Sweden. The Swedish labour department has published statistics of strikes and lock-outs since 1903. Figures for 1908 to 1919 are shown below:
Year
| A table should appear at this position in the text. See Help:Table for formatting instructions. |
Number of Disputes
Number of Work- people directly affected
1908
302
40,357
1909
138
30' .749
1910
76
3,671
1911
98
20,576
1912
116
9,980
1913 .
119
9,591
1914 .
US
H,385
1915 .
80
5,"9
1916
227
20,711
1917
475
46,701
1918
708
61,223
1919
440
81,041
Of the disputes recorded during the period 1910-9, 63% were caused by questions of wages. In the same period 28% of the disputes were settled in favour of the workpeople, 28% in favour of the employers, and 42 % were compromised.
Spain. Statistics of strikes are published annually by the Spanish Institute of Social Reforms. The figures for 1905-18 are given below:
Year
Number of Strikes
Number of Work- people directly affected
1905
130
20,176
1906
122
24,394
1907
118
12,671
1908
127
12,748
1909
78
6,683
1910
151
35,897
1911
118
22,154
1912
169
36,306
1913
20 1
84,316
1914
140
49,267
1915
91
30,591
1916
178
96,882
1917
176
71,440
1918
256
109,168
Questions of wages were the main causes of 48% of the strikes during the period 1910-8. In the same period 32% of the strikes terminated in favour of the workpeople, 34 % in favour of the em- ployers and 34% were compromised. In 1918, 29% of the work- people directly affected were employed in agriculture and cattle breeding, II % in the textile industry, 10% in the mining industry, and 9 % in both metal and engineering and clothing trades.
(C) BRITISH DOMINIONS
Canada. Statistics of disputes are published by the Department of Labour. The following table shows the number of disputes, the number of workpeople involved and the aggregate duration in working days during the years 1908-19 :
Number of
Year
Number of Disputes
Workpeople directly or indirectly
Aggregate Duration in Working Days
affected
1908
68
25,293
708,285
1909
69
17,332
871,845
1910
84
21,280
718,635
1911
99
30,094
2,046,650
1912
150
40,5"
1,099,208
1913
"3
39.536
1,287,678
1914
44
8,678
430,054
1915
73
9,140
106,149
1916
75
2i,i57
208,277
1917
148
48,392
1,134,970
1918
196
68,489
763,241
1919
298
133,988
3,942,189
Of the 449 disputes recorded during the period 1911-5, 128 occurred in the building trades, 103 in the metal trades, 51 in the clothing trades, 39 in the general transport trades and 29 in the min- ing industry. The majority of the disputes during the same period were due to questions of wages and hours, about 70% of the disputes being due to this cause. With regard to the results of the disputes during this period 139 or 30% resulted in favour of the workpeople, 164 or 36 % in favour of the employers, 79 or 17 % were compromised and in the remaining 67 cases the result was indefinite.
In 1919 the industry most affected by disputes was the metal and engineering, in which there were 45 strikes, involving 70,268 workpeople and a time loss of 1,993,704 working days. Forty
strikes, involving 10,779 workpeople and resulting in a loss of 287,146 working days, occurred in the building trades. Of the 298 disputes recorded in 1919, 223 were due to wages. In the same year 157 of the disputes terminated in favour of the workpeople, 88 in favour of the employers and 23 were compromised.
Australia. The systematic collection of statistical data regarding strikes and lock-outs in Australia was initiated by the Common- wealth Bureau of Census and Statistics at the beginning of 1913.
The following table shows the number of strikes and the number of workpeople directly and indirectly affected in the years 1913-9:
Year
Number of Disputes
Number of Work- people affected
1913 . 1914 . 1915 . 1916 1917 . 1918 1919 .
208 337 358 508
444 298 460
50,283 71,049 81,292 170,683 173,970 56,439 157,591
In 1919 the total number of working days lost on account of strikes and lock-outs was 5,652,726. (J. H.)
(D) UNITED STATES
In Nov. 1909, more than 25,000 shirt-waist makers struck in New York City; in July 1910 the cloak and suit makers in the same city; and in Oct. the men's clothing workers in Chicago. These strikes were remarkable for the numbers involved, and for the plans of adjusting grievances which resulted.
The joint agreement of the bituminous mine operators with the United Mine Workers expired April i 1910. Disagreements as to district boundaries prevented its renewal without friction. On April i about 300,000 miners struck. In most districts the operators soon granted the wages increases demanded. Some 45,000 miners remained out. In July the union concluded an agreement with the remaining operators, only to have it rejected by referendum of the strikers. The miners returned to work in Sept.; the union had paid out $674,216 in strike benefits. The same year, in Columbus, O., the street-railway employees struck three times, in April, May and July, because of discharges of union members. The state Board of Arbitration considered the company responsible. The strikes were marked by violence; much of the company's property was destroyed and a number of lives were lost. Twice the militia were used to restore order.
In 1912 there were strikes led by the Industrial Workers of the World among the silk workers of New Jersey, the lumbermen in Louisiana, and the textile workers in Lawrence, Mass. (See TRADE UNIONS.) The Lawrence strike lasted for nine weeks and affected 1 2 mills. On Jan. 1 1 about 14,000 employees walked out, and during the strike the number increased to 23,000. The cause of the strike was the announcement by mill owners, when the state law went into effect limiting the hours of women and children to 54 a week, that the reduction in hours would not be accompanied by an increase in the hourly rates of pay. At the beginning of the strike only a small number of the operatives were organized; the paid-up membership of the I.W.W. in Law- rence was not more than 300. During the strike the I.W.W. claimed 14,000 members; but the next year the membership had dwindled to one-half. Violent acts by strikers, greatly exagger- ated by the press, and violent acts by deputies, police and militia, scarcely mentioned by the press, embittered the struggle. Early in the strike Haywood, Ettor and Giovannitti, I.W.W. organizers, went to Lawrence. Their coming resulted in a reduction of violence, for they preached passive resistance; however, threats to prevent strikebreakers from working probably continued. A business man of Lawrence, not connected with the strikers, was arrested and fined for placing sticks of dynamite in various parts of the town, presumably to discredit the strikers. The American Federation of Labor contributed $11,000 to the strike relief fund, the Socialists $40,000 and the I.W.W. $16,000. Two hundred children of the strikers were sent to New York to be fed by other workers in order that their parents might hold out longer. Ettor and Giovannitti were arrested in connexion with the murder of a woman, and used their trial for propaganda. The I.W.W. urged a general boycott of Lawrence. As a result of the strike 30,000 employees received wages increases of from 5 %
