Page:Engines and men- the history of the Associated Society of Locomotive Engineers and Firemen. A survey of organisation of railways and railway locomotive men (IA enginesmenhistor00rayniala).pdf/232

 discuss the sliding scale suggested. Sir Guy Granet (Chairman) gave to Mr. Bromley a letter guaranteeing that further Conference, and thus, after a strenuous, exhausting and most anxious time, a settlement was arrived at, Messrs. Hunter and Bromley being authorised to sign. On September 21st the electric lines were included in the general agreement. The increase dated from September 16th, and brought the total war increase to 10s. and 5s. respectively, aided by a further 5s. to men and 2s. 6d. to boys on April 9th of 1917, after a similar struggle.

Let us leave the cost of living problem at that point for a time to revert to a remarkably interesting debate on the question of Craft v. Industrial Unionism, at the Trade Union Congress in 1915. That debate ended in a decisive vote in favour of Craft Unionism, and sharp condemnation of the "Prussian" methods of large industrial organisations to those of the Crafts. Following upon that debate it was decided that the General Secretary get into touch with those Craft Unions which have members employed upon the railways, with a view to a conference being arranged for the purpose of bringing pressure to bear on the Parliamentary Committee to give effect to the resolution adopted at the Conference at Bristol. This was communicated to Mr. John Hill, Secretary of the Railway Organisation Committee of Craft Unions, to which the Society became affiliated. Reference to the Trade Union Congress reminds me that in the Bristol Congress in 1917, when all the workers were suffering from the continual increase in the cost of living, and the Congress was discussing the matter, Mr. Bromley moved a dramatic resolution that the Congress should stand adjourned at that point, that they should charter a special train, and proceed to London, and march to Downing Street to demand that the excessive profiteering should cease. This proposal struck the imagination of Congress, and it was carried with cheers, but never put into effect, Standing Orders Committee, of which Messrs. A. Bellamy and David Gilmour were members, furnished the pretext that Congress should continue its sitting, and Ministers felt very relieved.

Mr. Worthy Cooke was re-elected to the Committee with 1,278