agree to them, as those present at the meeting objected to No. 2 being
a question of reference. They informed the lodges that Mr Meynell had
fixed 9th April for the hearing of the case. They were convinced that
the employers could make the demand under the arrangements, and
therefore all that was necessary was to say how many persons should
attend and who they should be. The question was eventually placed in
the hands of the members of Joint Committee to make the best
settlement they could. On 15th April Mr Meynell gave the following
award:--
COAL DRAWING
(_Award_)
Whereas the Durham Coal Owners' Association, being of opinion, that
it is absolutely necessary that the working hours of all men and boys
above 16 years of age should be increased, if they thought fit to
place it before me, and to leave me to decide the question. And
whereas it was also agreed that the following questions should be
left to me for my decision:--
1st. Is it consistent with the sliding scale to discuss a lengthening
of the hours?
2nd. If it is consistent with the sliding scale to discuss the
matter, is it necessary to lengthen such hours?
3rd. If the hours are lengthened, should there follow any increase in
wages, and, if so, how much?
Now, having heard and carefully considered the arguments on each
side, I award, decide, and determine that it is not inconsistent with
the sliding scale to discuss the question of lengthening the working
hours; 2nd. that it is necessary to lengthen such hours; 3rd. that
there should be an increase in the wages where the hours are
lengthened.
I award and decide that the working hours of all men and boys above
16 years of age shall, or may be increased in accordance with my
award, that the minimum wage to be paid to the hewers shall be, when
the pit works 10½ hours, 4s. 10½d.; and when the pit works 11
hours, 5s. 0½d.; and that the wages of the datal men shall be
increased in strict arithmetical proportion to the wages they are
earning at the time of such increase in the hours. I determine that
the increased hours shall or may commence on and after the first pays
after the date of this my award.
As witness my hand, this 15th day of April 1878.
E. J. MEYNELL.
There immediately arose some dispute as to the application of the
award, and he was called upon to define it, which he did in a decision
given at Joint Committee on May 10th.
_May 10th, 1878._
"I further award and decide that where the working hours shall be
increased in accordance with my award, that the minimum wages to be
paid to the miners shall be where the pit works 10 hours and a half,
4s. 10½d. and where the pit works 11 hours, 5s. 0½d. is
intended to mean--that where the hewers are increased one quarter
hour per shift, the county average wage shall, in that case, be
considered as 4s. 10½d. instead of 4s. 8½d. as hithertofore;
and where their hours are increased half-an-hour per shift, the
county average wage shall be 5s. 0½d. instead of the present
average of 4s. 8½d.
It is also intended that the working hours of any or all classes of
workmen may be increased on the payment to them of proportionate
increased rates as set out in the award; and that the maximum working
hours for drawing coals be 11 hours per day in day-shift pits, and
double shifts proportionately."
The employers then asked that there should be an allowance for the
time taken by boys under age descending and ascending. With the ten
hours the boys under sixteen came out after coal drawing was done,
but under the eleven hours some were taken in at six A.M. and "rode"
at four P.M. Some were taken at seven A.M. and came out at five P.M.,
when the coal drawing finished. There was, therefore, a loss of time
at either seven or at four, and this should be allowed for. The matter
was arranged on the following principle:--Whatever time was taken
either at seven to send the under-age boys down, or at four to bring
them up, should be added to the eleven hours. If it took ten minutes,
then the coal drawing would be from six A.M. to five-ten P.M., but in
no case was the time allowed to be more than a quarter of an hour.
