The Joint Committee representing the employers and the trade unions
in the shipbuilding industry has issued an interim Report which is of great significance. It shows that there is at least a disposition among the trade unions to recognise the hard facts of the present depression and to adapt the practices of trade unionism to the emergency. It is by no means certain that any- thing will be done, but the Report is not likely to leave matters exactly where they were. The employers originally proposed a very wide investigation into the conditions of the industry which they hoped would lead to the establishment of better arrangements for avoiding disputes and for increasing wages as the industry became better able to pay. The unions, however, were not prepared to go further than to inquire into the causes of successful foreign competition. They are now apparently prepared to reconsider that refusal.
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