Lancashire in Peril The interminable dispute in the manufacturing section
of the Lancashire cotton industry has led at last, as was feared, to a decision on the part of the Northern Counties Textile Trades Federation for a strike to begin on August 27th. The local strike of weavers at Burnley will thus spread to the whole county, unless the em- ployers give way in regard to the reinstatement of weavers on strike and withdraw their demand for a reduction of wages by 121 per cent. It cannot be said that the millowners are blameless, since they have for the past ten years trifled with the problem of financial and technical reorganization which they know to be essential if the industry is to recover. Yet it is equally true that the weavers' unions have obsti- nately opposed the employers' proposals for the use of automatic looms or the increase in the number of looms worked by each operative. It was only when negotiations on these matters failed that the employers were driven to end the old working agreement with the unions and to declare that wages must be cut down. Meanwhile unemployment has grown worse and many operatives have made separate bargains with their employers. A strike under such conditions cannot possibly succeed, but it would certainly do infinite harm to the industry and all concerned with it. The spinning section of the trade must be gravely affected if the weavers all cease work. Yet the employers have chosen this moment to announce a wage reduction similar to that which the weavers reject. It is hoped that the spinners' and cardroom unions will handle the matter more tactfully than the weavers' unions have done. But the outlook for Lancashire is gloomy. *
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