to persons of 18 years of age and over, with corresponding ad- vances to persons under that age; and from Jan. 3 1921, until the new scheme was ready, the advance would be automatically adjusted, at monthly intervals, in accordance with the surplus output in excess of 219,000,000 tons a year. The ballot upon these terms showed a small majority against acceptance (346,504 to 338,045), on a reduced total vote;- but at the miners' delegate conference at which the result was announced it was decided that work should be resumed on Nov. 4, or as soon after as possible, in view of the rule of the Miners' Federation which requires a two-thirds majority for the continuance of a strike.
A strike in the building trade of Scotland occurred in May, June, and July 1920. During the war wages in the Scottish building trade had been regulated by awards given every four months, as in the engineering and shipbuilding trades. A claim for an advance of 6d. an hour, as from April i 1920, came before the. Industrial Court in March under this agreement, and was refused. The joiners in the west of Scotland, influenced by the high rate of wages given to joiners in the shipyards, had with- drawn from the National Agreement, and claimed the advance of 6d. independently of the other building trades operatives; and, when this award was given, they came out on strike, to the number of about ten thousand. Negotiations with the employers ensued; and at the beginning of July about a third of the opera- tive joiners had obtained their demand for a rate of 25. 6d. an hour. Bricklayers and masons and their labourers had also obtained an advance in the west of Scotland; but at Edinburgh and Dundee, and in Ayrshire, they were out on strike. As delay to housing schemes was feared through the strike, further con- ferences were held under the chairmanship of an officer of the Ministry of Labour; and an agreement was reached on July 8 giving all classes of operatives an advance for the period from July 9 to Nov. 30. The parties also agreed to meet again, to consider a scheme for levelling up rates between sections, and for the grading of districts.
Shipyards joiners and carpenters came out on strike on Dec. i 1920, against a proposed reduction in wages of 123. a week. (This was the first strike, on a considerable scale, against a reduc- tion of wages since those of 1908, mentioned above.) The em- ployers alleged that the ship-joiners had received a special addi- tional bonus during the preceding time of pressure in the ship- yards, over and above that given to other shipyard workers, because it would have been impossible otherwise to obtain the necessary labour, in view of the intense competition from the building trades; and that the exceptional circumstances which had justified the advance had now come to an end. The num- ber involved at the end of Dec. was about ten thousand.
A strike of piano workers in London, to the number of about 6,500, began on April 10 and lasted for three months. The em- ployers sought to introduce a system of payment by results, which was objected to by the workers. Work was resumed on the systems of payment existing in each factory; with a provision that a ballot vote should be taken within three months to deter- mine the future system of payment for the entire trade.
A strike of electricians, which was of great importance owing to the principle involved, began on July 2 and ended on Sept. 16 1920. The members of the Electrical Trades Union came out on strike at an engineering works at Penistone (Yorks), against the employment of a foreman who was not a member of their trade union. The Engineering Employers' Federation replied by a lock-out of all members of the union employed in federated firms throughout the country. The Government appointed a Court of Enquiry, under the Industrial Courts Act, to enquire into the dispute; but the day after the Court had begun taking evidence the Electrical Trades Union notified to the Joint Industrial Council for the Electricity Supply Industry their readiness to withdraw the question of principle, i.e. the claim that foremen must be members of a trade union. The dispute was settled on these lines on Sept. 16, the men withdrawing their strike notices and the employers the lock-out notices. The number of men involved by the lock-out was about seven thousand.
A strike of shirt and collar makers in Belfast, Londonderry,
Coleraine, Dublin, and other towns, began on June 12 1920, and lasted for over two months. The cutters only were directly involved, to the number of about 302; but about 17,000 other workpeople were thrown out of. work. The cutters demanded higher wages, and the strike was settled by a compromise.
A strike in the spinning branch of the cotton trade began at Oldham on Sept. 15 1920. During the war an agreement had been made for the employment of female " creelers " (who carry away the finished yarn) to. help the spinners in cases where " little piecers " (boy assistants) were not available; and it was part of the agreement that the spinners should receive extra payments, in compensation for the additional work thrown upon them when " creelers " were employed instead of " little piecers." In Sept. 1920, an agreement was signed between the master spinners and the Operative Spinners' Trade Union withdrawing, in part, these extra payments. A large number of the spinners came out on strike against this agreement, in defiance of the executive of their union. The strike began on Sept. 15, and the maximum number on strike was reached a week later, when the number was about 20,000; and about an equal number of cardroom workers and others were thrown out of work by the dispute. The men grad- ually went back to work on the terms of the agreement; most of them were back by Oct. 5, but the strike was not quite at an end until the end of that month.
Coal Strike of 1921. The first seven months of 1921 were no- table for a rapid and continuous increase in the number of trade disputes concerning proposals for reduction of wages. The strike of shipyard joiners and carpenters against a proposed reduc- tion of i2s. per week, which had begun on Dec. i 1920, and came to involve directly some 10,000 workpeople, continued until Aug. 1921, when a settlement was reached on the basis of a reduction of gs. per week, to take effect in two stages. Among other important disputes in this period was the strike in Feb. 1921 of some 5,000 nut and bolt workers in the Black Country against a proposed wage reduction, which lasted five weeks, the employers' terms being then accepted. In March 3,500 vehicle builders and 2,170 waterproof garment finishers came out on strike against proposed reductions of wages; the former dispute lasted four weeks and ended in the acceptance of a modified reduction; the latter lasted five weeks and ended in the acceptance of the reduction on condition that it should take effect in two stages. In June a national engineering strike was threatened but avoided at the last hour, while 10,000 engi- neering apprentices in the Manchester district struck against a proposed reduction in wages, which three weeks later was accept- ed. In June, also, a new wages agreement in the cotton textile industry, involving an immediate reduction of about 19% on actual wage rates, was only made after a dispute which lasted three weeks and involved some 375,000 operatives.
None of the strikes of 1921 against proposed reductions in wages compares, however, in magnitude or consequence with the great national coal strike, which began on April i and ended qn July i in an agreement which was to last un- til Sept. 30 1922, and thereafter, until terminated by three months' notice on either side. The position at the end of the coal strike of 1920 has already been described. Briefly a temporary settlement has been made under which the wages of miners varied according to the total output of coal from the mines of Great Britain: the more the output, the higher were the wages to be received. The miners and owners were under an obligation to prepare a scheme not later than March 31 1921, for the future regulation of wages in the industry, " having regard, among other considerations, to the profits of the industry and to the principles upon which any surplus profits are to be dealt with." The industry was still under Government control, and the " control " powers of the Mines Department of the board of trade did not expire, in any event, until Aug. 31 1921.
The coal industry, however, did not escape the effects of the general industrial depression, which indeed may be dated from the coal strike of 1920. The values of exported coal fell heavily, while the demand for coal for industrial or domestic consump- tion at home also decreased. The output figures for each of the
