The Stourbridge Observer, Cradley Heath, Halesowen & District Chronicle.
Stourbridge, West Midlands, England, 1872-02-03 00:00:00

MEETING OF LONDON LABOURERS.

On Saturday afternoon, a meeting of the day-
labourers of London was held at the Lambeth Baths,
for the purpose of forming a General Labourers'
Society, to regulate the rate of wages, define the hours ,
of work, and generally to secure for the members the
ulvantages which skilled artisans, have by means of
'isle iris:aim.. A society '4th similar object.
, est; shed in London some. lairs ago, but it was :
recently roken up. Between two and three hundred
labourers were present at the meeting.
After a brief address from the Rev. G. M. Murphy,
a number of labourers, whose names were not stated,
addressed the meeting.
A day labourer, who announced himself as secre-
tary pro tem, of the movement, stated that they hall
moot to form a general labour association in unison
with the 'moiety established in Manchesterffor a like
purposi. 'With-unity said brotherly friendshllo amongst
them, the day labourers of Lonjon..eould estalllisla one of
nhirBtratout in-England. If the, young,
men would corm forward and put their shoulders to the_
wheel, there could be no doubt of isticCeAs. It Wad proposed
to select • committee of twelve members, along with •
secretary and a treasurer, to comluct the business of the
society, and 110 money would be paid cut without the
eousent of the whole of the committee. The entrance
fee would be 2s. fioh (fish to be paid at once and (id. a
week for the next four weeks), and the contributions
afterwards would be 3d. per week. Their kind friend the
chairman had been asked to become the treasurer of
the society. They knew what had happened with tile
, old society ; but if the chairman would accept the ap-
pointment he was quite sure they could !sot get a more
confidential and trustworthy treasurer.
Several workmen having stated their grievance's in
connection with the old society.
ftre 'old man, who. was addressed as "Brother
Joseph," said he had beep a suffererby the cid society,
though be hadiseen nothing wrong in the management;
but he was willing to let bygones be bygones and he
hoped his comrades would try to build a new house on
a good foundation. It seas tmeortant that every man
present should interest himself mthe proposed society,
and endeavour to get labourers to join. There were
forty-four labourers -employed on the job where he
was, and out of these he hail induced forty-one
to join this society. Pointing to what had been
done in the north of England by unity of purpose,
and instancing the recent agitation of dock and wharf
labourers and railway servants as an example for
them to follow, he advised the general day-labourers
to become thorough unionists, as the only means of
obtaining their rights. Their employers were in the
, habit of saying they should lay aside something tor a
rainy day; but, he asked, how could that be done, this
' winter especially, when three parts of the days had
been rainy and the rest frosty, leaving them to walk
the streets hopelessly in search of a job? Bailers'
labourers would starve if it were not for their poor
wives, who slaved in laundries, or walked the streets
sellino fruit and other articles. Let any one who
doubted thah.go any night to Kemal New Town,
where he lived, and see the poor women trooping home,
tired and jaded, after tramping all slay over London,
and obliged to leave their children unprotected, be-
cause they, like other mothers, were unable to stay at
home and look after them. Then, again, the children,
as soon as they grew of an age when they ought
to be at school, had he to be sent out to work to earn
a little pittance, and thus their education was neg-
lected, and they came to man's estate, in too many in-
stances, wholly ignorant. As an instance of the
tyranny of employers, he stated that s, me years ago
he was employed, with three hundred other workmen,
at the west-end of London, and they were obliged to
go into the city a distance of three codes--
on the Saturday night to receive their wages,
because the masters declined to pay them at
the job. An an illustration, however, of the value of
unity, he added that a combination' of the labourers,
backed by a representation from the Masons' Society,
had put a cheek to this state of affairs, and relieved
the workmen from the necessity of travelling down
to the City and back to Paddington, where they re-
sided, for the sake of obtaining their money. He
concluded by proposing that a General Labourers'
Society be formed, for the purpose of protecting the
. interests of day-labourers in the metropolis, and re-
dressing any grievances of which they complained.

The motion was seconded, and carried unanimously.
The rules of a similar society in the north of Eng-
land were then real by the Chairman, and adopted,
with several amendments, subject to revision and final
approval at another meeting._

The proceedings closed with a cordial vote of thanks
to the Chairman.