WIVES BEHIND COUNTERS.

Manawatu Standard, Volume XLV, Issue 140, 18 May 1925, Page 11

WIVES BEHIND COUNTERS.

CO-OPERATIVE LOCK-OUT SCENES.

MANCHESTER March 31. Open warfare was declared to-day at the shops of more than 100 co-operative societies in Lancashire, Cheshire, North Wales, and neighbouring counties by the lock-out of members of the National Union of Distributive apd Allied Workers. A typical example of the bitterness of feeling which prevails is afforded by Grecngate Society, where the wives of members of the cooperative committee are serving behind the shop counters in place of the men locked out. Lively scenes resulted through the efforts of the union pickets to dissuade customers from entering the shops. A feature of the dispute is the number of instances in which members of the union are on the committees of the societies which are locking the men out. In the Manchester district three of the big societies —Pendleton, Backloy and Droylsden—have closed their shops, but the Manchester, Salford, Beswick and Eccles societies have eo far remained out of the dispute. Somo idea of the heavy loss that will be entailed if the lockout is prolonged may be gained from the fact that the Pendleton Society alono, with its eighty shops, has a weekly turnover of £25,000. The union to-day reported that the only three places where men had gono back to work on the societies’ terms were Rishton, Oswaldtwistle and Hindley, all three Lancashire towns. At Crompton the society has. arrived at a settlement with the union. Miss Ellen Wilkinson, M.P., on behalf of the union, described the position as “magnificent.” Nevertheless tho societies claimed two additions to the number of societies which have locked out their employees —Butt Lane, near Stoke, and Edgeworth. Acting on their union’s instructions, many of the men locked out applied to-day at tho local labour exchanges for unemployment benefit, but test cases will probably be heard before any dole is granted.