The bitter rivalry existing between Trade Unions was illus- trated
anew in the case of " Valentine v. Hyde and Howard" in the Chancery Court last week. The plaintiff, a man of sixty- one, had been employed for twenty-four years at the Bridge- water Collieries, and had been a member of the Amalgamated Society of Engineers for thirty-seven yea's. All but nine of his fellow-workmen belonged to four other Unions. For the sake of obtaining the nine men's subscriptions, these Unions used threats.- The Amalgamated Society of Railway Vehicle Builders, through the defendants, warned the plaintiff that, if he did not join it, the manager would be coerced into dismissing him. The plaintiff asked his old Union for permission to join the smaller Union as well, but was refused. He was thus confronted, by his fellow-workmen, with the alternative of losing his pod or losing all the benefits of pension, funeral money, and so on for which he had been subscribing all his life to the Amalgamated Society. His employers yielded to the threats of the defendants and dismissed the plaintiff. But Mr. Justice Astbury held that, notwithstanding the Trade Disputes Act, the common law right of every man to dispose of his labour freely governed the case, and he gave the plaintiff an injunction. It is well for Trade Unions to be reminded that they are not above the law.
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