It would be a bad prelude to the coal .negotiations
if there should be a national engineering lock-out. For- tunately the • employers have decided to postpone- the operation of the notices which would have taken effect on Saturday. On Wednesday the strikers at the Hoe works in London decided not to return to work in spite of the earnest appeals of their union leaders, who courageously pointed out that the strikers had put themselves in the wrong by not honouring their pledge to resort first to the machinery of conciliation. The leaders of the seven unions concerned were continually interrupted when addressing the men, and only three men voted for a return to work. This was an ominous sign, for if the unions cannot be trusted to abide by agreements, collective bargaining hopelessly breaks down. Although the employers assert that their national lock- out notices are designed to help the unions to insist upon discipline, we cannot help feeling that their action is much too heavy.. They produce a steam-hammer to squash a fly. The unions have repudiated the strikers, and the strikers are not receiving strike pay ; therefore it seems that the strike would soon collapse of its own accord.
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