GREAT BRITAIN: Textile Strike

In gloomy Manchester last week, stubborn union textile workers and more stubborn manufacturers decided to give England another big strike, the worst she has faced since the great 1926 Coal Strike. In the office of Deputy Mayor Titt they met to discuss a comparatively simple problem. In the Lancashire milling town of Burnley four weeks prior, 2,000 spinnersand weavers had struck against breaches of hour and wage agreements. Last week the workers were ready to accept a 6% wage cut, but the manufacturers demanded more. They refused to reinstate the men immediately. Deputy Mayor Titt, as mediator, proposed that some of the men be reinstated at once, the remainder within six weeks. The unions agreed. The manufacturers refused.

Next day 200,000 weavers walked out. At 700 mills strike notices were posted. Another 200,000 men, spinners, were preparing to join the weavers. In Lancashire, where hunger has been the rule since the War, starvation began to stalk. Agitators and extra policemen raced for Burnley, centre of the trouble. Union leaders announced: ”The only possible hope is prompt intervention by the Government.” The Cabinet met to consider the £1,500,000-per-week cost of the strike, andpossible remedies. The manufacturers were obdurate. Said Ernest Mamer, chairman of the committee which failed to bring peace: “If the strike goes on many more mills will close altogether, never to reopen, and hundreds of operatives will never get work again.”

As is frequently the case in labor disputes, Lancashire’s strike was called for a reason only remotely connected with the real cause of trouble. Due to U. S., European and Japanese competition, England’s textile industry has hardly been on a paying basis for ten years. Competition between rival mills is bitter; there are far too many mills. Manufacturers have tried to profit through wage cuts instead of amalgamations and reduction of redundant plants. Banks which have loaned them money have not forced them to merge. Nevertheless, hundreds of mills are closed and many others are facing bankruptcy. Hundreds of thousands of workmen are jobless. Unions, fearing an increase of unemployment, have fought all moves by the manufacturers to increase the number of looms per man. The manufacturers estimate that 25,000,000 of England’s 63,000,000 spindles must be scrapped to put the industry on a paying basis. They welcomed the strike as a showdown.