BRITISH BUILDING TRADE

Otago Daily Times, Issue 19205, 23 June 1924, Page 7

BRITISH BUILDING TRADE

NATIONAL LOCK-OUT THREATENED Press Association—By Telegraph—Copyright. LONDON, .Tune 20. Tho National Conference cf Building Employers decided on a national lock-out from July 5 to enforce the observance of the national agreement.—Reuter. 700,000 MEN INVOLVED. STRIKE MAY FORESTALL LOCKOUT. LONDON, June 21. (Received Juno 22, at 5.5 p.m.) The building trade lockout will involve nearly 700,000 men, and will probably mean a stoppage of the bulk of the building throughout the'country. The decision is all the more startling because the national agreement embodying a settlement was formally signed on June 16. The employers, in declining to endorse tho settlement and breaking off negotiations, point out that continuous disputes and revolts have been occurring throughout the country. The operatives declare that the employers have repudiated their own. negotiating committee, and hint that if the torme of the settlement aro not observed they may strike without waiting for tho lockout. —A. and N.Z. Gable. The Daily Herald recently stated that a national strike affecting 500,000 workers in the building trade appeared to be inevitable. Tho operatives rejected the employers’"* offer of J>d an hour instead ot the* 2d demanded, and voted for a strike, tho date of which was fixed, but not disclosed. A later message stated that a national ballot of building trade operatives resulted in the acceptance of the employers’ offer and tho danger of a strike was therefore removed.