Lord Methuen made a strong protest in the Timm of
Friday week against the selfish refusal of certain Trade Unions to permit discharged sailors and soldiers to earn an honest living in their trades. He instanced the Amalgamated Society of Engineers, the Sheet Metal Workers, the Electrical Trades Union, the Ironmoulders' Union, the Liverpool Dock Labourers' Union, and the Clock and Watch Makers' Union. Lord Methuen con- trasted the action of 'these Unions in excluding men who fought for their country with the professed desire of the Labour Party in its pamphlets "to secure fair and honourable treatment for every soldier." Mr. Bowerman, the Secretary of the Parliament- ary Committee of the Trade Union Congress, and his assistant, Mr. Bromley, declared in reply that most of the Unions were doing their best for ex-Service men, but that the Engineers' Society had many unemployed members, and that the building trade was also suffering from unemployment., paradoxical though such a statement may seem. On the other hand, Mr. Bradley, the London Secretary of the Engineers, suggested that under " nationalization " alone could the ex-soldier or ex- sailor be sure of finding work. We must confess our inability to reconcile the figures of unemployment given by these Trade Union leaders with the notorious fact that it is difficult to get any kind of work done for lack of labour. We conjecture that the figures given by the Employment Exchanges are illusory. Many of the " unemployed " must be " unemployable " in the trades in which they profess to be seeking work.
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