The grave dispute in the engineering trades seemed in a
fair way to be settled on Monday, thanks to the good sense and tact of Mr. Clynes and Mr. Henderson, who were trying to mediate on behalf of the National Joint Labour Council. The forty- seven union& concerned, apart from the Amalgamated Engineer- ing Union, voted in a ballot last week, by 164,000 to 49,000, Against accepting the employers' terms. On the other hand, the union executives on Saturday agreed in principle with the employers' chairman, Sir Allan Smith, as to " the right of the employers to manage their own works and the right of the unions to exercise the proper functions of trade unions." It was suggested that, while notice of " any material change in the recognized working conditions " should be given to the work- men, minor changes should be admitted and discussed after- wards, if necessary. Unfortunately, when the parties met in conference on Monday, the unions demanded as a preliminary to discussion that the employers should withdraw the lock-out notices to the engineers. The employers asked for some guarantee that, if they did this, the compromise of Saturday would be accepted. The required assurance has not been given.
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