Thanks to the.good sense of the trade union leaders, there
is now reason to hope that the engineering industry, freed from part of the war bonus, will speedily recover its old prosperity. The employers proposed to reduce the bonus by 16s. 6d, a week in three instalments, so that they might compete once more with foreign manufacturers in the world's markets. The union leaders submitted the proposal to a ballot. Comparatively few of their members took the trouble to vote, but the Amalgamated Engineering Union and the General Workers .rejected the pro- posal by a 'majority of 3 to 2, while the Federation of Engineering and Shipbuilding Unions rejected it by 2 to 1. When this formality had been duly observed, the union leaders announced that the men must remain at work and accept the reduction of wages. It was impossible, they hinted, for 'the unions, whose funds were exhausted by the late strike, to begin a new struggle at a time -when there was so much unemployment.
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