MANY MORE STRIKES SO FAR IN 1964 by Pat Jordan
Figures issued by the Ministry of Labour for January and February this year show a dramatic increase in the number of working days lost . in industrial stoppages as compared with the same period last yeare In 1963 109,000 working days were lost in the months of January and February as compared with no less than 549,000 in these months this year. No doubt the bad weather last year played a part in keeping the number of stoppages down but more important in these figures is the changed pattern of strikes, The actual number of stoppages only increased from 293 to 389 (some 33%) but the number of working days lost increased by nearly 400%, In othor words strikes lasted much longer. This in turn is a refloction of the sharper relations in the industrial field,
To illustrate this still further if we look at the days lost in strikes which ended in February we see the followings Duration of stoppage Number workors involved working days lost Not more than one day 81 18, 300 19, 000 2 days AT 7,100 13,000 3 days 26 5, 200 16,000 4-6 days 20 10, 200 30, 000 over 6 days 14 4,200 324, 000 Total 188 45,000 402, 000
If we take particular industries wo seo that the increase in days lost has been pretty widely spread. The groatest increase was in metal manufacture, where the Port Talbot stoppage swelled the figures up to 268,000 working days lost, but other industries showed significant increases: mining, up 33,000 to 77,000 (virtually same number of stop— ages); Ingineoring,up 21,000 to 39,000 (stoppages up in proportion) 3 Motor vehicles and cycles, up 14,000 to 76,000 (stoppages up 23 times) 3 Construction, up 8,000 to 15,000 (stoppages up only 18%) 5 Port and inland water transport, up 2,000 to 29,000 (stoppages up 23 times); and other transport, up 3,000 to 12,000 (stoppages up 13 times).
There are many factors contributing to this changed pattern but the most important is political: the attempt by tho Tory Government . to solve the problems of rationalising British capitalism at the expense of the working class has had the affect of *stiffening' the resistance of the employors to wage demands and has encouraged the more ' backward! . sections to take a more overtly anti-union attitude. Overshadowing all this is the prospect of a genoral election and the widespread belief that strikes are harmful to Labour's prospectse Hence the spate of long drawn out industrial struggles. Theo loft must react by mobilising the whole resources of the Labour movement in every struggle. It is good to see that The Week has been doing exactly that.