TROUBLES OF LANCASHIRE

New Zealand Herald, Volume LXIX, Issue 21273, 29 August 1932, Page 8

TROUBLES OF LANCASHIRE

The industrial dispute which has long been threatening Lancashire has now developed to a point of extreme seriousness. The manufacturing section of the cotton trade, in which a strike has been declared, has been the centre of the trouble for a long time, but more recently the spinners also became involved and thus the area of the dispute was greatly widened. Some months ago the operatives refused to meet the employers on the wages question because the employers asked that they should enter a conference committed to the principle of wage reduction. The employers' terms having being refused, all agreements relating to hours and wages were declared to be terminated in June. Several ballots were held on the subject of a strike, but meantime work proceeded in many mills on the basis of a 12i per cent reduction in wages. Commenting on the position some weeks ago the Manchester Guardian said "a forced stoppage might be bad for some employers, who might never start again ; but it would be worse for thousands of operatives, for once stopped the employers would only reopen their mills on lower terms. An alternative would be to strike only at those mills at which reductions are made. This, the method of guerilla fighting, has been tried for several months and has failed. Where operatives have been loyal to their unions they have seen their places taken by the unemployed, who are ready to work at almost any wage. More often the operatives have preferred to disregard the union and take lower wages rather than risk unemployment." This description implies disturbed and disorganised conditions in an industry which has been struggling against adverse circumstances ever since the war. Now it seems fated to experience a major upheaval, which unfortunately can have none but harmful effects upon both the industry and those who look to it for a livelihood.