It was almost inevitable, therefore, that when in adverse circumstances the unions could not possibly hold the whole of their war-time gains, many of the newcomers should break away on the ground that membership was no good to them.
The unions catering for agricultural workers have naturally had a severe experience of this tendency, but the more solidly established bodies, like the railway and engineering unions, and in some districts even the miners' unions, have to face a definite weakening The pessimistic speech of Mr. J. H. Thomas recently gave an indication of the situation of the N.U.R.. with a loss of membership added to the difficulties caused by an unprecedented payment of unemployment benefit.
The Amalgamated Engineering Union has a similar experience, and in the November issue of its official journal a decrease of over 10,000 members during October is recorded.
Apatuy or MEMBERS.
The officials are more troubled, however, by the apathy of their members than by what they re gard as only a temporary decrease The A.E.U. journal describes the indifference shown in the recent bent on wages as "almost incredi-The majority of the unions are still far stronger in numbers than they were before the war, and in both the engineering and transport industries, the demand of the employers for longer hours is to made the ground for a determined effort to stop the disintegration movement.
It is interesting to find that unions of non-manual workers, like the Railway Clerks' Association, have succeeded better in maintaining their strength than some of the most powerful bodies of manual workers.
The R.C.A., in fact, is in a better position financially than it was a year ago, owing to vigorous propaganda and a decision to increase contributions substantially.
Text read from the printed page and cleaned; old type leaves the occasional error.