POSITION OF THE ASSOCIATION
As the year progressed the trade became more depressed. Pits were
being laid in or batches of men were being discharged. The price of
coals was rushing down; the ascertainment for the four months ending
November showed the average was 4s. 7.65d. per ton, a reduction of
8.32d. per ton since the scale was established without any reduction
in wages. The evil of this was seen in the numbers of men being
discharged and in the sad falling away in the membership. The extent
of this may be gathered by a reference to the Executive Committee
Minutes for May 13th. Without mentioning names here, suffice it to say
that at one large colliery a deputation was sent from the Executive
with power to "appoint someone to act as checkweighman and secretary
and to guarantee his wages for six months," and that if the men at
that colliery wished "the President attend as either steward or
treasurer." The state of the county was growing so desperate that the
Committee issued two circulars, the object being to place it clearly
before the members. In the first they dealt with the Relief Fund. They
commenced by saying:
"We are passing through a crisis in the coal trade, and during its
continuance every step we take requires careful watching. We may even
find it necessary to retrace our steps, by undoing what we have
hithertofore done. We are well aware, that to many men this kind of
conduct seems to portray a want of stability and necessary
perseverance. Perseverance in a good and successful cause is highly
commendable, but to persevere in a course of conduct, where
perseverance means ultimate ruin is neither wise nor commendable. A
renowned writer has said that "while fools persevere in their ways,
wise men change their opinions and course of conduct." A body of men
who either cannot or will not adapt themselves to existing exigencies
must not expect success to attend their efforts."
Passing from these calm, wise words of warning they bring before the
members the position of the Relief Fund. A year prior they (the
Committee) had asked them to subscribe to assist those thrown out of
employment by the bad condition of trade. To this there had been a
response of twopence per fortnight. That had not been adequate to meet
the demand, and the twopence had been increased to fivepence. Still
the income did not keep pace with the outlay. For the six weeks
previous there had been a loss of £2145. There was not only this
monetary loss, but there was the more serious one, its effect on the
membership.
Thousands of members are refusing to pay the fivepence per fortnight,
and great numbers of men have left the Association, so that we are
not only losing the fivepence but their ordinary labour
contributions. This being our position, we would strongly advise you
to at once abolish the payment of the Relief Fund levy.
While this was their opinion they would continue the benefits for
three months. At the Council held on 15th June it was decided "that
the benefits of the Relief Fund be continued for 12 weeks longer, but
the contributions cease forthwith and the money required to meet the
demands thereof be taken from the General Fund." This was done in
order that the men in receipt of relief should not suddenly have their
small resources cut off, but should have a little time to look round.
The second circular dealt with the General Fund in its relation to the
demands upon it. As a preface to their suggested alteration they said:
The history of Trades Unions during the last 30 years would form a
very curious chapter in the annals of our country. The vicissitudes
which have happened to organised bodies of workmen have been
manifold, and varied; but the disastrous consequences which have so
often overtaken them have generally been the result of a want of
policy, prudence, and forethought, on the part of those who have
composed such Associations. It is just as much the study of those who
have the more direct management of Associations like ours to look
facts fully in the face before it is too late, as it is that of the
head of a household to weigh his position and measure his stores both
present and prospective, before he rushes into irretrievable ruin.
Believing this to be our duty we now place before you our position
both present and prospective.
They then point out that the expenditure was just double the income.
During the previous nine months there had been £20,000 drawn from the
deposit account. In the face of these facts there needed to be
retrenchment. They then show that in 1869 the contribution was fixed
at 6d. per fortnight, while the strike and breakage allowance was 10s.
per week (and a colliery must be off two weeks before receiving
anything), and the sacrificed allowance was 13s. per week, with 1s.
per week for each child. These benefits continued until 1872, when
work was plentiful and wages good. Then the strike and breakage
allowance was raised to 15s. (and only to be off a week before being
entitled), and the sacrificed allowance was made 20s., with 2s. 6d.
for each child, per week. They therefore suggested a reversion to the
original payment (except in the case of the week) and the reduction of
the death legacy for children from £3 to £2, and they wound up by
saying:
"It is not now a matter of choice, but one of positive compulsion. An
Association wanting money is like a ship wanting a rudder in a
boisterous sea. We would soon find ourselves driven on to the rocks
of discontent, disaffection, and disunion, and in all probability
shattered to pieces in the struggle. To pursue longer the course we
are now pursuing must shortly leave us in that pitiable and helpless
condition."
