Voluntary Conciliation and Arbitration in Great Britain (Paperback)

This historic book may have numerous typos and missing text. Purchasers can usually download a free scanned copy of the original book (without typos) from the publisher. Not indexed. Not illustrated. 1900 edition. Excerpt: ... THE MINERS' FEDERATION OF GREAT BRITAIN. The Miners' Federation of Great Britain has about 230,000 financial members and comprises in its membership the miners of Scotland, Wales, and England, excepting those of Durham and Northumberland, who have an association of their own. They do not favor the movement for an eight-hour day by legislation, their plan being to secure it through organization and combination rather than by law. One of the greatest contests in the entire Kingdom occurred in 1893 in the coal trade. In June of that year the coal owners met and resolved that the trade was in a condition which justified them in asking for a reduction of 25 per cent in wages, based upon the standard of 1888. They also authorized the committee, which was appointed to meet the men, to offer to refer the question to arbitration. Between 1888 and 1890 advances amounting to 40 per cent were given the men upon the standard rate of wages paid in the early part of 1888. The demand of the owners in 1893 was a reduction of 25 per cent on the standard rate paid in 1888. With that reduction granted, wages would still have been 15 per cent higher than before the advance made five years earlier. The men declared that there was no living wage in that year; neither did the collieries pay the owners. A joint conference was held, and the miners' representatives stated that they would have to lay the proposition before the men. A further joint meeting was asked a month later, at which time the decision of the men would be given. The owners considered the month's delay too long and almost intolerable, and in a meeting held Jane 30, decided to post notices July 8 to terminate contracts July 28. The men's representatives complained that the owners were bent on a...