Cotton Trade Troubles •
Einployers and employed in the cotton trade are notoriously hard bargainers. It is none the less ominous that the refusal of the trade unions to make any concessions in respect of wages or working conditions has led the second of the two great employers' organiza- tions to break off the long protracted negotiations and give notice to terminate the agreement of 1919. The Cotton Spinners' and Manufacturers' Association, which came to this decision on Tuesday, has followed the example set by the Federation of Master Cotton Spinners' Associations some dune ago. Presumably the local groups of employers and individual millowners will now try to make their own terms with their workmen. The trade unions have: invariably, objected to such isolated agreements, and may be expected to threaten to call out their members. This the outlook for Lancashire's recovery is gloomier than ever. It is tragic indeed that after years of depression the two parties in the industry are still incapable of co-operating in a friendly spirit.
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