LABOUR QUESTIONS.

Otago Witness, Issue 1891, 1 May 1890, Page 15

LABOUR QUESTIONS.

STRIKES AND DEMONSTRATIONS. (Per Press Association.) London, April 22. The Liverpool dockers have requested Mr T. P. O'Connor to resign, alleging that lie has shown want of sympathy with the strikers. Parades and meetings in Paris have been forbidden, and arrangements are being made to hold indoor demonstrations. April 23. A riot has occurred in Chicago between the men on strike and the police, who were ill-treated. Fifty of the strikers have been arrested. April 24. A procession comprising the members of 80 trades in London will parade the Victoria Embankment on May 4th. Their manifesto demands that the Government and local governing bodies tihall adopb the eight hours system. German Socialists have presented to the Reichstag a petition, bearing 3,000,000 signatures, urging that the eight hours system be adopted throughout the German Empire. The Chicago carpenters on strike have appealed to English and German tradesmen to desist from supplanting them. April 2G. Owing to the strike of the employes of the Great Southern and Western Railway Company the traffic with Ireland is completely paralysed. All the European powers, with the exception of Hungary, have declined to allow their employes to take part in the labour demonstration on May 1, Fifteen thousand butchers in Chicago have threatened to go out on strike unless the hours of labour are reduced to eight per day. April 27. The strike of the Great Southern and Western Railway employes in Ireland delays the transmission of the American mails. Mr Davitt advises the men to moderate their demands, and he has consented to interview the directors of the company on their behalf. April 28. The National Federated Trades Council have decided to adhere to their previous determination of holding the grand procession of various trades in Hyde Park on May 1, as they consider it would be a breach of faith with the foreign workmen to abandon the procession on the Ist for demonstration on Sunday, the 4th. The workmen in the provinces are apathetic in the matter. The majority of the bootmakers on strike have resumed work on the basis proposed by the masters. In this the latter agree to provide workshops for the men who have hitherto been employed under the sweating system. A few of the men have, however, declined to return to work until the new workshops have been actually erected. The tailors have given notice of their intention to go out on strike en 4th May. The directors of- the Great Southern and Western Railway Company, of Ireland, are engaging " blacklegs " to fill the places of the men out on strike. It is expected that traffic will be resumed. The signalmen who went out on strike are to be prosecuted by the directors for deserting their poets. The difficulty with the Chicago carpenters is still unsettled. The masters are willing to concede the men's demands regarding hours and wages, but decline to recognise the trade unions. The Vienna Workmen's Executive Committee has issued a manifesto, in which the request is made to the men to behave in an orderly manner during the labour celebrations on Ist May, and also to use their best endeavours to preserve order. April 29. A compromise has been arranged between the Medway lightermen and the masters, and the men have resumed work. The sailors on the Shaw, Savill, and Albion Company's steamers have struck, demanding 48 hours as a week's work while the steamers are in harbour. The New Zealand Shipping Company have conceded the demand. The dockers endorse the demand made by the sailors. Much alarm is being felt in most European cities at the approaching labour demonstrations on Thursday, and in Vienna the residents are placing their valuables in the custody of banks.