The Stourbridge Observer, Cradley Heath, Halesowen & District Chronicle.
Stourbridge, West Midlands, England, 1872-06-08 00:00:00

BUILDERS AND HOUSEHOLDERS.

Ref. rein to the strike in the Banding trades, and what
it may possibly lead to, the Pall Mall Gazette remarks :
Whatever msy be the result of the strike in the
building trade as affects the interests of the builders
and their men, it will not be without advantage to the
general public if it leads to a large accession to the ranks
of " jobbing " carpenters and bricklayers. There are
few of the affairs of daily life in a more unsatisfactory
condition than that of repairs to our houses. Under pre-
sent arrangements, however trifling may be the nature of
the repair required—if a screw becomes loose; if a door
or a window does not shut or open properly; if a few
buckets of whitewash or a coat of paint is required
—it IEI almost invariably necessary to employ some
builder in a large way of business, who sends one or
more of his (Mal workmen to perform the work, and
charges accordingly something for himself in addition
to the wages of the workman. It is, moreover, a noto-
rious fact that on any occasion where tenders for ex-
tensive works are called for from several builders, the
difference in the amount of the tenders is utterly un-
reasonable, snowing conclusively that charges are made
upon no snore fixed principle than that of the individual
convenience of the builders themselves. No can any one
even in so small a matter as thst.painting of his house,
be assured, unless he employs a surveyor who has no con-
nexion with the builder, that the latter has used the best
quality of paint and given the woodwork the proper
number of coats; in fact, the householder without proles-
tonal assistance is entirely in the dark as to the manner
in which the contract has been performed, and may be,
and no doubt often is, robbed and defrauded in the
most shameless manner. In the present day, when by
far the larger proportion of the inhabitants of this
country is stowed away in dark holes and corners,
where disease lurks under the cover of dirt until an
opportunity arises for him to stalk abroad and claim
his victims by the thoueatich painting and whitewash-
ing are matters of vital importance, and it is to be
hoped that in the arrangement of any dispute between
masters and men in the building trade, the interests of
the public will not be wholly forgotten.

THE STRIKE IN THE LONDON
BUILDING TRADE.
On Saturday morning the London carpenters carried
their threat into exe,ution by withdrawing en masse
from the shops of Messrs. Brass, St. Luke's, and Jack-
son and Shaw, Pimlico. At night the delegates' meet-
ing, at the "Brown Bear," in Bloomsbury, was largely
attended, and a considerable amount wss received in
support of the strike. It was reported that there was
general unanimity among the men who had come out.

The following sketch of the "Builders' Strike,"
which may assume some magnitude, is by the "Special
Reporter" of the Daily Telegraph
:
Saturday was the let of June, the day on which the opera-
tive carpenters of London had intimated that they should
strike on behalf of the nine hours system. They kept their
word, and rather anticipated it, for the first act of belli-
gerency really took place on Friday evening
My first object of inquiry had reference to the reason for
selecting the two firlllri which had been made scapegoats for
the trade aTlarge That was soon discovered. At • center
of the street there was a up uip of men pointed out to me as
carpenters from other shops in the metropolis. They ma)
have been there out of personal curiosity, or, for aught I
know as representatives of the veiled authority which has
decreed this rising. At all events, they were clear-headed in
their view of the position, mid quite communitative of their

Ideas. !deem. Brass, of ft. Luke, and Jackson and Shaw,bad
been singled out, they told me, because their oontracts
were the heaviest new in progres. The first has the
new Post Office in hand and the second Oral are responsible
for the Home Office at Whitehall, as well as for the Stidland
lhitel at St. Pancras The men had full confidence in the
ability of their leaders to detect the vulnerable points in the
masters' armour. As to work actually g 'log on, they can
judge pretty accurately for themselvea, but they are prone
to go further than that, and to believe tuft reserve of large
contracts which exist as yet only on paper. Chic shrewd ob-
server, who looked well ahead, asked me if I thought it was
likely all these vacant all, in the City were to be left
till the millennium in their present condition.

Not wishing to progreasticate on a matter soentb sly within
the province of the Aldermen arid Common Count:eters, I
questioned him about the financial resources on which the •
men were depending. Nobody possessed very
.defleite
motion as to the actual state of the union funds. It was be-
lieved that the Amalgamated Society hail a few themeands
ti the good, but that was not to be the mainstay of the move-
ment. There were to he levies enforced from the outset on
the other trades, and one of a shilling had, It was snail, been
declared that morning among the masons. Men were certainly
hovering about in the yard with red pass-books, who
looked as it they might be taking toll. Such biquiries
as I addressed to the masons themselves did not in moat
eases elicit a strong expression of internal in the cm-pruners'
proceedings. It was universally known, of coulee, that they
had gen - out, and that the nine hours a day was the head
and front e,f their demands, but few of my informants have
been personal actors in the preliminary arrangemeets.
Either they were not in the union, or they placed implicit
trust in their representatives. At last I encountered a man
who had shared in the negotiations which have heen
carried on since last February. He had been a member
of the wagons' deputation, which was received by
the misters before the presentation of the carpenters'
memorial. The demand it made was substantially the same
as that now at issue. According to this delegate It was
courteitualy heard, and the whole condition of the trade
was discussed in its bearing upon wages and profits. The in-
terview, which Meted more than two hours, termivated 're-
- freshingly " and with good fellowship. It may have been by
mere accident or from a change of tactics among the union-
ists that the carpenters then stepped in. The messes with-
drew into the background ; but not till they had given such
notices as will enable them to strike on the first of next
month, if they should not have been previously
locked out. When the carpenters at St. James's Hall
reproached the master builders with refusing to meet
them, it was not generally known to the public that the
masons' delegates hail already gone over the ground which
it was asked to rodiscuss. Whatever may he said in the ex-
citement of stump oratory, the me:, who have observed for
themaelvea such negotiations as have been held do not
complain of want of opportunities to state their case.
They rather flatter themselves that it has been made so
simple the masters cannot help understanoing it, and that, I
comequently, only one answer can be given to it. . . .
Having exhaust. d what floating information was tube got
in the yard I turned into the counting-house for a change of
standpoiet. Mr. Jackeine the senior member of the firm,
personally answered my inquiries in a spirit not a whit less
1 hank than the men themselves had shown. It was ohaervable
/ eit once how entire}, BB 9 matter of Maximise the mimeo ,
was taken up oil both aides. Mr. Jackson spoke simply of
what the men had asked and how the masters had answered
them, without any prejudgment either as to tine .111i411 in
neral or his own grievances in particul.. It had at been
hr ne• hing that he had lived through all the strikes
in the London building trade since 1544. His exeerience had
taught him to view them philosophically sod to make the
must of them. In the present instance he thomelit that the
area had riot turned Thursday's miefereme to the best se-
ceunt. They sent delegate., haed-tied with inntruetions to
obtain the whole programme, and tiothingbut the pretrainme
The masters, he hinted, would have been pliable in respect of
increased pay, hut they conlil not see their wey Cr, the eine
hi um. As to their capability of resistance lie spoke forcibly
hut not in any way le eottingly. on Koine points on their ”Priill-
ization he dull not place nmeh faith. the Builders' Society
heed is a rather antiquated weapon to fight battles of this
kind with. In character arid origin it is more like a social
dub than a union. When found,d, more than forty years
ago, it was intended for a semi convivial, senninpractical
stitution. . . . When strikes commeneed it was the wily
defensive orgaiiirdion available against then), aid from that
fact, it hae derived the later character Is which it reappears
to-day. In confronting the operative unions it stands at a
disadvantage in possmising no control, direct or indirect,
over the small builders. These, Instead of sympathising
with the slants hi distress, endeavour to intim -ye the occa-
sion of their absence from competition. Brat ham a
certain level in the trade such a danger is neutral zed by
the intervention of the speculative builder. Ile is a
different subject altogether from the undertaker of
hundred thousand pound jolts. He is wore sparing
of expenditure in wages, as in everything else. His men,
besides being conteet with lees pay, are less independent;
for they neoer work together in such numbers as to make
unionism contagious. So considerable is the difference in
coat of labour between a large shop and a small one, that a
sub-contractor can aoinetimes take his profit oat of a price
below what the °defile' contractor could do the work for
with his own men. The pressure of a strike Is felt, there-
fore most severely, if not almost exclusively, by the colossal
cnitractors. But the drawheek of Ming thus specially at the
mercy of unionists ie counteracted, in sonic degree, by the
facility p• esessed for briegiug every advance of wages home
to the psibhil.
Mr. Jackson's account of the improvement in wages during
tl:e past dozen or fifteen years substantially agreed with
what I learned seme time ago from the secretary of the
Arnalgernated Society of Carpenters and Joiners. Naterally,
he brought out rather more sharply the lines of c.oritrast he.
been then and now. Upto 1557, the general rate of pay in the
building trade was 305. per week of 80 hours, or ed. per hour,
though the time system was not then rem guised as such.
ho that year the 'teeth of the working week was reduced to
eel hours, without any alteration of wages. The issue of the
compromise which resulted from the contest id 1851 60
was an advance of 38., making the rate of pay 3Ss, per
week of 584 hours. Is 1863 there was a struggle for
another curtailment of time which brought -loon the wore-
big week to Mee hours. In 1865 the hour system was forced
upon the trade with the immediate effect of rah ng waues
fully 2s. per week. Where 338. had been earned [(linearly the
new scale of 564 hours, at 74d. per hour, became equivalent
te 3a. 34d. per week. The existing staedard of ed. an hour,
or 375. eil per week, has been hi operation since May, Hee,
when the last successful pronunciamiento tank place.
From the employers' point of view, the —nine hours at nine-
price" means five and a half hours per week less
labour with sevenpence a week more to pay for it. In.
stead of iies. Oil. per week of 564 hours, the men
demand 363. 3d. per week of 51 hours. I received
from Mr. Jackson's conversation an impression that the
masters were not sanguine about resisting the meiley ad •
varlet!, or indeed anxious about doing so This they regarded
as a question more affecting the public than the builders.
They have learned from past experience of strikes that the
price of labour may rise.hidefinitely.without impairing the

demand for building. lithe 9,1. an hour were nilw grunted
all round, it would give the men 50 percent. more wages
than they were earning prior to 1957. Roughly speaking,
one-half of the cost of building is represented by wages paid
out of the builders pocket so that this alone constitutes an
increase of .25 per cent. on the gross cost to the public But
for the counteracting effect of improved machinery which
has been introduced, London would now have been paying
very much more for its house accommodation than it did
fifteen years age. . . . .

Though movements of this kind inconvenience them
seriously, the master builders have no objection whatever to
labour raising its price. It is the nine-hours system UM the
unionist veto on overtime which perplex them Facing
these facts, they are in the same difficulty against which the
Newcastle ironfounders fought so desperately last winter.
They deprecate the idea that they intend to offer resistance
out of sheer obstinacy, or in behalf of their profits as
capitalists. As Mr. Jackson repeatedly admitted to me,
they know the power of the men too well to engage in
any irritating or unnecessary conflict: they also under-
stand better where their profits come from than to
discourage the growth of well-paid, intelligent workmen.
But this strike, like every other which has sprung out of the
Nine Henry Movement peculiar, inasmuch as it places
the employer in the power of his efintloy Fs, not only when
they are at work, but when they are not at work. They sac
that their closing-time must be his, and that, when the',
choose to stop, his machinery, his horses, his foremen. his
managers, his clerks, and his whole establishment must stop
too. Notwithstanding the ominous preci dents afforded by
other contests of the kind, the master builders are apparently
resolved to stand out against what they consider to be,
for the present at least. an impracticable innovation.
The consideration of tactics has cost them some anx-
iety, but it has revealed no milder alternative th-in
that which was adopted in 1559. It might be said that they
have the piton of endeavouring to repl ice the seceded ear-
, penters without making all the rest of their to, rhinos, suffer.
Mr. Jackson and his friends are too familiar with the influence
of untinii.,m to hope for any thing from such half nieasures.
Suppose they locked tint the carpenters only, and attempted
to find substitutes. In the first place, they could not get
them ; certainly not from the provinces, and possibly lint
eVen from aliroad. Inn the second place, they conlii not keep
them when they had got them. The esprit de enrps a hick
has been goner ited by trades unions is now so power-
ful, even among nomunionists, that, without any re-
suit to illegal measures, it can be made irre•intible.
The proceedings of S tturday morning were a good
illustration. Perhaps not a half of the carpenters in
J icksou and Shaw's shop were society men, hut they
came isit, 1 believe, without an exception The masters
gather Inds, such indications that it is not individuals, but the
union they have to deal with. In order, as they say, to " dis-
tress the Ind, in funds," they therefore throw the gr. atest
sible strain ep others. This dictates a lock-out. not runty of
the carpenters, hint of all the trailes in league with them and
interested in their success. Besides, the mamma have, by
the action they took in February, acimired a right to strike
if they choose on the Ist of July, and th it might, through
mime turn of events in•the interval, give a fresh handle
against the employers. A lock-out eileures to the latter a
minimum of direct hiss, for, in closing their shops, they
have to retain only their permanent staffs of foremen
anal others. In stopping works tiney are protected from
any liability for delay by " strike-clanses" expressly in-
serted in their contracts, with a view to the. contin-
gencies. They do net even lose interest on the capital
they have actually expended, for they can require pay-
ment of it—or a large proportion of it—on architects'
certificates. At these points they are not very vul-
nerable. But the cons, rinences of passivity do not
end there Masters with Brobdingnagiiin establishments
to maintain, and mammoth machines to feed, most
be coutinually laying in store of work. While they ore
hors Ic combat they cannot tender ; they can make
no provision for the future. Unless London can defer
further building operations till they are free-handed again,
cempetitors mlist take their place. These will be the
small builders, on whom unionists never press hard ; in
fact, they favour them as allies against the collessal
contractor. They will not he troubled about "the ruins
hours at ninepence," so long as it is desirable to keep
the largest possible siumbar of men off the union
funds. Until heavy contracts begin to diverge into these
side channels, the Builders' Society may not consider its
position seriously menaced. Masters are evidently much
less apprehensive about what wages they may have to pay
than snout their italividual positions in the trade. It is
impossible to predict what they might not do rather than
miss work which they have been accustomed to secure; but
ills clear enough that they have steeled themselves against
all minor risks and inconveniences.

The Master Builders' Association has not been slow
to take up the gauntlet thrown down by the men who
have turned out on strike from the shops and works
of Messrs. Brass, Old-street, St. Luke's, and Messrs.
Jackson and Shaw, Pimlico (says the Daily News). A
full meeting of the committee of the association was
held on Monday afternoon at the Freemasons' Tavern,
Great Queen street, Lincoln's inn-tit-I,la, and after de-
liberating with closed doors, as is their wont, for
upwards of two hours, it was resolved "to convene a
general meeting of the trade, and to recommend a
general lock out unless the workmen return to Mes-rs.
Jackson and Shaw and Messrs. Brass on the existing
terms without delay."
While the representatives of the masters were thus
concerting a plan of future and immediate action, the
men themselves were assembled at a neighbouring,
though much less imposing tavern—the "Brown Bear,"
Bloomsbury, and busy canvassing the progress they
had already made. And here it may be stated, on the
authority of Mr. Mathin, the secretary to the move-
ment, that the Amalgamated Society of Carpenters
and Joiners are not the dictators of the strike; but
the blow is the result rather of an edict from a delega-
tion conclave representing every branch of the
operative building trades in the metropolis. The
men as they arrived entered their names and ad-
dreeses, to the number of over 300, in the strike-
book, which they will have to repeat from time to
time till the struggle terminates, and then ascended
to the club-room, a long, low-roofed, and now pain.
fully-crowded apartment, where a discussion was
going on under the chairmanship of Mr. Hawkins,
one of the delegates, upon various matters of detail
requiring prompt decision. In due course the
meeting was regularly informed of what happened
and was agreed upon at the gathering in the same place
on Saturday last, and then a delegate communicated " the
opinion of counsel," who desired his name should be
withheld, but not because he had given "advice
gratin," that picketing was now illegal, and that
if there was any wish to 'warn off " from the closed
• shops and jobs by means of placards, the boards must

be borne on the shoulders of men who are neither in
the trade nor directly concerned in the strike.
Next there arose up at the extreme end of the
raom, a man, seemingly on the back of a companion,
his bead completely touching the o iling, to com-
plain that the men on the Highgate job of Jackson
and Shaw, although non-society men, had been at
work in a state of discontent all day, being •utterly
ignorant of what the delegates wished them to do.
He had, therefore, rushed hot haste after the
. . . .

dinner hour to notify this want of official intelligence.
The Chairman expressed some surprise that these men
should not have seen it reported in the newspapers that
they were to "turn out,' but suggested that the
messenger should retut n to Highgate at once armed
with is copy of the reoilution passed on Saturday to
that effect, with instructi.ms to direct the mend, strike
forthwiih. With some difficulty the miiNsenger made
his way to the table to secure the written authoritt , and
retired m some way, waving aloft the .bsutnebt, amidst
enthusiastic applause. Two deputations were then
appointed to wait upon the "out-firemen" of Jackson
and Shaw, who are in receipt of over 9 I. the hour, to
invite them to join their fellow-workmen ; snit inion
the men of similar standing in Brass's emp oy, but
who receive only 9.1. and under, to "inform" them
that "unless they immediately came out " they would
be "blacked." After that came up the very serious
question 0f "picketing," which was calmly argued out
upon a motion "that no pickets should be placed upon
any of the shops or jobs from which the men had
turned out," the supporters of this view contended that
the object they were lighting for was too self-
evident, too intelligible, to need such doubtful aid
as pickets, and indulging the hope that keeping
strictly within the law, and relying only upon thew
own good cause and just and sound arguments, they
would insure public support, and act far more favour-
ably upon the coneessional disposition of their masters.
It will, however, be seen that the meeting was very
nearly equally divided upon what was called "thin
delicate point." as a show of hands disclosed that there
were 99 to 97 in favour of an amendment that pickets
be placed at all the shops and jobs, but that the
pickets be allowed a discretion in their mode of
action. The supporters of the original proposi-
tion, not being satisfied with this result, de-
manded a poll, which was taken by the one side
returning to a spacious taproom below, and the other
remaining, when the numbers were reversed—there
being 109 for the amendment and 113 against it, so
that the original motion was carried, and no organised
watching will be resorted to. An unsuccessful attempt
was then made to rescind a resolution previously come
to forbidding the men on strike from accepting em-
ployment in open shops within a radius of twelve miles
of Cliarity-eross. only three hands being held up for
the proposal; and after a vote of thanks to the chair-
man the meeting was adjourned.
Just as the men were dispersing they were hurriedly
summoned back to learn the nature of the resolution
passed shortly before by the committee of the Masters'
Association. The previous proceedings had occasion-
al), been somewhat noisy, but this announcement was
made in profound silence, and its grave and significant
import appeared to be thoroughly felt, though no one
betrayed any sign of want of confidence in ultimate
stIOCAREI

In another article, the Daily Telegraph of Wednesday
says:—

- .
Tile carpenters at the "Brown Bear" are in com-
mittee, and apparently findilig it hard work On making
up their muster roll they had a total of 276 men out.
The question of aliment is raising serious financial con-
siderations, which are not finally resolved. The com-
mittee wish to observe an little difference as possible in
their treatment of society and non soc;ety men. The
desired equality will, however, be no easy thing to
estwilish, as the non-unionists very greatly out-
number the others. To begin with the unionists
have a start of fifteen shillings a week—the amount
they are entitled to draw from their societies as strike
pay. This will take effect immediately as regards all
the men now out, the several sections of the Amalga-
mated and the General Union having issued the
. .

necessary authority. For the present week the com-
mittee hope to make up the allowance to full wages;
and last night they were framing a scale of distribu-
tion. It was expected that a rough equality might
be secured by deducting a few shillings from the
society men's quota, and transferring it to the nom-
scciety men. Should the strike extend itself, a gradual
solution of this dilemma may be effected by getting the
non-union men to join the Union. Thereupon, accord-
ing to a special rule deviscd for such emergencies, they
would at once become entitled to full benefits of
membership. In anticipation of a lock-out the
c ,mmittee are looking ahead to see how far their
actual resources may carry them. Information is
being collected to enable them to estimate the avail-
able funds of their own societies and of the building
trades in general. Prior to the schism in the Amalga-
nasted there was a reserve of nearly £lB,OOO. Should
it merely have remained stationary during the past
year, there is still a tolerably solid breastwork to
stand behind. On a smaller scale, the General Union
Is also well endowed.

The men, in short, affirm that such a carefully pro-
visioned strike as this is unprecedented. They disclaim
any comparison between it and the financial arrange-
ments of 1859. At that time union organisation with Of
an imperfect and impecunious kiwi. In the metrop
there were only public-house clubs with funds of
£2OO or £3OO to dole out among as many mem-
bers. These were spent without affording any
apprecialle support to the strike, and before it
reached a crisis they hail utterly disappeared.
Here, each trade that may be locked out will have
a certain degree of endurance within itself, apart from
the a.ssistance which may be rendered to the general
movement by other trade societies. The amount of
strain which may be thrown on the Union funds will
depend chiefly on the greater or less unanimity of the
masters. That will determine whether the lock-out
is to be real or nominaL Masters who do not assume
the offensive will not be disturbed, as far as concerns
keeping on their present hands. The resolution
which was paseel on Monday against accepting
lower terms than the ultimatum, applies only to
men who have once gone out. It forbids them to
enter any new service for less than the committee's
terms, but it does not require them to claim any ad-
vance while they continue in their present employ-
ment. It is hoped that, as in 1859, and even to a
greater extent, the inducement thus offered to small
builders to hold aloof from the contest will
neutralise the tactics of the Builders' Associa-
tion. The confederation aimed at by the latter
is believed to be less dangerous now than it
proved thirteen years ago— inasmuch as the traire is a
great deal more subdivided. The statistics which float
about at the "Brown Bear" may be rather mercurial;
but I was assured that, for one small builder who
flourished in 1859, there are to-day four or five. In
proportion to the absolute faith of the men in their own
unity is their belief in the impossibility of uniform
action on the part of the masters. If such a calamity for
them could happen as a closing of all the shops in
London, there would be, on their own estimate, five-
and twenty thousand men turned into the street.
Reckoning from the experience of 1859, it is not apEre-
hooded that more than a tenth of the gross number
will be actually locked out.