In Belfast the shipyard workers struck on Monday for a
forty- four-house week. The men employed in the municipal gas, electricity, and tramway undertakings ceased work also, and thus stopped many of the mills and factories, which were left without light or power. Here again the strikes were not authorized by the Trade lJnion Executives, most of whom refuse strike pay. In the Port of London a number of ship-repairers struck for an advance of fifteen shillings a week, which had been refused them In December by the Committee of Production. There are also local strikes in the shipyards on the North-East Coast and at Bristol. The coal-miners in Fifeehire ceased work for a day or two, but thought better of it. There is some unrest also in South Wales. Strangely enough, the agitators are pleading that when the Army is demobilized there will not be enough work for all, and that therefore the hours of labour must be reduced. Yet it is notorious that in almost every trade labour is scaree, and that there is an argent demand for more ships, more coal, and more machinery for ourselves and for the Allies. Never was there less likelihood of unemployment for those who want to work.
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