INDUSTRIAL UNREST.

Stratford Evening Post, Volume XXXII, Issue 60, 6 March 1912, Page 7

INDUSTRIAL UNREST.

A speciilal correspondent of t>b e London Times wrote last month in reference to the demands of the minors in South Wales:— “ilt is not generally realised, peri ihiaps, that the agreement of 1910 cci cures to the minera'a minimum wage. * It provides that the rate of wages ' shall not he lees than 35 per penti ■and never -more than GO per cent above the 1879 standard. Wages have fluctuated considerably in the Igst few years. They fell to 30 per cent in 1905, before the present minimum was established, and went up to the CO per cent maximum in 1907. They now stand at 50 per cent above the 1879 rates, and whatever may happen they cannot go below 35 per cent so long as the agreement continuesc in force. “What the men now demand in effact is that the minimum of 35 p:r cent above the 1879 rates shall be ■abandoned, and that in future every ccal-gottcr shall he ensured a minimum fixed wage of 8s a day, with, of course, as much more as ho may be able to earn at the present tonnage rates. Minimum rates for other class:® of workmen are proposed under .similar conditions. They vary from 8s for timber men and rippers to 5s for labourers and surfacemen, this latter class having been included since ttye original schedule was presented. “The cumulative effect of these demands, according ,to the owners, would be enormous. Not only is the proposed 8s Wage for colliers far above the aver-, age sum earned daily by .very large numbers of men, but the amounts fixed for the various classes of day wage men represent a considerable advance on the present rates. It is estimated that if the men’s 1 demands' wore conceded the standard would bo raised' by from an average, whio in .some classes the advances asked for are as high ms 50 to 60 per cent. It is estimated that the additional cost of working would he 15 per cent. The extraVOS'' l2lo ® of, jthpj, pjip imuiq, ;wagp, .proposal s • in South Wales, in fact, is so apparent* that they, are , not genor;)lLy i -regarded ■ as (Seriously injtsuded tobbe adopted.” l IMi Halt shorn, the; leader of the rneii, says; “A minimum 1 wage for abnormal places only would still leave * the workmen saddled noth the responsibility of proving that their working places were abnormal, and this onus is one of the chief causes of the existing grievance. It would also leave the grievances of insufficient clearance caused by a lack of trams or by inconsiderate methods of the management in working various districts still unsettled. All these points were carefully considered by the Federation when the national policy was decided upon, and it was upon the demand of an individual minimum wage, and not for a mfhmmm in abnormal 1 places, that the workmen were asked for their -sanction to a national stoppage.” The correspondent adds: “If Mr Hartshorn expresses the views of the South Wales miners, they are of opinion that the abnormal places question cannot be dealt with apart from the question of the individual minimum wage. This attitude, Ilf it were persisted in, would appear to render the efforts of the peacemakers less hopeful. Mr Hartshorn urges -also that the present agreement in South Wales gives no more scope for settling tr,)> -abnormal places question than- It does for cs.ta.b- - lashing an individual minimum wage, If one matter can he considered by mutual agreement, he says, so can the other. He declares that the refusal to discuss the minimum wage qusstibn banishes ‘the last vestige of hope of a peaceful settlement.’ ”