The building strike which was declared last Saturday is perhaps
the most muddled industrial dispute we can ever remember. When our greatest industrial sleuth, as Lord Buckmaster has certainly become, confesses himself baffled, it is not for any newspaper to express an opinion on the causes, still less on the merits, of the strike. The men apparently say that the strike was occasioned by the failure of the employers to ratify their agreement of June 16th. The employers, on the other hand, state that they issued lock-out notices because of the failure of the men in Liverpool to abide by this agreement. Had there been no lock-out notices there would have been no strike in retaliation. The one fact that does seem to have emerged up to the present is that the building industry is extremely badly organized. By no means all the employers are in the Federation, and by no means all the men abide by the decisions of their Union. No great industry can thrive in such a condition. It is essential that both sides, when they are negotiating, should have confidence in the competence of the negotiators Nit hom they meet.
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