A Court of Inquiry appointed by the Ministry of Labour
began on Tuesday to investigate the dispute in the engineering trades, arising out of an electricians' strike at Penistone. The strike was called owing to the refusal of Messrs. Cammell, Laird, and Co. to dismiss a foreman who did not belong to the elec- tricians' union. The engineering employers replied to the strike by locking-out their unionist electricians, on the ground that they must have freedom to appoint or dismiss their own foremen. The Ministry proposed that the strikers should resume work and that the lock-out notices should be withdrawn. The union agreed but the Employers' Federation declined. By way of retaliation—not on the employers but on the long-suffering public—the Electrical Trades Union gave notice that it would withdraw its members from the London tubes and tramways and from the Manchester tramways if the lock-out were not cancelled. On Wednesday, however, at the instance of the Joint Industrial Council for Electricity Supply, the union agreed to end the strike and to drop the demand for the dis- missal of the non-unionist foreman. It may be presumed that the employers will now let the electricians resume work.
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