Page:EB1922 - Volume 32.djvu/617

Rh which might be necessary in the fourth month after the settle- ment. With regard to the permanent scheme the settlement pro- vided that standard profits should be 17% of standard wages, and that 83 % of the surplus proceeds should be applied to the payment of wages above the standard rates. The duration of the guarantee that the miners should receive a minimum percentage addition of 20% to the standard wages, was extended from one year to the whole period of the permanent scheme. In other respects the permanent scheme was the one first outlined by the owners before the beginning of the strike, but it included the important modifications and safeguards introduced in the course of the third series of joint negotiations:

The outbreak of the strike had led to the Government passing an Emergency Powers Act into law, to enable exceptional pro- vision to be made for the protection of the community when " any action has been taken, or is immediately threatened by any person or body of persons, of such a nature or on so extensive a scale, as to be calculated ... to deprive the community, or a substantial portion of the community, of the essentials of life." On March 3 1 a proclamation was made under this Act declaring a " state of emergency " to exist, and by successive renewals at monthly intervals the " state of emergency " was continued until the settlement of July i. Within this general period a state of more intense emergency occurred from April 8 to June 2. During this latter period the Reserves were embodied, and in addition to the enrolment of special constables, a Defence Force was enlisted with the object of supporting the police in providing protection to volunteers who were maintaining the mines in condition, or who might be required to carry on transport work in the event of the extension of the coal strike to railway and transport services. During the state of emergency, a series of emergency regulations were in force under which the Mines Department of the board of trade controlled the supply, consumption and movement of coal, and the police authorities in the various parts of the country were endowed with special powers for the suppression of sedition.

(B) FOREIGN COUNTRIES

A brief account is given bilow of the most recent statistics of the strikes and lock-outs in the principal European countries, other than the United Kingdom, available in 1921.

France. Detailed statistics of strikes and lock-outs for the years 1890 to 1912 and summaries for the years 1913 and 1914 had been published by the French Ministry of Labour. The following are the totals for the years 1907-14:

Year

Number of Disputes

Number of Workpeople directly affected

Aggregate Duration in Working Days

1907 1908 1909 1910 1911 1912 1913' 1914"

,279 ,104 ,036 ,5il ,474 ,120

,073 672

198,136 124,248 169,509 290,899

230,795 268,230 220,448 160,566

3,563,237 2,307,120 3,581,928 4,887,837 4,037,475 2,335,891 2,223,781 2,192,078

1 The figures for the years 1913 and 1914 relate only to strikes.

The principal groups of industries affected by the disputes were in 1907 the transport group involving 43,248 workpeople; in 1908 and 1909 the building trade group involving 56,691 and 42,658 workpeople respectively; in 1910 the transport group involving 83,025 workpeople, and the building group involving 75,695 work- people; in 1911 the building group involving 93,660 workpeople; and in 1912 the mining and quarrying group involving 137,602.

During the years 1907 to 1912, 46% of the total number of work- people affected were involved in disputes concerning wages, 19% in disputes concerning hours of labour, 10% in disputes concerning the employment of particular classes of persons, 1 1 % in disputes concerning working arrangements and the remaining 14% in dis- putes due to other causes. The results of disputes during the period under survey were as follows: disputes involving 12% of the total number of workpeople directly affected terminated in favour of the workpeople; disputes involving 44% in favour of the employers; those involving the remaining 44% in a compromise.

Germany. From 1899 statistics of strikes and lock-outs other than in agriculture have been published annually by the German Federal

Statistical Office. The figures for the period 1907 to 1918 are sum- marized below:

Year

Number of Disputes

Number of Work-. people directly or indirectly affected

1907

2,512

280,016

1908

1,524

119,781

1909

1,652

130,883

1910

3,228

390,706

1911

2,798

385,216

1912

2,834

493,749

1913

2,464

323,394

1914

1,223

98,339

1915

141

15,238

1916

240

128,881

1917

562

668,032

1918

772

1,325,897

The principal groups of industries affected by disputes in 1913 were the metal and engineering group involving 81,025 workpeople, the mining and smelting group involving 78,221 workpeople, and the building trades group involving 69,899 workpeople. In 1918 the principal groups were the mining and smelting group with 336,378 workpeople involved, and the metal and engineering group with 279,921 workpeople involved.

Of the total number of disputes occurring during the period 1907-18, 52% arose on questions of wages, 16% on questions of hours, and the balance on questions of the employment of particular classes of persons, working arrangements and miscellaneous matters. During the same period 15% of the total number of disputes were settled in favour of the workpeople, and 39 % in favour of the employers, while 46% were compromised.

Belgium. Statistics of strikes and lock-outs are published by the Belgian Ministry of Industry, Labour and Supplies. The table given below shows the number of strikes and lock-outs, and the number of workpeople directly affected, in the period 1908 to 1919; with the exception of 1914 to 1918.

Year

Number of Disputes

Number of Work- people directly affected

1908 1909 1910 1911 1912

1913 1919

118 123 no 162 206 167 372

17,085 23,469 27,257 57,203 63,772 23,752 164,030

The mining and quarrying and the textile industries accounted for 6,096 and 3,114 respectively of the workpeople affected in 1908, for 6,456 and 2,846 of the workpeople affected in 1909, for 21,103 and 2,388 in 1910, for 34,417 and 9,089 in 1911, and for 38,479 and 5,856 in 1912. In 1913 the textile industry accounted for 10,158 of workpeople affected, and in 1919 the mining and quarrying industry for 99,035 of the workpeople affected. The causes of the disputes during the period 1908-13 were mainly questions of wages, 52 % of the workpeople being involved on this account. Of the total number of strikes during the same period 13 % ended in favour of the; workpeople, 59 % ended in favour of the employers, and 28 % resulted in a compromise.

Holland. Statistics of disputes in Holland are published by the Central Statistical Bureau. The figures for the years 1907-19 are given in the table below:

Year

Number of Disputes

Number of Workpeople directly affected

Aggregate Duration in Working Days

1907

154

I5,!54

4,366,691

1908

135

7,i65

91,860

1909

189

8,455

272,013

1910

146

13,238

334,595

1911

217

20,005

435,992

1912

283

21,672

367,751

1913

427

30,161

787,876

1914

271

25,569

361,400

1915

269

15,179

165,247

1916

377

18,127

249,442

1917

344

31,317

526,507

1918

325

39,640

607,236

1919

649

61,667

1,051,884

During the period 1911-5 the proportion of disputes due to questions of wages was 55 %; it was 58 % in 1916, 55 % in 1917, 57 % in 1918, and 58% in 1919. The results of the disputes during the period 1910-9 were as follows: 22% ended in favour of the work- people, 28% ended in favour of the employers; 44% were com- promised ; and 6 % were either indeterminate or the result unknown.