INDUSTRIAL UNREST IN BRITAIN

Taranaki Daily News, Volume LIV, Issue 64, 6 September 1911, Page 5

INDUSTRIAL UNREST IN BRITAIN

TRADE UNION CONGRESS. By Cable —Press Association—Copyright. London, September 4. The Trade Union Congress at Newcastle is being attended by 520 delegates, representing 1,007,000 members. The presidential address stated that the recent labor unrest had resulted in concessions which had hitherto been denied. The principal resolutions seek to secure the amalgamation of all unions connected with each industry, also a central national organisation comprising all the union soci«ties. RAILWAY COMMISSION. OBJECTIONS TO CONCILIATION. London, September 4. Sixty railway workers gave evidence before the Railway Commission. One declared that the conciliation scheme as an instrument for collective bargaining was useless, because* the company dealt with individual*, and if no man's wages were increased this amount would be taken off elsewhere. The civil, mechanical and electrical engineers are forming a citizens' service corps to safeguard the food supplies and to maintain communication and distribution during strikes. At the Trade Union Congress the president said that the railway directors had been taught a lesson and were probably wiser men for the trouble. It was supreme folly for any body of employers to decline to recognise a powerful trade union. TO PREVENT STRIKES. CONCILIATION AND ARBITRATION. Received 5, 9.15 p.m. London, September 5. Most of bhe witnesses before the Royal Commission favored special boards for ' each railway, with a national board as a Court of Appeal. The Commission enquired whether the tribunal would be empowered to arrive at a binding decision. The spokesman of the Great Eastern and employees said the latter were against giving an independent chairman on a national board a casting y°t? in order to secure a definite result." -■--!- -W*:;* Mr, Ellk remarked that without an independent chairman, the differences must lead to a deadlock. The South-Eastern man replied that there must be conciliation or war. The companies must know that unless they conciliate there would be war. Two witnesses suggested a fortnight's notice of a strike in the event of the failure of the conciliation machinery. ;; I » " i*-. )•«-"■_ - • SHEFFIELD STRIKE AVERTED. London, September 4. The strike at Sheffield has been averted. The guards' wages have been restored to their former level. STRIKE AT BELFAST. "A SELFISH MINORITY." Received 0. 12.30 a.m. London, September 5. Six hundred dockers at Belfast have struck, demanding an apology from a solicitor whose remarks al an iuquesj on a I laborer killed at the quay are interpreted

as reflecting On their conduct. Stlijrt are unable to unload. Timberyard laborers have joined the dockers. The president of the Trades Union i Congress declared that a valuable method of dealing with the administration of the insurance proposals would be by a proposed federation of trades. Referring to the Osborne judgment, he said the Government was still confronted with the selfish spirit of the minority, which burked its duty and greedily took every advantage which self-denial had secured. The majority of the Government had been remiss in its duty in sending troops without awaiting the application of the civil authorities instead of sharply laying down the law to the railway magnates. MINIMUM WAGE FOR MIXER?. A STRIKE THREATENED. Received 5, IC.'iO p.m. i London, September !>. Mr. Onions, secretary of the' South Wales Miners' Association, in a speech at Blackwood, declared that there would lw a general strike soon on the question of a minimum wage for miners.