10,000,000 DAYS LOST A YEAR.

Marlborough Express, Volume XLI, Issue 86, 13 April 1907, Page 3

10,000,000 DAYS LOST A YEAR.

STRIKERS ANTIQUATED METHOD OF INDUSTRIAL WARFARE.

The music-hall strike, which is apparently drawing to an ( end, writes the London Express, makes a new development in these contests between capital and labour, since it is the first time that the man with several thousands a year has, so to speak, " dropped his hammer," and it is the first time that " workers " with wages, varying from £200 to 30s a week have joined hands. But the strikes are going out of fashion. More level-headed men among the men as well as among the masters favour the institution of conciliation Boards, and this is obvious common-sense, since nearly all strikes end eventually in .conciliation and compromise.

Compromise at the beginning would save much money, and much suffering. Nearly two and a half million pounds sterling has been spent by the principal trade unions on " strike pay" during the last ten years, and an additional sum of nearly four millions on unemployed work-people, y ;manyV of whom have been t . left without the means? of sustenance owing to labour disputes. A

' SOME FIGURES

The total number of strikes in the United Kingdom averages about 1000 annually, involving a loss of over 10,000,000 days of individual'labour. In 1897 some 10,500,000 days were lost in this way. In 1898 the loss was 15,0Cf0,000, and in, 1893, a great strike year, the total rose to 31,000,000 days. The results of a typical year of labour disputes is put- succinctly in the last annual report issued by the Labour Department. In 1905, largely as a result of strikes or notices to strike, about 319,000 workers obtained increases of £16,300 per ' week, and about 250,000 sustained decreases of £18,500 per week. The fortunes of war, therefore, are not wholly with the workers from a financial point of view, while from the standpoint of personal comfort they are invariably the greatest sufferers.

An average ; year of strikes, besides representing a loss of 10,000,000 days' work, affects a quarter of a million hands generally to their detriment. Each striker loses an average of forty days—nearly one-seventh of his working life for a year. And during that period his physical and mental distress is such as to suggest that, even in the event of a successful result, the "game is hardly worth the candle."

COAL DISPUTES

By way of exemplifying the evils of strikes, take the case of the coalfields, which have been a prolific scene of labour disputes. In 1868 forty thousand Lancashire miners struck work, and two years later there were great riots and destruction in Yorkshire through the same cause. In each of the years 1872, 1873, and 1875 fifty thousand colliers were idle. There were riots and loss of life in 1879, when forty thousand miners struck work.

i Colliery strikes, frequent as they have been, generally finish with com-mon-sense give and take. In March, 1890, the miners struck for a 10 per cent advance in wages. After five days a 5 per cent advance was conI ceded, and the strike ended. iln 1892 the Durham miners struck against a 13£ per cent reduction, and eventually accepted a 10 per cent reduction. In 1893 a coal strike of sixteen weeks finished with the resumption of work at the old rates and the appointment of a board of conciliation. Sixty-five thousand Scotch miners struck in 1894. On April 1. 1898, fifty thousand colliers struck :ii South.

Wales, and after weeks of uire distress the masters' terms were accepted on August 31.

GREAT DOCK STRIKE

The most famous modern strike is the great London dock strike, w.uch took place in August and September, 1889, and which incidentally brought fame to Mr John Burns. On August 22'■ twenty-five thousand men were said to be idle, and this number increased to 80,000 by the end of the month. In this case the strikers, undoubtedly won many concessions, the terms, of agreement being, it may' be remembered, brought about by the intervention of the late Cardinal Manning, Lord Avebury, and other gentlemen. The dock strike naturally found many imitations. In 1890 fifty thousand men employed at Cardiff by the Taff Vale Rhymney and Barry Rail- V ways and at the docks'strucli for better terms, and the struggle ended in a compromise.

The greaf; engineers' strike for an eight-hour day began on July 3, 1897, and lasted until January 28, 1898, when the men's demand was withdrawn.

More recently, the Penrhyn quarry strike lasted from 1900 to 1903, and ended failure. B S It be impossible to arrive at figures showing the total loss in strikes, but it is clear that the loss is far greater than the gain. , What is the remedy? Many persons consider that compulsory arbitration is both the. only and the inevitable, solution of the problem. It has been adopted with a certain success in New Zealand and Australia, where industrial peace is, in a sense, secured. Compulsory arbitration means the settlement of industrial disputes by a: judge, the making illegal of strikes, and as a consequence the judicial fixing of wages and conditions of employment.

One evil takes the place of another, and it is this instinctive fear ol Socialism that doubtless led the Trade-Union Congress held at Liverpool last September to reject a motion in favour of compulsory arbitration by 938,000 votes to 541,000. The resolution was moved by Mr Ben Tillett, a Socialist., c But while compulsion is unnecessary, those about to strike may be recommended to adopt a sweet reasonableness, and every trade and industry would do well to institute a conciliation board x representative of the interests of employer and employed, with »n independent chairman.