In Nov. 1916 the Government had introduced a system of " trade cards," under which certain trade unions, including the Amalgamated Society of Engineers, were permitted to issue cards to their own members, conferring (under specified condi- tions) protection from military service. The system was obvious- ly open to abuse, and the Government decided to abolish it. Simultaneously they had before Parliament a new munitions bill, which, as originally drafted, proposed (inter alia) to make provision for " dilution " (i.e. the partial utilization of unskilled or semi-skilled labour on work hitherto confined exclusively to skilled men) on commercial engineering work. Previously " dilution " had been confined to Government work.
The immediate occasion of the strike was a trivial dispute at an engineering works at Rochdale, the owners of which had committed a technical offence against the Munitions Acts. They were prosecuted and fined; but the result of the prosecution was not known until after the strike had begun.
On April 29 1917 the honorary secretary of an unofficial body called " the Manchester Joint Engineering Shop Stewards' Com- mittee " sent out a letter calling upon engineers to come out on strike at the close of work on the following day against (i) dilu- tion on private and commercial engineering work, (2) the with- drawal of the trade cards, and (3) the new munitions bill. Most of the engineering employees in Lancashire (which is the chief centre of the textile engineering trade) came out; and also in Shef- field, Derby, Southampton, and finally London. On the other hand, Glasgow, Newcastle, Cardiff, Birmingham, and Leeds, which were mainly " munition " centres, and not likely to be affected by the new policy, remained at work.
The unofficial committee who had taken charge of the strike denounced the official executives of the trade unions in violent terms. The executives, on their side, denounced the strike, and came to an agreement with the Government for the abolition of the trade card system. The Government supported the execu- tives, declared their determination not to recognize the rebellious shop stewards, and finally arrested eight of these. Ultimately, however, the Government was obliged to receive the shop stew- ards' leaders; but under the guise of " the unofficial strike com- mittee," and accompanied by the Executive Council of the Amalgamated Society of Engineers (the principal trade union con- cerned). A settlement was immediately arrived at, the unofficial committee agreeing to go back to their districts and get the men back to work, and leaving the negotiations in the hands of the Executive Council of the Amalgamated Society of Engineers.
The trade card system was abolished; but later in the year the minister of Munitions announced the withdrawal of the clauses in the Munitions Bill which would have permitted dilution on private work.
The Coventry strike was also a " shop stewards " strike, Coventry being one of the centres of the Shop Stewards move- ment. Unrest in this town was increased by the housing condi- tions, which were very bad, owing to the influx of munition workers and the consequent excessive overcrowding. On Nov. 19, the toolmakers and toolsetters at one of the engineering works in Coventry adopted a " stay-in " strike, as a protest against their inadequate rates of pay (in comparison with the unskilled men whom they had to instruct), and also in support of their demand for the recognition of the shop stewards. Next day the shop stewards went in a body to interview the head of the firm; he was ready to meet them, " and not ask who they were," but this was not enough for them; they demanded to be received as shop stewards. The employer refused, and the shop stewards called out all the workpeople. The whole of the engineering firms at Coventry were stopped within a few days, when it was estimated that 50,000 workpeople (men and women) were out. The strike was settled on Dec. 2 1917, by four members of the Government, who interviewed representatives of the employers and of the workpeople, the latter including some shop stewards. The negotiations which followed led up to an agreement between the Engineering Employers' Federation and the trade unions which for the first time recognized shop stewards, if duly elected and officially endorsed and controlled by their trade unions.
Apart from the engineering and munition trades the most important dispute of 1917 was a strike of colliery examiners (over- men, firemen, and shot-firers) in South Wales for the recognition of their trade union; the other underground and surface workers, to the number of nearly 128,000, were thrown idle by the strike. After a stoppage of three days the Colliery Examiners' Trade Union was recognized, and the employers agreed to set up a joint board to decide questions relating to firemen and shot-firers.
Industrial disputes were very numerous in 1918, but the great majority involved small numbers and were of short duration. Nearly all the considerable disputes occurred in the second half of the year; the extreme seriousness of the military situation in the first half of the year exercised a restraining influence suffi- cient to prevent many large movements. The only strike of any magnitude in this period was one among coal miners in the em- ployment of a " combine " in S. Wales, who sought for recog- nition of a committee of their own, confined to workers in the pits of the combine.
An engineering and munition strike occurred at Coventry and Birmingham in July 1918, against the introduction of what was known as the " embargo." This was a prohibition by the Govern- ment of the engagement of any additional skilled men by certain firms. The prohibition applied only to a very small number of firms, but this fact was not known to the workers; indeed the existence of the embargo at all was not generally known until a notice (in misleading terms) was issued by one of the firms affected. The strike was brought to an end, after a week's stoppage, by the Government announcing that men absent from work on July 29 would have their protection certificates withdrawn.
Two strikes in the cotton trade occurred in this year, one in Sept. and the other in December. The first arose from a demand of the cotton spinners and piecers for unemployment pay for time lost owing to the restrictions on the working of the mills imposed by the Cotton Control Board to meet the shortage of raw material. They returned to work after a week's stoppage on the promise of an enquiry by an independent tribunal, to be appointed by the Government. The second strike was in support of a demand by the cotton spinners and piecers, and the card- room workers, for an advance of 40% on the current rates of wages (i.e. on the list prices, plus all the percentage additions already made thereto). They returned after nine days' stoppage, having obtained an advance of 50% on the standard piece-price list of wages, equivalent to about 30% on the current rates.
In this year there was also a long dispute (lasting 47 working days) between a cooperative society and the Amalgamated Union of Cooperative Employees. This union seeks to organize all classes of employees of cooperative societies, whether distributive or productive, without regard to occupation, or " craft." The cooperative society, however, demanded that its employees in printing works should belong to one or other of the " craft " unions, and not to the Amalgamated Union of Cooperative Em- ployees. The matter was ultimately referred to arbitration, and decided in favour of the society.
The years 1919 and 1920 were years of great industrial unrest in a variety of trades. The hours of labour in the engineering and shipbuilding trades were reduced, as from Jan. i 1919, from 53 or 54 to 47 per week; but many of the workers were dissatisfied, some desiring a reduction to 44 or even 40 hours, while others were aggrieved because the rates paid to piece workers and to " lieu " workers were not increased to compensate for the reduc- tion of hours. (Time workers received the same rate of pay for the reduced hours as for the hours previously worked.) Work- people, to the number of 1 50,000 in all, came out on strike in Jan. at various centres, and remained out for periods ranging from one to eight weeks. Some returned to work unconditionally; others agreed to return on the promise of a national settlement.
There was much unrest in the coal mining industry. One hun- dred and fifty thousand miners were on strike in Yorkshire in Jan. 1919, in support of a demand for a simultaneous stoppage of 20 minutes per shift for meals for surface workers; most of these were out for one or two days only. The demand was granted, for the period of Government control. The same men were on strikt
