LABOR TROUBLES.

Poverty Bay Herald, Volume XXIV, Issue 8052, 30 October 1897, Page 2

LABOR TROUBLES.

London, Oct. 29.

The engineers, replying to a suggestion to submit the dispute to a conference, disclaim any desire to interfere with the management of the affairs of the employers beyond what is necessary to secure just terms. They claim there should be a simultaneous withdrawal of strike notices by the strikers and of lockout notices by the m.isters ; also the appointment of an independent chairman to preside over the conference. They do not state if they agree to a withdrawal of the demand for 48 hours.

The employers, in their reply, insist upon an unconditional withdrawal of the demand for reduced hours, which they allege it is impossible to concede owing to the keenness of trade competition. Their experience since the strike had shown that inexperienced workmen get 20 to 50 per cent, more out of the machines than the unionists. They state their willingness to confer through the medium of a joint committee upon the question of removal of restrictions hampering trade, each appointing their own chairman. The employers in their reply further suggested that work is to be resumed when a solution of the difficulty has been arrived at. The employers do not desire to encroach upon reasonable unionism or combination.

The press state that the prospects of a conference are discouraging. vSpeuking at Bournemouth regarding the difficulty in the engineering trade the Hon. T. Brassey suggested as a* compromise a reduction to 51 hours a week, which lie believed would be finally reduced to 48 hours if the masters were reasonable. He advocated that the men should concede freedom of management and unrestricted output,