Labour in Germany. DISPUTES ON THE INCREASE.

Progress, Volume I, Issue 4, 1 February 1906, Page 77

Labour in Germany. DISPUTES ON THE INCREASE.

German labour statistics for the year 1904, as issued by the imperial statistical office, show that, in all, 2040 strikes and lockouts took place, the trades affected being as follows :—: — Buildings . . . . . . . . 796 Woodworking . . . . . 417 Metal . 153 Stonemasons and kindred trades 1 19 Engineering . . . . . . 81 Food (sic) . . ... 78 Clothing . 76 Transportation . . . 57 Commerce . . 48 Leather . . . . 38 Textiles . . . . . . 31 Chemicals . . . . . . 25 Printing . . . . . . . 23 Paper . . . . . . . 21 Mining . . .20 Art trades . . . . . . 4 Soap and candle making . . . . 3 Unfortunately, the figures do not give the number of working days lost to the operatives in each trade, nor the number of workmen affected. They do, however, indicate how long the disputes lasted numerically. Thus we are told that — 168 disputes lasted 1 day or less ; 687, from 1 to 5 days ; 271, from 6 to 10 days ; 298, from 11 to 20 days ; 185, from 21 to 30 days ; 149, from 31 to 50 days ; 130, from 51 to 100 days ; and 102, over 100 days. A further analysis of the disputes shows that 1870 were strikes, and 175 lockouts. Of the total, 1457 concerned demands as to wages, 613 related to hours of working, and 884 concerned political and other troubles. The outcome of the 1870 strikes is summarised thus . — Successful . . . . 449 Partly successful .. 688 Unsuccessful . . . . y^ 1870 The outcome of the lockout is thus indicated :—: — Fully successful ... 44 Partly successful . . 43 Unsuccesstul . . . . 44 Unsuccessful . . . . 44 Total . . . . . , 175 Comparing the number of disputes in 1904 with those in former years, it is seen that last year's record is the highest since 1899, when the compilation of labour statistics was first undertaken by the German Government : — 1899 .. 1364 1902 .. 1 135 1900 .. 1500 1903 .. 1501 1901 . . 1 109 1004 . . 2040