TRADES UNIONS.
Trie public hears much of Trades Unions, but is very imperfectly acquainted with their organization and proceedings; for these so- cieties am bound together by oaths of secrecy, administered to the members on their admission; and although the oaths are unlaw- ful, very few have broken them. A pamphlet* recently published shows a knowledge of the subject which we have not met with else- where; although the author contbsses that he may be mistaken on some points, owing to the difficulty of procuring accurate infor- mation. From this pamphlet we have selected a few facts, which we presume will be new to many of our readers. The best organized and most extensive Union is that of the Working Cotton-spinners. It has existed for more than thirty years ; and in 1829, the members elected representatives who met together at Ramsey in the Isle of Man and formed a kind of Par- liament. Each village and town in the Union sent representa- tives to this assembly, proportionate to the population. These Parliaments passed laws, levied taxes, and printed some of their debates. The names of the speakers are generally not given; but each member takes the name of the place he represents, and is distinguished by a number. Thus it is said, Glasgow I moved, and Preston 2 seconded, seal a resolution, &c. The specimen of the speeches of the orators, given in the pamphlet, is creditable to their debating powers.
Few persons have heard the name of JOSEPH SHIPLEY. Yet this man is described as being a perfect MASSANIELLO. Ile was
the leader of the most extensive and persevering strike that has ever taken place—that of 1810. More than thirty thousand per- sons were thrown out of employ by it. All the spinners in all the mills in Manchester, Stockport, Macclesfield, Ashton, Hyde, and
Bolton, turned out. SHIPLEY was as implicitly obeyed by this mass of mechanics as the Duke of WELLINGTON at Waterloo. It
is mentioned as a remarkable fact, that he gave evidence to the
Factory Commissioners against the Short Time Bill, and utterly denied that children became deformed by factory labour. During this great strike in 18 1 0, the money collected weekly from the
men, who still remained at work in different parts of the country, amounted to nearly 1,5001. The great object of this strike was to compel the country masters to pay as high wages as those in Man- chester: but in not one single instance was it attained; and after four months of great suffering, the men all returned to their work,
and in many eases at wages reduced 50 per cent. In 1829, more than ten thousand cotton-spinners again turned out. Many masters were shot at ; and a Mr. ASHTON, as many will remember, was
murdered; the assassin or assassins have not been discovered to this day. The last great strike of the cotton-spinners was in 1830; when fifty-two mills were stopped, and thirty thousand persons were thrown out of employ. They were, as usual, obliged to yield, after ten weeks struggle; and obtained no advance of wages. The Committee of the Cotton-spinners at Manchester is said to be armed with almost despotic power. They not unfrequently compel men to leave their work contrary to the individual's incli- nation, in order to injure some employer to whom they bear M- ain. The wages of the Manchester spinners have for some years averaged 30s. each, all the year round. It is said that these partially-educated men, the leaders of the Manchester spinners, fancied that, had the Ten Hours Bill passed, one sixth more mills would have been built, to supply the defi- cient production. This would have created, they thought, a de- mand fur workmen ; and thus those out of employ would have no longer drained the pockets of those who had work. If this is cor- rectly stated, the clamour for the Ten Hours Bill is easily ac- counted for.
The workmen in the Building trades have formed one of the
most extensive Unions in the empire. In 1833. they required their masters in Manchester to desist from taking contracts, —that is, from contracting to do the building-work for per- sons who had engaged to provide the whole of any private or pub- lic erection inside and outside complete. Their masters, they said, became middle-men under this system, and thus two profits in- stead of one were gained out of the labour of the workmen. Some ,of the masters gave way, and abandoned this mode of doing busi- ness. But the workmen continued to encroach, and in a great aariety of ways tyrannized over their employers,—compelling them to employ bad and drunken members of the Union; dictating the rate of wages, and hours of labour. The masters at length -determined on resistance, and refused to employ any members of the Union. This threw vast numbers out of work, and reduced the consumption of brieks in Liverpool from one million a week to twenty thousand. The masters had very little success in pro- curing fresh workmen, as great intimidation was used towards all who presumed to defy the power of the Union. In September last, 275 delegates met at Manchester, representing a constituency of O,000 working builders. The expense of this session of Parlia- • Character, tkjact, and Ejfects,of Trades Unions. Published by Ridgway and Son"
ment, as they called it, was'about 3,000/. ; and it cooled the zeal of the builders for more displays of this description. They deter- mined, however, to erect a Guildhall at Birmingham, the principal room of which was to be 78 feet by 30: schools were to be esta- blished, committees were to meet, and the unemployed were to be set to work on this building. Many of their designs were ill a high degree praiseworthy ; and indicate a great improvement in the morals and intellectual capacity of the builders. At last, after six months' contest, the masters triumphed : the men, in penitence, returned to their work, after having spent in allowances 18,0001. Their wages would have amounted during the sante period to 72,000/. All their grand designs are laid aside for the present. The failure of the st ike was complete.
The Leeds and Halifax Weavers have met with equ illy bad success in their strikes. They were as tyrannical in their exac- tions as their Lancashire brethren in the cotton trade. The Leeds Union drew up "a scale of prices to be observed by millowners, manufacturers, &c." The object of this was to compel the masters to pay equally high wages to bad as to good workmen. The mas- ters gained the advantage in the strike which followed their re- sistance to this demand. The most strenuous opponents to the requisitions of the men were Messrs. Homes and DERHANI, of Dolphinholtne; whose workmen held out from the 11th September 1832 to the 2d February 1833. The invention of the wool-comb- ing machine was the consequence of their strike : it wholly superseded the labour of the chief ringleaders, and has dealt a heavy blow at the combination. The oath said to have been im- posed upon the members of the Leeds Union, is given in the pam- phlet: it is of a most peremptory description.
In Spitalfields, Coventry, Macclesfield, and Kidderminster, there have also been Trades Unions and strikes. The distress of the mechanics and the removal of a great portion of the trade have been uniformly the consequence of them. The trial of some members ofan Agricultural Union, at Dorchester, on Monday last, has excited a good deal of attention. Few persons pro- bably were aware that such an organized association existed among that class of the population. It proves bow deeply the spirit of re sistance to what is ignorantly supposed to be the determination of all employers and capitalists to grind down the work-people has taken root in the land. Almost every class of mechanics, and now it appears, the labouring peasantry, discern the advantage of acting in concert to obtain a common end. Unfortunately, they are at present too partially informed to understand the difference between impracticable and attainable designs. Their combinations have consequently been productive of only distress to themselves, and loss and inconvenience to their masters. With the progress of education, we may look for an improvement in this respect ; and then the spirit which impels men to form Trades Unions may be productive of much good. They have proved themselves capable of acting with constancy, and method; and the entire failure of all their recent attempts, will surely induce them to seek better information as to the rules which regulate the demand for labour and the rate of profit, than that which they now possess.
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