A special Council meeting was held on 11th October which gave sanction
to the whole of the Committee's recommendation.
FORMATION OF THE FEDERATION BOARD
As soon as the other sections of labour had formed themselves into
separate organisations in 1873-4, there sprang up a desire for a
federation of forces, and from time to time there appeared resolutions
on the Council programme all aiming at that end. In this year it took
a more definite shape. On the Committee Minutes for January 28th there
is a resolution as follows:--
That a deputation of three agents attend a meeting of cokemen,
mechanics and enginemen as to the amalgamation of all those
Associations.
In October a meeting was held at which a set of rules was drawn up and
sent out to the county with an explanation. The members were informed
that the suggestions were not unalterable, but in their crude form
were submitted subject to their approval or amendment. And they were
informed that:
"The Federation was formed to protect their joint interests. There
might have been divisions but these must be forgotten. The workmen
were unconnected, whilst acting against a thoroughly organised body
of owners. There had been no cohesion, nor the remotest
understanding, while at the same time they were dealing with the same
combined body of capitalists. It must be clear to everyone that while
in our present divided condition and negotiating with owners who act
as one body we must be placed at a very serious disadvantage."
The county approved of the idea, and on November 13th the rules were
issued to the county. At the Annual Meeting held on 6th December the
first members of the Board were elected. Their names were J. Forman,
W. Crawford, W. H. Patterson, N. Wilkinson, J. Wilson, and W. Johnson.
Slightly anticipating the events happening in 1879, and for the
purpose of keeping ourselves in as close sequence as possible, it may
be stated here that the first meeting of the Board was held on January
28th, 1879, when Mr Crawford was appointed secretary, and Mr J. Dover
(mechanic) treasurer. With respect to the chairman, it was decided to
appoint an independent one for six months. He should only have a
casting vote, and be paid 21s. per day and expenses. At the meeting
held on February 7th Mr John Coward of Durham was elected to that
position, and occupied it for some months, and during the strike of
1879, assisted by his counsel. By being unaffected in wage by that
stoppage he was able to bring a cool and dispassionate feeling to bear
upon the questions in dispute. It is due to him to say he took no
remuneration for his services.
1879
Demand for Reduction--Strike of 1879--Dual Arbitration--Renewal of
Sliding Scale
The Board was just formed when it was called upon to face one of the
most serious crises in our history. At the Council meeting held on
December 7th, 1878, it was decided that the average wages in the
county should be taken, and that the formation of another scale should
be remitted to the Committee, with power to renew it. The Committee
were not satisfied with that indefinite resolution, and asked for more
explicit instructions. There were certain alterations required, and
therefore they asked for "full and uncontrolled power." They knew that
in adopting that course they would risk a large amount of
unpleasantness, but they were willing to risk it if they were assured
of the confidence of the majority of the members. Further, they asked
that the retiring members of the Committee should be allowed to remain
in office until the scale was arranged and the crisis over. These
requests as to power and suggestion as to the Committee were both
accepted. The formation of the Federation Board, however, somewhat
altered, and at first complicated, the situation, for the result was a
complex and dual authority. The Board was not then, as now, the sole
conductor of the wages disputes, but the various Committees acted
collaterally, the Miners' Committee taking the leading part in the
negotiations. The demands made by the employers were handed to the
Miners' Committee on February 4th. The conditions were as under:
(1) That a reduction of 20 per cent. on present underground wages is
a condition precedent to the re-establishment of a sliding scale.
(2) That a reduction of 12½ per cent. should be made in surface
labour, but so that the wages of able-bodied men be not brought below
2s. 6d. per day.
(3) In the event of a scale being established, it shall have no limit
upward or downward, and shall be subject to termination on 12 months'
notice.
