The trial is over, and, so far as any personal feelings are concerned, the sooner it is forgotten the better it will be for our Association. To guard and strengthen that should be our first thought and care. But while it will be beneficial for us to forget any attribution of ill motives, and evil speaking or ruffled feelings consequential thereto, we shall be wise men if we gather up the lessons which come to us. This battle has been fought for one purpose only, and that is to support the authority of the rules. To that end, and that alone, have our efforts been devoted. The great question at this moment is:
Whether it is better to have a set of rules which requires that the Committee of picked men (responsible year by year to the will of the members) should have a knowledge of, and be called in to assist in, the settlement of disputes before a large colliery is stopped, and a serious expenditure thrown upon the Association; or whether a lodge shall have a free hand to stop a colliery at will, and then run a chance of creating a favourable feeling, and receiving large sums from the funds, when, if the Committee had been consulted, the matter might have been settled; or if not, a strike entered upon legally.
Another lesson is that, having received the sanction of the courts to our rules, and having lifted them out of the uncertainty by which they were surrounded, we shall do well to keep them in the certainty in which they have been placed. It is very clear that an attempt will be made to alter the rules which guide this matter. If so, a lax (and ruinous) state of things will be introduced. For the last two or three years the same attempts have been made, and again this year resolutions with the same object are sent in. The rules which place the affairs of the Association in the hands of the Committee (before a stoppage) have to be erased or mutilated, and rendered useless. Surely it is better, and more conducive to the welfare of the Society, to have our affairs placed on business lines, than to have a code of rules which will admit of loose procedure, and spending illegally large sums of money, which will be wanted whenever the depression of trade sets in.
My advice to you is to consider carefully every amendment which may come before you. Trades organisations will prosper most when they are founded upon, and guided by, business principles.
1898
The Wages Question—The Compensation Act
The uncertainty which the Federation Board had pointed out as the inevitable result of the abolition of the Conciliation Board soon made itself manifest. There were continual demands being made upon the Federation Board to seek advances, but they felt how difficult it was to get reliable data upon which to found a claim. On March 22nd they gave the county an account of an interview they had with the employers on the 12th of that month. The suggestion as to the claim for an advance being made was not supported by any data, and when they met, the employers pointed out that the indications were in the direction of depression more than the expansion of trade, and therefore the Wage Committee could not recommend to the owners to concede an advance. That refusal the Board advised the workmen to accept until there was some better trade prospects.
"Like prudent men, and, acting upon the lines you would have us proceed upon, we are convinced it will be more hurtful than useful to initiate or press a demand for an advance unless the state of the markets warrant such a course."
Another meeting on the wages question was held on May 25th. A strike took place in South Wales in the beginning of April, the effect of which was felt in an increased demand for the class of coal produced in this district. Their supply being cut off consumers turned to other sources, and as a consequence there was a natural feeling of unrest in Durham among the workmen. They had the impression that the whole of the produce of the county would be affected by the demand, and therefore the increase in price would be an all-round one. The Federation Board met that "false impression which we fear rests in the minds of many of our members" in a statement they sent out on the 26th of May. They pointed out two very important considerations, which the generality of members would lose sight of. There was a large amount of coal sold under contract, which would not be affected by the temporarily increased price, even if all the output of Durham had been steam coal, but it must be remembered that only nine per cent. was of that class. They then gave a calculation to show how a rise on a small percentage would affect the whole. The steam coal being the only part feeling the increase, and that class forming only nine per cent. of the total, what would be its universal effect?
"Without contending for the accuracy of the quantities let us give a calculation which may suggest a key to the position. Of the nine per cent. of steam coal let us suppose two-thirds of it was sold under contract at a normal market price. We should then have only three per cent. of the entire output getting a higher price. Let us further suppose that this three per cent. secured an advance in the abnormal state of the market of 6s. per ton during the strike; we should only have realised a general increase equal to, say, 2.16d. per ton over the whole of the coals produced."