In spite of the optimistic feeling that another railway strike
was too bad to happen, and that Mr. Bromley, of the Associated Society of Locomotive Engineers and Firemen, was bluffing till the last-moment in the hope of winning concessions, the worst fears were realized in the early hours of Monday morning.. Mr. Bromley's Executive had issued a manifesto, throwing all the blame on the companies for the appalling public incon- venience and hardship which was about to be suffered, and arguing that the companies were aiming a blow at " collective . bargaining." The exact opposite is the truth. Save for a few hard-shelled -obscurantists, all people nowadays are in favour of collective bargaining, and no sane business manager attempts to dispute it,. It is Mr. Bromley and his Executive who are striking a blow, not only at collective bargaining, but at the whole principle of arbitration in industrial life. We have always admitted that the findings of the Wages Tribunal are not binding, but the finding in this case was accepted, not merely by the delegate of the -National Union of Railwaymen, but also by that of Mr. Bromley's union.
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