The Government on Friday week announced that if the strikers
in the munition factories at Coventry, or those who were threatening to strike in other places, were absent from work on Monday, they would be called up for military service. The Minister of Munitions stated last Saturday that when work was resumed a Committee of officials, employers, and Trade Unionists would inquire into the working of the " embargo " on skilled labour which was made a pretext for the strike. Most of the Coventry strikers returned to work on Monday, and the workmen in other towns thought better of their proposal to strike in sympathy. The moral of this very discreditable incident is that no strike can succeed in defiance of the Government and public opinion. The Coventry strikers deliberately challenged the Government, and they were bound to fail unless the country was not sound at heart. They speedily found that the public, and especially the women, regarded them as mutineers in face of the enemy, and the Government's sharp warning brought them to their senses. There must be no more strikes of this kind. If the well-paid army in the workshops shirks its duty, the army in the trenches will be undone.
Previous page
