STRIKES IN BRITAIN

Dominion, Volume 12, Issue 3, 28 September 1918, Page 7

STRIKES IN BRITAIN

FIRM STAND BY CABINET

GENERAL RESUMPTION OF WORK EXPECTED

London, September 26. Mr. J. H. Thomas, M.P., railwaymen's secretary, in his address to *a meeting of striken at Cardiff, said :— "The Cabinet told mo it accepted the men's challenge, and that not a comma in the agreement would be altered, even if the'-whole union canio out. The members of the Cabinet said they, were going to discharge their duties as 1 - a Government regardless of the consequences or circumstances. ;: If I were Premier I would have done the same .thing, as food, was .rotting in the docks,"

Mr. Thomas's reference.to the war position aroused loud cheers, and .Mr. Thomas concluded: "Then show you believe in the war." TJie' men,' 'he said, had been led into a trap, and now realised it. They were ' ashamed to walk in the streets. ■

The strikers are returning in .Smith Wales, and on the Great Western system generally. Some of the London strikers have returned, .and ft is expected that resumption of work will be general to-day. ■ ■ i ■■

. Mr. Thomas tendered liis resignation as secretary of the union. 'Ho said dejectedly that lie hail lost power as. a leader, and felt, that he was no longer! able to guarantee the men's honour. But Mr. Thomas is very, ill, and may not persist in his resignation. . He states thaiMio has been officially assured that there will be no victimisation." -Aus.-N.Z. Cable.Assn. '

MR. THOMAS ASKED TO RECONSIDER his resignation;

(Rec. September 27, 10.50 p.m.) London, September 26. The railway men's, executive, passed an expression of confidence in Mr. Thomas and asked him to reconsider his resignation when in better health." Mr. Thomas'says his decision is final. —Aus.-N.Z. Cable Assn." . ' ACTION OF SHIPYARDS' WORKERS DISAVOWED BY THEIR EXECUTIVES. ■• '■■ London, September 26. A statement from a reliable source regarding the strike-of the Clyde shipwrights and otheiv shipyard trades, which'-has f-nread to Barrow and the east coast of Scotland, point? out that the action of the men, who demand a minimum wage of £5 a week, is disavowed by their executives, and, moreover, is a repudiation of the undertaking by the shipyard trade unions, that there would be no stoppages'of work, contained in the .scheme to secure tho utmost production framed by them and their employers last April. As ship production is a most vital national necessity, the Government must act promptly. . The law provides threo methods—enlistment in tho Army of strikers of military age, prosecution of the ringleaders under the .Defence of the Realm Act, and the fining of. strikers, by the 'munitions tribunal.' The decision of the Government, will probably be announced' shortly—Aus.-N.Z. Cable Assn.-Reulcr.