ABSTRACT
We believe that strikes have been the bane of trade unions, and the truth of this can be fully established by the history of our own trade. If we call to mind the disruptions that have been in our Society, we will find that they have been almost and universally preceded by strikes. We confess we never had much confidence in strikes in general; therefore, it is with pleasure we notice, that by the return of votes, on proposition of C. C., that we have virtually done away with the name of strike-money. There are many reasons that we can give as the cause of the above opinion, and we will endeavour to enumerate a few—first, we believe the most of strikes have been entered into without calculating on the probability of a defeat, or a protracted struggle, but generally vice versa; thus the natural consequence is, that after the strike has continued for two or three weeks, those who were most sanguine of success, and perhaps the worse prepared for the struggle, are in general the first to go to work again; and we all know that when the camp is divided defeat is certain. We see by the votes that there are still some who think that strike-money is necessary for the support of the rights of the trade, and we have heard men say that they would not come out on strike, even for the strike-money as stated in the Rules; but mark, they did not say they were against strikes, but that they would not leave their place of work even if oppressed, without getting almost as much from the Society as they got for working. Now such men coming out on strike we have no confidence in, for this reason, they look on the allowance as something to induce men to look after their rights and resist oppression, when it ought to be looked at only in the light of an assistant to them. We believe there are men in the trade who would not stand to be oppressed in any shape, had they even not the Society to assist them; and there are others who, when any injustice is imposed upon them, have not the moral courage to resist it straightforwardly, but either let it pass over without mentioning it to any one, till once the same has been imposed on some one who will not stand it, or they will go to the club-house and grumble that the Society does not look after their rights for them, and ask what do they pay their shilling per week for; these men seem to think it the duty of the Society to look after their rights solely, and its only object to assist them in maintaining them. The doing away with strike-money will be a positive good to those who may have to leave their places through oppression, for there is such an odium or stigma in the eyes of employers attached to the names of men that have been on strike, that they will rather employ inferior workmen than men on strike; and when they are employed they are looked on with suspicion and distrust as agitators in the factory; were it only for this, it would have been good had strike-money been done away with long ago. That strikes, in nine cases out of ten, have never gained their desired end, we think will not be denied, but on the contrary they have engendered a bitter feeling of revenge in the party who may be compelled by circumstances to yield to the other. Let us look to those places where strikes have taken place, and we will there see the baneful effects; before entering on a strike the men ought to make up their minds never to work in that factory again, and look for another employer as soon as possible; but this, in general, is not the case: they think that a week or two will end the whole affair. For our own part, we have no hesitation in saying, that we would be the last to join or recommend a general strike in a factory; and yet those who know us, know that we would be among the first to resist oppression or an injustice, come from whence it might; wo would rather leave the place on the unemployed money than receive the strike allowance, and for this reason we would stand a better chance of work in the district. It must not be thought from the above that we have abandoned the idea of strikes in all cases; we know that in some cases they cannot be avoided; where unprincipled employers have a systematic way of robbing their men, and where the men unanimously feel themselves oppressed and would rather do anything than stand it, in such cases they cannot be avoided. But if we notice, those places that suffer most by the above kind of oppression are those places where the men do nothing to stop the rearing of apprentices, and therefore they are in a worse position to resist impositions. Therefore, by all means, stop the supply of labour, and there is no danger but we can resist oppression without resorting to strikes.
