The Council of the International Federation of Ship, Dock, and
River Workers has issued a very curious document to its members, asking them to vote on the advisability of a general international strike, or as an alternative, a further period of organisation before action. The third alternative
runs :—"Are you in favour of resorting to ca-canny e., value for value—until such time as the employers agree to meet your representatives in conference " "Ca-canny," giving "value for value," which is Scotch for "be cautious," is explained to mean as follows :—If a man is only paid 9d. where he considers that 18. is his due, he is only to give nine-pennyworth of work. In other words, the masters are to be fought by systematic shirking. We do not believe in " ca-canny " being adopted, and if it were it could only end in a strike, because the masters, seeing that the men were only working three-quarters of the time, would only give three- quarters of the normal pay. At the same time there is something in the underlying principle of "ca-canny." Prac- tically, men at low wages do not give the same value that men at high wages do. This was what made Mr. Braesey say that wages were the same all over the world. If you paid 5s. a day in England you get five-shillingsworth of work. If you paid 4d. a day in India you got four-pennyworth of work.
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