The Committee could not grant the request, but at once made an offer
of seven and a half per cent., to take effect on Monday, the 10th, or
they would submit the entire matter to arbitration. These offers were
refused by the owners, and as a consequence the meeting was adjourned
until the 20th. The Committee called a Council for the 15th of
February. On the 7th the Federation Board met, and passed the
following resolution:--
This Board feels that the position of the county in reference to
wages is anomalous. The owners having as a body demanded a reduction
of wages, and as such reduction includes all classes of labour in
connection with collieries, we recommend that each Association call a
Council meeting to discuss the advisability of adjusting a sliding
scale for the regulation of wages, consistent with all our interests.
That the Secretary write and ask that at the meeting on the 20th
inst. all the four Associations be represented.
The Miners' Council decided against the seven and a half per cent.,
but by the following resolution offered arbitration:--
"That having heard the report of the Committee on their interview
with the owners on the reduction now asked by the latter, this
meeting is of opinion that the best means of settling the difficulty
is, to refer it to open arbitration as heretofore."
The owners refused to meet the Federation Board as a whole, and as a
consequence the Miners' Committee met them on the 20th, in keeping
with the Board Minute, on February 18th. At that meeting the owners
modified their demand.
OWNERS' MODIFIED OFFER
_February 22nd, 1879._
"1. That a reduction of 10 per cent. in underground, and 7½ per
cent. in surface labour, be brought into operation in the first pay
beginning March next.
2. That the additional 10 per cent. in underground, and 5 per cent.
in surface labour, claimed by the owners in their Minute of January
11th, be referred to arbitration in the following manner, viz.:--
Representatives of the two Associations to meet
within the first week of March, and if they can agree on a sole
arbitrator, the matter to be forthwith referred to him; and if they
cannot so agree, each side to appoint an arbitrator, which two
arbitrators shall forthwith appoint an umpire, and if they fail to
do so by March 15th, such umpire shall, on the application of either
arbitrator, be appointed by Mr Meynell, County Court Judge of
Durham.
In the event of there being two arbitrators and an umpire, they
shall sit together to hear the case; and the award shall take effect
in the first pay in April.
3. The expediency of re-establishing a sliding scale, to be left for
consideration after the award has been given."
This was submitted to the Federation Board, who met the modification
by the following:--
FEDERATION BOARD'S OFFER
_March 6th, 1879._
1st. To offer the owners the 10 per cent. for underground workmen,
and 7½ per cent. for bank workmen as a settlement of the whole
question.
2nd. To offer them 7½ per cent. from underground, and 6 per cent.
from above-bank workmen, and to refer any further claim they might
make to arbitration.
The Miners' Committee supported the Board, and did this in a circular
which contained some very plain and urgent statements.
"At best, the lookout is but a gloomy one, and we must try to bridge
over the difficulty as best we can, and if possible, without the pits
being stopped. We have no wish to descant on the generally depressed
condition of trade, or the evil effects producible by a large surplus
number of men. At the present time, both these things are operating
amongst us, and the owners know this, and seem determined to use them
in this crisis. Looking at the general condition of things, we would
very strongly advise you to adopt one of the suggestions contained in
this circular. They are the best we can get at the present time, and
a refusal of one of the methods suggested cannot result in better
terms for the great body of our members. You must remember that these
are times when prudent men do the best, and get the most they can
without running all the risks which always attend a stoppage of the
pits when trade is paralysed and men both suffering and
disorganised."
Immediately these offers were made known there arose a fierce
agitation in the county, and on every hand mass meetings were held
protesting against the terms. As is the case in matters of this kind,
orators vehement if not polished sprang up from every quarter, whose
stock-in-trade consisted of foul epithets which they hurled at the
Committee and Federation Board. So desperate was the situation that
certain of the Committee were in fear, and came into public view as
little as possible. A personal incident may be excused here. A mass
meeting was held on the sands in Durham. The writer, as chairman of
the Wheatley Hill Lodge, marched to it. The first words heard were:
"There's one of the----; let us put him in the river." The crowd
surged and rocked. What the consequence might have been it is hard to
tell, but just when the feeling ran highest and he was most in danger
a man was knocked back over on to a drum which stood end up, and it
went off with a loud report, and the cry was: "They are firing guns."
