TROUBLE PREDICTED.

New Zealand Herald, Volume LXII, Issue 19027, 26 May 1925, Page 9

TROUBLE PREDICTED.

WORKERS IN BRITAIN. GREAT STRUGGLE IMPENDING. A. and N.Z. LONDON. May 2d. Mr. A. S. Cook, secretary of the Miners' Federation, in a series of weekend speeches, predicted the occurrence of a very great, industrial struggle before the end of tho year. Ho said it would involve tho miners, railway men, dockers and engineers. His only fear was that the miners in tho meantime would get frightened info a settlement, which would wreck the whole Labour movement. At a conference of delegates from London branches of metal workers' unions held in London last month, Mr. Tom Mann, president of the National Minority Movement, moved a resolution urging that the failure of the engineers, railwaymen and miners in their sectional negotiations made it imperative that in tho present wage demands united action should bo taken. The resolution further called upon the Executive Committee of tho metal workers' unions to take such action as; would ensure a common fight for the, realisation of their demands, and pledged the conference to support the formation of local joint unity committees with' a view to mobilising all the resources of the working-class movement. Mr. Mann, in moving the resolution, traced the history of trade unionism from " Black Friday "to the present day. Referring to 1922, he said: " You have had it hot since then. You are having it hotter still now. From a wage-earning point of view you occupy a most humiliating position. " We do not want to be identified with any mad harum-scarum policy," added Mr. Mann, " but wo xuust behave in accordance with our manhood. If it is tho intention of tho mine owners to extend tho hours of work from seven to eight, instead of coming down from seven to six, then for a certainty there will be a general resort to tho strongest militancy that the miners know how to put up. We must be with the miners—hence the urgency for common action. There is a very decent chance that this year will witness one of the biggest and finest fights of the workers ever put up in this country."* The resolution was adapted.