of the industry, in which it is proposed a co-ordinated selling scheme, by substantially reducing costs, shall play an important part. The cases of both sides were presented to the public in detail. In brief, they were that, the men . were not obtaining a fair living wage, and that the owners could not afford to pay more. It was conceded that a number of the workers in the industry were reasonably well remunerated, but that a very large proportion of them were ill paid in comparison with current wage standards. In a statement by the Mineworkers’ Federation it was declared that the average weekly wage was £2 4s Bd. Added to this potent cause of trouble there was a growing sense of dissatisfaction to which various causes contributed, such as the irregularity of employment, the displacement of manual labour by new machinery, and serious colliery disasters of recent date. One thing that blocked the line of approach to the owners in the early stages of the dispute was the demand for a national agreement. This the owners resisted. They said they had had experience of such an arrangement, and its duration coincided with the period of the greatest unrest in the history of the industry. From the end of the war to the end of the national agreement, in spite of two royal commissions and two courts of inquiry, there were three national strikes. The owners pointed out that the cost of the men’s demands would be £18,582,580. They contended that no sum approaching that total was available in the industry, and that the real profit last year was less than £2,000,000. As a result of the mediation of the British Government and the conferences between the owners and the men, plans were laid down to enable an advance in wages to be made. Many of the largescale consumers of coal—industries and local bodies—agreed to i pay a higher price for their coal. There is to bo reorganisation in the disposal of the product. Prices and sales are to be supervised with equal thoroughness. A single selling organisation will manage the marketing of the output of each .coalfield and there will be a central coordination of the coalfield prices in order to prevent wasteful competition. There is also to be a unification of coal mining royalties, which will vest control of the development of the industry in a single central body. It will thus be seen that radical reorganisation of the industry appears to be the key to the position. Time will be needed for the plans to be matured and put into full operation. Mr Baldwin and his colleagues urged that opportunity should be accorded to the owners to carry out this work, and the men by accepting half of their oi’iginal demand have agreed to it. High praise has been accorded to the miners’ patience and the statesmanship of their leaders. The owners in the post-war years have had to face grave difficulties, due to the serious collapse in trade, and they, too, have a reasonable claim to consideration. The settlement has been acclaimed in Britain with thankfulness, for, had the worst happened, it would have been little less than a national disaster.