A COASTER ABROAD.

Grey River Argus, 26 July 1922, Page 7

A COASTER ABROAD.

EXPERIENCES IN ENGLAND. Writing to a friend in Greymouth “Cornerman’’ pens the following: A continuation of my travels took me to Barrow-in-Furness, n town made famous by its ship-building and armament manufacture and practically owned and controlled by Vickers Ltd. To-day, however, Barrow is a city nearing despair, due to the engineering lock-out, and the streets were filled with workless men waiting anxiously for a settlement of the present dispute. I had a look over Walney Island, or Vickerstown and must admit that the housing scheme there has proved a success. The houses are. of pleasing design with a fair-sized garden attached; the streets arc wide and wcll-fomicd and plenty of open spaces permit of recreation. But there is little satisfaction in living under the roof of a stately castle if the larder is growing short of tucker, and as I looked on the imposing blocks of up-to-date houses 1 could not help thinking what a quantity of suffering and privation these well-built homes were hiding. I had a chat with several of the men locked out and from what they told me the crux of the dispute is “Managerial Function.’’ The men claim that if the manager’s instruction coincides with the worker’s skill and experience, well and good; the instruction is carried out Io the mutual satisfaction of both; if not in accordance with the worker’s experience, then he cannot reasonably be asked to do a wrong thing, or something contrary to his knowledge, and experience; surely then there is good ground for challenging the autocratic dictatorship of an instruction. On the worker’s side there is no desire —no general desire—to claim the 100 per cent. managerial functions in the works. He readily agrees with the boss whether there shall be manufactured steam turbines or oil engines—that is the employers’ business, or, function; but when the employer d-esircs to issue instructions that affect the life, health, and welfare of the workman, the latter doos then claim a right to have some say in the matter. It was claimed that the death of 19 girls caused by an explosion at Tipton,

in Staffordshire, was a direct result of managerial function. The men also say that if the employers exercise the 100 per cent, managerial function, it will mean a preponderance of cheap apprentice and unskilled labour in the shipyards, thereby displacing many skilled workers (“skilled” is not my own term) and incurring the possibilities of accidents and fatalities. The position in Barrow to-day (similar to other towns concerned in the dispute) is this: The engineers have been locked out throe months. Their union allowance was £1 a week at the outset of the lock-out, but this was cut down to 10/- and later to 5/- a week, and next week, according to posted notices, there will be no money left. I stood outside the Union, offices in Barrow. and watched hundreds of men going in to collect their 5/-. Old m-en, middleaged men, young men—all came' tramping to this office for the 5/- allowance —a dole on which the married workers are asked to “keep going.” Five bob because an autocratic, millionaire capitalist company wants to make pure slaves of its employees; five bob because the Engineers’ Union started the fight without sufficient funds; but five bob mainly because 47 other unions would not stop work in sympathy, preferring to take the lash without a squeal, and at the same time making possible a continuation of the industry. Although the Engineers’ Union lockout funds are depleted, there is still money that cannot be touched but for specified purposes. This is tor funeral expenses, sickness and superannuation. Unemployment relief, which was granted by the Union to men out of work before the lock out, has also ceased and ; three-quarters of the loeked-out. mon in Burrow are relying on their wives obtaining the Poor Law Guardian's dole ' for the womenfolk and their families. The Minister of Health was appealed to, asking him if the loeked-out men I could gain Guardian relief, but the ! answer was in the negative. Appar- '• ently the worker is in the wrong when he strikes, and is just, as culpable, when he is loeked-out! And the boss, of course, is always right! Men unemployed (not locked out) are able to get Guardian relief at the rate of !;>/- a week per man, 13/- a week for their wives and 4/- per child up to the age of 14. As you would see by tho cables 47 other unions voted in favour of the employers’ terms, so that the engineers will have either to play second fiddle to their fellow-unionists (!) or starve.

Tho conditions in Barrow are typical of all other industrial centres in England, and before a week or two go by Capital will have registered another of its many victories, made possible by lack of unity and sympathy among what ought to be a elass-eonscious majority. lam going up to Scotland in a week’s time and will let you have another letter from there.