Background of the British Labor Crisis

Archive Report

The present labor upheaval in Great Britain, involving between 2,000,000 and 3,000,000 organized workers in the principal industries, is the culmination of a long standing dispute in the British coal industry. The immediate issue which brought on the general strike was the demand of the mine owners for a reduction of 11 per cent in wages upon the withdrawal of the Government subsidy May 1, and a lengthening of the work day from 7 to 8 hours, which was met by the Miners' Federation with a refusal to concede “one penny off wages or one minute on working hours.”

The fundamental cause of the present labor crisis lies in the inability of Great Britain's basic industry, in the existing world situation, to pay what British ...

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