Wednesday's papers announced the formation of a National Union of
Employers, to be registered as a trade union, with a guarantee fund of .e50,000,000. The aims of the association, which is being organized with the approval of the Duke of Bedford, Lord Avebury, Lord Dysart, Sir Arthur Clay, Sir John Gray Hill, Sir Philip Magnus, M.P., and others, are to protect employers against aggressive tactics on the part of trade unions, and to maintain their rights to make and carry out agreements individually with free workers or collectively with a union, and to conduct their business free from outside interference between themselves and their employees. The promoters, while disclaiming any hostility to the legitimate and equitable operations of trade unions, avow their intention of working for the amendment of the provisions of the Trade Disputes Act dealing with boycotting and peaceful picketing. The registering of the Association as a trade union is the logical outcome of that Act. Opinion as to the desirability of the scheme is divided both among employers and men, but it is impossible to avoid the conclusion that it will be regarded by the mass of trade union working men as an engine of retaliation rather than a means of promoting the harmonicas co-operation of capital and labour.
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