NERVES FRAYED

Waikato Times, Volume 132, Issue 22154, 28 September 1943, Page 4

NERVES FRAYED

INCREASE IN STRIKES

CONDITIONS IN BRITAIN YEARS OF HARD LABOUR (Special Correspondent) (Received Sept. 28, 3.15 p.m.) LONDON, Sept. 27 Britain is passing through a somewhat difficult stage domestically. There has been an outbreak of unauthorised strikes, which are becoming so persistent that they cannot airily be dismissed. In the period from August 5 to September 18 there were 230 unofficial strikes, involving the loss of 270,000 working days. Today comes the news that for the 10 days 9000 engineering workers in the arms firm of Vickers have been on strike over pay, and it is stated there is no glimmer of hope of the strike breaking. In order that people abroad may maintain a proper perspective regarding this position it should be borne in mind that last week’s manpower debate in the House of Commons showed that Britain has reached the limit of the mobilisation of manpower and womanpower, and that the degree of mobilisation exceeds that of any other country engaged in the war, whether ally or enemy. What is the reason for the present phase is the question occupying many minds. It has been asked whether the Government is requiring more of the country than it is capable of doing to overthrow Nazism. Great Physical Strain The Economist seems to put its finger on the spot when it says: “The frictions of the fifth year of war mirror the hard labour of the four that have gone. Workers, managers, employers and administrators have undergone a great physical and mental strain, not comparable in any way with the suffering in occupied Europe or war-racked Russia, though for longer, but sufficient to make understandable far more unrest than has appeared. The causes of most strikes headlined in recent days are local and personal. They concern the grievances of individuals or the exasperation of relatively small groups of workers. They are important because they may be symptomatic of greater unrest to come. They undoubtedly represent a serious warning but they should not be overestimated.” Referring to the position of the coal, shipbuilding and transport industries and the increase in the working days lost, it says: “There is net yet evidence of serious labour unrest, but a widespread fraying of nerves and goodwill. Workers are vexed by wartime conditions and troubled about their prospects after the war. The absence of Government decisions regarding the postwar policy causes scepticism and alarm.” There is a growing widespread demand for more definite Government statements as to post-war policy and the general hope that Mr Churchill will soon be able to find time to turn his attention to the home front in addition to the world front.