The knowledge that the semiskilled and unskilled men were anxious
to return to work exercised a strong moral influence on the conference of the Amalgamated Engineering Union, which met at York on the day when .the result of the ballot in the other unions was made ktown. Mr. Brownlie, the president, was emboldened to point out that the employers' revised terms -were at least as good as those which he and his colleagues accepted last November, and which the men at a ballot most •unwisely rejected. The secretary of the union stated that the funds were exhausted and that a debt of £1,500,000 had been incurred in paying unemployment benefit, which has now ceased. It was made clear to the delegates that large numbers of engineers were weary of the fighting policy, which required those who are still at work to pay a levy of five shillings a week, and were threatening to secede from the union. The conference therefore decided to -let the members express their opinion at a fresh ballot on the employers' terms.
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