TOPICS OF THE DAY
Strikes “ Out of Date ” “To-day the strike weapon is out of date,” said Mr Joseph Jones in his Presidential address to the British Mineworkers’ Federation, only qualifying his statement with the words “unless faced with intractable opposition.” There was no uproar; no more than a mild expression of dissent from another member in a later speech—and this at a representative meeting of the great trade union which has been regarded as the most bellicose in the country and has been involved in the mo.-t prolonged and disastrous strikes of this century, says an English paper. Mr Jones is justified by the history of the trade union movement since the collapse of the coal strike in 1926. Both trade-union leaders and representative employers have learnt that there is nothing to be gained by carrying a dispute to the point at which a strike can no longer be avoided. True, there is always the if gilt to strike in reserve. It cannot be ignored. But it is a weapon which need never be used unless one side or the other has gone out of its senses. It is a weapon as out of date in civilised industry as war would be in a civilised Europe. British industry seems to be reaching that point of civilisation when authorised strikes in big trades are at least rare.
Permanent link to this item
https://paperspast.natlib.govt.nz/newspapers/WT19380829.2.32
Bibliographic details
Waikato Times, Volume 123, Issue 20589, 29 August 1938, Page 6
Word Count
227TOPICS OF THE DAY Waikato Times, Volume 123, Issue 20589, 29 August 1938, Page 6
Using This Item
Stuff Ltd is the copyright owner for the Waikato Times. You can reproduce in-copyright material from this newspaper for non-commercial use under a Creative Commons BY-NC-SA 3.0 New Zealand licence. This newspaper is not available for commercial use without the consent of Stuff Ltd. For advice on reproduction of out-of-copyright material from this newspaper, please refer to the Copyright guide.