In a moment a panic seized the people, and, as is recorded of the
battle of Stanhope over the moor hen, "those who ran fastest got
soonest out of town." There was a low wall (low on one side, high on
the other) over which hundreds fell head foremost, and a good, kind
lady who had come from Wheatley Hill to take care of her husband (the
man whose presence was the cause of all the hubbub) was carried away
by the crowd, and was so rushed along by the panic-stricken stream of
humanity that she was with twenty others landed in a stable, the door
of which stood invitingly open like a city of refuge. And so the
result was the meeting was disturbed, and the culprit, one of the
malodorous Committee, was left unhurt, Providence in the shape of a
drum being the means of saving him.
Apart from the ludicrous incident of the bursting drum the feeling
manifested towards the Committee there was only on a par with that
found everywhere throughout the county. If one of those at the head
of affairs appeared in the street and passed a group of men insult was
rampant--slander, being cowardly, feels safe in a crowd. Still the
Committee were not to be driven from their task. They regretted the
action of the employers in refusing open arbitration, and who, knowing
the condition of the Union, were determined to force their full
demand; and they were sorry for the opposition of their members, but
they knew they were moved by sheer desperation, and played upon by
designing men who cared more for popularity, even if it were fleeting,
than the welfare of the Union, and who would not hesitate to bring
ruin if perchance small gain would come to them from it.
The Committee prepared for the struggle which they saw was inevitable
if the employers did not move from the position they had taken up.
Knowing this they set themselves to ascertain the true state of
affairs in the county. They took the actual average of the hewers and
reductions which at each colliery had been suffered at Joint
Committee, or had been forced upon them since March 1877, with the
hewing prices. It was found that while there was a nominal minimum
wage of 4s. 8½d. where the drawing hours were ten, 4s. 10½d.
where the hours were ten and a half, and 5s. 0½d. where the eleven
hours prevailed, the actual average of the hewers throughout the
entire county was only 4s. 6¾d. It was therefore about 5d. per day
or seven per cent. below the theoretical minimum. This is worth
considering when we are desirous of establishing it again. It may
work in the summer of trade, but not in the winter of depression.
This state of things was brought about as the result of local
reductions. There were well-known instances where whole collieries of
men petitioned the Executive Committee to be allowed to work at twenty
per cent. below the minimum wage. In the final arbitration of 1879,
before Lord Derby, the employers admitted the actual average was only
4s. 6¾d. This they had taken just prior to the strike. They
likewise stated in their case that many and considerable reductions
were privately agreed to, and particularly where the owners possessed
little capital or worked inferior or costly seams. The average taken
by the Committee harmonised with the 4s. 6¾d.
_Quotation from Owners' Case_
34. At 43 separate pits arrangements for abatements of wages were
made in the working of 65 different seams, varying from 2½ per
cent. to 20 per cent. and upwards, and this state of things continued
up to the close of the period to which the sliding scale applied,
when negotiations for a general reduction of wages were entered into
by the two Associations which eventually ended in the strike.
35. These local arrangements, as we have stated, were private, and
between the individual worker owner and his workmen, and without the
official knowledge of the Owners' Association.
It is believed that, if not in every case, certainly very many of the
private agreements had the approval of the Miners' Executive, for
some of these negotiations were conducted personally by their staff,
who had the strong motive in thus keeping their constituents
employed at the best wages they could obtain for them, of saving the
Union funds from supporting every man, who, under the rules of the
Association, was entitled to support when thrown out of employment.
The Committee in their reply before Lord Derby acknowledged that these
reductions took place, but to strengthen their case they charged the
whole blame on the employers. They said: