The Express.
London, England, 1852-01-10 00:00:00

THE EXPRESS, SATURDAY EVENING, JANUARY, 10, 1852.

Platt was lama( brag • wartime seisms for the purpose
of combating his owa wurkin.m, and wilimairly, if possible,
to destauy their trades union. Art ameelatie• of employers
was farmed, and the fattening copy of a circular, containing
the resolutions agreed upon at their first meeting, left no
doubt as to their object:— " I beg to enclose you a copy of
the resolutions passed at a neneial ineeting of engines rs,
machinists, &c., at the Clarence Hotel, Manchester, De-
cember 9th, and to inform you that the next meeting will
be held at the same place on Tuesday next, the 16th Decem-
ber, at 4 p.m., which you are requested to attend, and to
bring with you a statement of the number of persons em-
ploy.M by you of all descriptions, together with your contri-
butions to the fund, as is expressed in the resolutions below.
1 am, yours very relpeetfully, Mouth Mouths, Secretary.
1. That this meeting, haying heard the statement of
Messrs. !Ebben, Platt, and Sono, that their work-people
intend to turn out on the 31st December, 18.51, unless all
the men now working at planing machines, or tools of a
similar character, arc discharged, end their places supplied
by inechtnics belonging to a trades' union, the undersigned
have taken this statement into consideration, and pledge
themselves, should such turn-out take place on this plea,
either at the works of Messrs. Ilibbert, Platt, and :ions, or
at these of any of the undersigned, to close their establish•
mode, and not to re olden them until agreed upon by the
vote of a general meeting, and then only with workpeople
who have no connexion with such trades union.-2. That
a guarantee fans, arising from a contribution of ten shil-
hugs for every person employed by each member of this as,
eociation, be formed, to carryout the views and to defray the
expeuees of the society, and deposited in the names of the
ouninitteo or treasurer in Sir Benjamin Ileywood's bank,
:Manchester, as a guarantee for the good faith of each mess
her. And the committee see hereby empowered, in case way
member fails to comply with these resolutions, to forfeit kb
deposit, or such portion Os they may think fit, and their
decision shall he final. The committee arc further sr
powered to return the deposits, or any portion thereof, ea
won as they may consider it expedient-3. That if any
member of this association considers himself aggrieved by
any encroachments of his workpeople ho is requested to
Collimuuiratv a statement of them to the secretary, who shall
call the committee together within a week from the receipt
of such application,to receive the report and to decide whether
it is a ease calling for the interference of the associetion.-1.
That each member he requested to communicate to the secre-
tary, on Tuesday, Dec. 16, the number of persons in his em-
ployment, and to pay his proportion to the guarantee fund."
New he (the speaker) begged to deny the assertion of
Messrs. Ilibbert, Platt, and Sons, upon which that tint
resolution was based—that it was ever the intention of the
workpeoplo to turn out. Such a resolution had never been
announced, nor was it ever the meaning of the society to
adopt such a resolution. He would not now go into the
question of overtime, and he would only say th,t, as they
ltad nut had an aggregate meeting on p:ccework, he begged
only to may here, that they did not object to piecework
when based on just nrinciples. To prices arbitrarily fixed
by the masters they did object, but nut to equitable ones
agreed to by both parties. It wan iu consequence of the
foul practices connected with the system of piecework
that the men raised an objection to it. So bad
was the system, that in one large firm in Man-
chester, not far from Canal-street, the men having
worked eighteen mouths in a workshop without having a
settling, were told by one of the junior partners they
might think themselves well off if they gut their wages
without a settling. Ile thought this showed it was not
piece-work which they were repudiating, but task-work.
THOMAS souTER reeemided the resolution, and it was
agreed to without a diseentient voice.
THOMAS NOHBUitY, another workman, moved the
second resolution: "That inasmuch us our executive coun-
cil does not agree with strikes, nor the removal of lthouren
from planing, slotting, shaping, and drilling machines, this
meeting seriously consider the course of our employers in
this present dispute unwarrantably oppoarl to just principles,
inconsistent with truth and humanity. 'rho speaker re-
ferred to II letter, signed " Amiens," in the Times, in which
it had been stated that the workmen of one firm iu Man
chester refused to do a couple of hours' work to complete a
machine fur a railway, fur which the employer was under
heavy penalties. Ile said, as a sample of the falsehoods
these writers uttered, this machine, which had been com-
pleted that evening, hail required, not 200, but 300, hours'
wort to complete it. As an instance of the arbitrary way
in which the prices of piecework was fixed, he said, in one
Linn the overlooker exhibited a job to a workman, and
asked the price; the answer was " las." It was shown to
another man, who fixed it at 12s. Gals After this it was
taken to a third man, who was told he must do it for
9.. Gel., or leave the place. 'the practice was to fix one of
the quickest and most ingenious men upon work by the
else, and estimate his time as the price for piecework,
which was a system by which theordinary workmen would
have no fair chance. If piecework was conducted on right
principles the men would never object. So far from the
society endeavouring to promote strikes, they had, in
1848-9, paid 36,0001. to their unemployed members rather
than bring them in competition with the unskilled work-
men, and as far hack an 1812 they paid as much as 20,0001.
with a similar vi,w.

fRANCITWifiTELEY aLconded tho resolution, and

it was adopted unanimously.
Mr. SWINGLEIIURST moved a third resolution :
" That in consequence of calumnious accusations having
been made against the officers of the various trade societies,
relative to their being paid demagogues, communist.,
idlers, &c., we repudiate such as wholly untrue and un-
called fur."
This concluded the proceedings.

Tux BRISTOL Won•stes.—The engineers of Bristol are
not likely to follow the example which has been set in Lon-
don, Manchester, and elsewhere. At a meeting of the
Bristol branch of the Amalgamated Society of Engineers
and Mechanics, held at the club-room, Old Market-sireut,
on Thursday evening, a long discussion took place upon the
course to be pursued by the moo. The general feeling was
that it was advisable to avoid a rupture between the men
and their employe-s, if possble, many of them having been
on mutual terms of good understanding for a long series of
years, and the employers' rules in respect to over-time call-
ing fur very little interference on the part of the Amal-
gamated Society. In reference to the tirsm of Stothert,
Slaughter, and Co., by whom the majority of the engineers,
&c., in Bristol are employed, it was specially resolved,
that Mr. Slaughter, having expressed himself of opinion
that the practice of working over-time is injurious to the
employer and the employed, he be requested to allow his
workmen to continue working at the rate of six days per
week until the trade differences are amicably adjusted, the
decision arrived at by the employers of London to be taken
as the standard. Yesterday (Friday) a notice was posted on
the gates of Messrs. Stothert, Slaughter, and Co.'s factory,
stating that as the workmen had expressed their unreserved
satisfaction with the terms on which they were employed,
there would lie no cesseion of business, unless any attempt
was made to interfere with the management.