STRIKES AND LOCK-OUTS IN 1937: STATISTICAL REVIEW 1 In the issue of this Gazette for January 1938 (pp. 5 and 6), some preliminary statistics were given of industrial disputes, involving stoppages of work, which occurred in Great Britain and Northern Ireland in 1937. More detailed statistics regarding these disputes, revised in accordance with the latest information received, are now available and are given below.2 The number of disputes involving stoppages of work, reported to the Department as having begun in 1937 in Great Britain and Northern Ireland, was 1,129, as compared with 818 in 1936. In these disputes about 388,000 workpeople were directly involved (i. e., on strike or locked out), and about 209,000 indirectly involved (i. e., thrown out of work at the establishments where the disputes occurred, but not themselves parties to the disputes). In addition, about 13,000 workpeople were involved, directly or indirectly, in 12 disputes which began in 1936 and were still in progress at the beginning of 1937. The total number of workpeople involved, either directly or indirectly, in all disputes in progress in 1937 was thus about 610,000,3 as compared with 322,000 in the previous year. The aggregate time lost in 1937 by these workpeople owing to the disputes was 3,413,000 working days, as compared with 1,829,000 working days in 1936. The number of disputes recorded as beginning in 1937 was the largest recorded for any year since 1920. There were very few disputes, however, of outstanding importance, and the aggregate time lost through the above disputes was considerably less than in several of the years since 1920. About two-fifths of the disputes occurred in the coal-mining industry, affecting for the most part single collieries only. The following table summarizes by industries the number of disputes reported as beginning in 1937 and 1936 in Great Britain and Northern Ireland, and the number of workpeople involved in, and the aggregate duration of, all disputes in progress in each year: 1 Quoted from The Ministry of Labour Gazette, June 1938, pp. 213-215. 2 Disputes involving less than 10 workpeople, and those which lasted less than 1 day, are omitted from the statistics, except when the aggregate duration (i. e., number of workpeople multiplied by number of working days, allowing for workpeople replaced by others, etc.) exceeded 100 days. 3 Workpeople are counted in the tota's for each year as many times as they were involved in a dispute during the year. The resulting duplication during each of the above years was generally slight, except in the coal-mining industry, in which the net number of workpeople involved was approximately 211,000 in 1937 and 123,000 in 1936. The net number of workpeople involved in all industries was approximately 418,000 in 1937, and 254,000 in 1936. 1 Work people are counted in the totals for each year as many times as they were involved in a dispute during the year. The resulting duplication during each of the above years was generally slight, except in the coal-mining industry, in which the net number of work people involved was approximately 211,000 in 1937 and 123,000 in 1936. The net number of work people involved in all industries was approximately 418,000 in 1937, and 254,000 in 1936. Of the total number of workpeople shown as involved in all disputes, approximately 211,500 in 1937 and 77,200 in 1936 were indirectly involved. PRINCIPAL DISPUTES IN 1937 Disputes involving youths in the coal-mining and the engineering and shipbuilding industries accounted for several stoppages of major importance in these industries in 1937. Disputes involving omnibus workers were also somewhat prominent during the year. The largest dispute involving youths at coal mines was that which occurred during July in Yorkshire, following a claim for increased wages; about 95,000 workpeople were involved, directly or indirectly, in a total loss of over 400,000 working days, before work was resumed with higher scales of pay. About 10,000 apprentices in the engineering and shipbuilding industry in the Clydeside area were involved in a strike for higher wages, which lasted from March 27 to May 3; some 30,000 other workers in these industries in the same area stopped work for 1 day in sympathy with the apprentices, who eventually resumed work on the terms existing prior to the strike. Engineering apprentices were also involved in stoppages which occurred during the year in various districts in Yorkshire, Lancashire, and Cheshire, in London, and, among other towns, at Leeds, Coventry, and Edinburgh. The principal disputes involving omnibus workers occurred in London, where over 24,000 drivers and conductors lost about 565,000 working days in May, on a claim for a 72-hour day; and in Scotland, where a dispute in March concerning wages, etc., resulted in a loss of 75,000 days for nearly 9,000 employees. Among the other disputes there were five involving 5,000 or more workpeople and four which involved a loss of 50,000 or more working days. Following is a list of principal disputes which began in 1937: MAGNITUDE In the table below the disputes of 1937 are analyzed from three different aspects of magnitude, viz, numbers of workpeople involved, duration in weeks, and aggregate duration in working days. It should be observed that the figures in this table relate only to disputes beginning in 1937, and take account of time lost in 1938 through such of these disputes as continued beyond the end of the year; they therefore differ from the figures given in the table quoted on page 139. The total number of workpeople involved in these disputes beginning in 1937 was about 597,000, while the aggregate duration of the disputes, including time lost in 1938, was about 3,136,000 working days. As has been pointed out in previous reviews, most of the disputes which occur affect only the employees of single firms, and are of comparatively short duration. The above table shows that in 1937 of the 1,129 recorded disputes, 708 (or nearly 63 percent) involved less than 250 workpeople in each case, and in only 11 cases was the number 5,000 or more. There were, moreover, 818 disputes (over 72 percent of the total) which lasted for less than 1 week, while only 63 disputes (less than 6 percent of the total) were protracted to 4 weeks or over. |