RECENT AMERICAN STRIKES

Hawera & Normanby Star, Volume LXXX, Issue LXXX, 29 January 1920, Page 3

RECENT AMERICAN STRIKES

GOVERNMENT'S METHODS OF DEALING WITH THEM.

Reporting from New York under date December 5, Messrs John Dunn, Son, and Co. give details of the action taken by the Government to bring about an end of the strike by the coal miners. This action should prove of particular interest to the people of the Dominion at the present time The report reads: In the industrial world events of farreaching importance have occurred. The iron and steel industry is gradually recovering from the strike, and the result may be said to have been a complete victory for the employers. Owing to the fact that the leaders of this movement represented only the most radical element in the unions and that the grievances presented were unimportant, public sympathy was almost entirely lacking, and the authorities took a much firmer stand than is usual in the case of an industrial struggle of this sort. ' The striking longshoremen, who .again almost completely tied up j»cean tratfao at this port' for some weeks have also returned to work under an arrangement far short of their original demands. There is also peace in the printing and publishing trade, as-the striking printers have finally agreed to terms arranged by their own union, to which for some time they refused to agree. Tne strike of the soft coal miners, however, is still unsettled, and developments have been somewhat unusual. When it became clear that there was no chance of an amicable settlement being reached between the operators and the men, and that the country was in grave clanger of a serious fuel shortage, the Government stepped m and assumed the position of arbitrator and took stem to ensure power to enforce its rulings. The first of these was that the men return to work pending an adjustment of their demands. To accomplish this an injunction was obtained from the Federal Courts restraining the leaders from directing the strike in any way, and enjoining the use of funds belonging to the union, and which ordinarily would have been disbursed to the men to tide them over the period of enforced idleness. Subsequent legal decisions upheld this injunction, and the court went further, and directed that the officers of the union recall the strike order and declare the strike discontinued. This order was obeyed "under protest,''* but evidently the order was issued in such a way that it was not taken seriously by the miners, and but few of them returned to work. These proceedings were taken by the Government under war-time legislation prohibiting interference with production of essential commodities, hut were also held to be legal on the broader principle that such strikes constitute a conspiracy against the public welfare. The Government has now granted the miners an increase of 14 per cent in wages, decreeing at the same time that this increase is not to he added to the, selling price of coal, and it is announced that ~aH*- men interfering with others returning to work shall be in contempt of court and liable to punishment. Such drastic action has never been even considered heretofore by the authorities in this country. The reasons for taking such steps are twofold: Production of soft coal for some four or five weeks has been probably at not over 45 per cent of normal; railroads have greatly curtailed train service, industrial plants have adopted part-time schedules, and in many localities stocks are about exhausted and much distress is imminent. The second | reason is that the strike is due not to Unjust conditions of employment or rates of pay,_ but to the machinations of the radical Socialists in their plan to sow discord and dissatisfaction, and that the miners are but the tools of revolutionary schemes; The events of the past month show plainly that the country is at last genuinely aroused against the agitators, and it is likely that special legislation will be enacted by Congress, and a serious effort made to rid the country of these undesirables. The Governor of Massachusetts, who stood firm against the striking policemen of Boston, was re-elected in November by an overwhelming vote in spite of the active opposition of the labor unions. This outcome was received by the whole cousttry with much gratification, and was a distinct damper on the activities of the»radical wing of the labor unions.