CONFERENCE REACHES COMPLETE DEADLOCK.

Star (Christchurch), Issue 18406, 7 March 1928, Page 14

CONFERENCE REACHES COMPLETE DEADLOCK.

THE COTTON TRADE DISPUTE IN BRITAIN. By Telegraph.—Press Assn.—Copyright. LONDON, March 5. The round table conference of cotton workers and employers, arranged on February 18, to remove misunderstandings regarding the owners’ decision to reduce wages and lengthen hours, came to a complete deadlock. After a five hours’ sitting, the trade unions rejected a proposed twelve-a-side inquiry into the effects of finance, taxation, hours, wages and trade union restrictions. They favoured a smaller body with an independent chairman and an assessor from each side, together with an accountant, to enable a full investigation of the cost of production and distribution. They also drew attention to two firms’ breaches of the existing agreement.—Aust. and N.Z. Press Assn. The Manchester correspondent of “The Times” said on February 14 that a sensation was caused in the cotton industry by the master spinners’ decision to terminate the existing hours and wages agreements, insisting bn a 12k per cent wages reduction and an extension of four hours weekly, applicable to mills spinning American cotton. The Egyptian section using finer yarns refused to participate. The “Financial News” understood that the cotton spinners intended to post a month’s notice of the reduction of wages, and added: “If the demand is pressed, it will certainly be resisted, and a stoppage is inevitable.”