The Stourbridge Observer, Cradley Heath, Halesowen & District Chronicle.
Stourbridge, West Midlands, England, 1878-07-13 00:00:00

THE WROUGHT NAIL TRADE.
--
EXPECTED STRIKE.

A largely-attended open air meeting of nail forgers
was held on Monday last at Porter's Field, Dudley.--
Mr. John Price, who presided, said he had called the
nailers together that morning to acquaint them with the
present position of their trade. !Six weeks ago some of
the masters, including Mr. Ball, Messrs. Swindell and
Russell, and representatives of the Reddall Hill firm,
Mr. Lewis's firm, with Bromsgrove employers, met at
the Council Chansbers, Exchange, Birmingham, and
decided that a price list should be made. When pre-
pared, however, nineteen out of twenty of the masters
refused to comply with it. There wts no alternative,
therefore, but to issue a further list, and this placed
every master upon an equality, and required payment by
uniferm rate. He came there to inform them that at
Halesowen, Rowley, Blackheath, Gorsty Hill, Sedgley,
and most of the districts the men had shown that they
were prepared on Saturday next to leave their iron at
to warehouses unless the masters made a concession
It was now teirty years since he commenced to act on
their behalf in tiaies of trouble, and he believed that
daring that period the feeling against the action of the
mastf.rs had never been inure determined than it was at
present, and if he were not sent for by the employers
with the view of coming to an understanding, be was of
opinion that a strike would commence next Monday of
'lmre gigantic proportions than he had yet been connec-
ed with. The resolution, unanimously passed, was :
" ('hat, unless the masters make a concession to the men
by issuing a revised list, framed at the rate of 10 pee.
c.nt, reduction from the Dudley list of 1875, within a
week, the Dudley nailers unite in a general strike, to
take place on the 15th host, demanding the fall list price
of 1875 "—Similar resolutions were passed at meetings
held at Netherton and Old Bill,
A meeting of ushers was held in the cattle market on
,elonday ev‘ning last, to consider the action taken by the
" thousand" nail workers in the Old Hill and Dudley
iistricts. and the advisability of acting with them.—Mr.
U.'.3rump, president of the Nail Forgers' Association,
presided. He said the determination of the men up
country was to strike unless the masters made some
coecession, aed it was for tbe Btomsgrove men to decide
weee.er thy wow(' carry out the agreement made a
we k two go aril act with the up coun,ry men or not.
.one discu,sion followed.—Mr. T. crawford advised
that th !nen sbould wait, as out-door work could now
be obtained by a good many. The trade, he believed,
was eiewly reviving, and if they went on for a time, and
did not overstock the warehouses, a strike for a fort-
eight in a month's time might have more eft ct than a
month's strike would now.—after a beg discussion,
it was decided to adjourn the meeting till Monday
m ,rning next, to see if there would be a larger muster,
and a aeptitation was appointed to wait upon tne
m esters in the meantime, t) ace if they would make any
couceesion.

)n Tuesday a series of naeelugs were held at Rowley,
Blickiiesth. Long Lane, Woodgate, and Bartley Green
w th the object of testing the opinions of the nailers o'
thlsa districts in relerence to the strike which has been'
agceed upon at Dudley and in other places in South
S Afordsnire ,ind East Worcestershire.

Abe iaeetiu ee.d at the George.aud Dragon, Black•
heath, wads:tended by a considerable number of opera-
tivee, anct was auciressed by Mr. John Price, the local
iteeut. He recapitulated the events which had led up to
tee present crisis, urging that the men were compelled
ilow to take action in their own defence owing to the
unwarranted constant encroachments of the employers.
n 1877 they had to turn out fer fifteen weeks and three
days awainst a reduction ef 10 per cent, off a list of
rces estebliehed in 1875; and terough unprincipled
pe,sons, and also in consequence of the strike acing only
partiai ihstead of a general uue, they itad t.:i succumo t,
.uo matter e He told them on that uccasion that the
inatders would not b satisfied with the .10 per cent. re-
.luction, and events showed that he was right. He was
not speaking out of any animosity, and snouid be sorry
for either the pubic or the masters to believe that he
wished to create any hostile feeling. (Hear, hear ) He
"lad done what he cAild to bring about an amicable
.settlement, but his i-flirts were unavailing. They had a
.arge humber of unprincipled petty masters who went
Leto tie market end accepted orders fur goods to be
supplied at cost price, and expected to reap their profit
ny I.,crewing it out of their work people. The larger
mployers were as henoarable a masts of masters as there
,iere in any trade, and it was these who, about a mouth
.go, issued a list which would have been 12 or 12f per
cent, better for the nailer& than the list issued now.
Jut the petty masters, who were 13 out of every 20 in
,umber, would not accept this list, and the present slate
of things was that the work people were asked to submit
to a List whicu was from 40 io 421 per cent, reduction,
taking 6s to 8s oat of every £l. They could not subeist
even on the present prices. He would it,k theta how
was it possible for their homes to be comfortable with
.uc'a a reduction as that proposed? The diepate wae
entirely owing to the action of the employers he Lae
in •nlieeed, and he had it on the authority of one of the
in at respectabie men in the trade that if they (the men)
accepted the terms of the list now offered a very short
time would see still another reduction of 10 per cent.,
and by Christmas they would be starving. Therefore he
asked them erhether they intended to submit or strike?
lf they struck he might say from facts wuich had come
.o his knowledge that it would be of short duration.
etre ady with the prospects of the Eastern Question
acing settled at Berlin there was a revival of trade, and
io the nail trade especially there bad been during the
past month or five weeks a great improvement. (Hear,
hear.) Mr Price afterwa(ds stated to the meeting the
result of gatir_riage held at Dudley, Woodside, Old Hill,
and other places, aud afterwards a resolution to turn out
on 61oncley next, "and declare a general strike against
the tyrannical conduet of the masters," was proposed.
it was seconded by a woman, and carried unanimously.
iiaailar resolutions were also adopted at e.owley, Long
Lane, Wuodgate, and Bartley Green, anti it wa.
decided to take another section of the district the next
day. _ _

-At Halesowen the nailers held a meeting at the Primi.
iive Methodist Chapel (tlasbury), and passed nsolu•
tions :—(1) " That this niteting is of opiaion that the
prices paid to the jump' Workmen are unsatisfactory,
and that the makers of • jump' chain join in the general
•trike on Monday, July 15111;" (2) "That we try to
,ibtain for the undermentioned kind of nails : 'jump'
spikes, plate, and pipe nails, 3d per bundle under those
drawn from the iron."