The difference in the total disputes shown in the two tables is accounted for by the fact that only a portion of the returns received show the number of establishments and persons involved. During the three-year period from 1897 to 1899 disputes were most numerous among the tailors, factory workers, and unskilled laborers. The causes and results of strikes and lockouts are shown in the following table: STRIKES AND LOCKOUTS, BY CAUSES AND RESULTS, 1897 TO 1899. Of the 356 strikes and lockouts reported for the three-year period, 241, or 67.70 per cent, were due to wage disputes; 34, or 9.55 per cent, to working rules and regulations; 21, or 5.90 per cent, to personal disputes; 10, or 2.81 per cent, to questions of trade unionism; 4, or 1.12 per cent, to hours of labor; and 46, or 12.92 per cent, were due to other and to unknown causes. Of the total number of strikes, 63, or 17.70 per cent, resulted in favor of the employers; 128, or 35.95 per cent, in favor of the working people; 84, or 23.60 per cent, were compromised, and 81, or 22.75 per cent, were indefinite or unsettled. Fourteen cases were settled by arbitration. The following table shows, by days of duration, the number of strikes and lockouts and the aggregate working days lost: STRIKES AND LOCKOUTS AND WORKING DAYS LOST, BY DURATION OF DISPUTES, 1897 The strikes and lockouts were mostly of short duration. Of 206 disputes from 1897 to 1899, the duration of which was known, 101 lasted less than 7 days, 95 lasted from 8 to 30 days, 43 from 31 to 91 days, 20 from 92 to 182 days, and 7 lasted over 182 days. The table following shows, for each year and for the whole period, the number of strikes and lockouts, grouped according to the number of persons involved: STRIKES AND LOCKOUTS, BY NUMBER OF PERSONS INVOLVED, 1997 TO 1WW. Of the 283 disputes for which persons involved were reported, 183, or 64.66 per cent, involved 25 persons or less each, and but 36 involved over 100 persons each. GREAT BRITAIN. Twelfth Report on Trade Unions in Great Britain and Ireland, 1849. lxxvi, 316 pp. (Published by the Labor Department of the British Board of Trade.) The present report covers ground similar to that of the report for the preceding year. The information concerning trade unions is presented in the form of detail tables showing the returns for the years 1892 to 1899 for each trade union, arranged according to industries, a series of summary tables, and an analysis. In the body of the report only those trade unions are considered which furnished returns for all the eight years. The remaining ones, which were comparatively few, are separately shown in the appendix. The number of unions for which comparative statistics of membership are given for the period 1892 to 1899 is 1,685. Some of these were not in existence during the whole of the period, and the number on the list at the end of 1899 was 1,292, as compared with 1,218 at the end of 1892. The membership of all the unions at the end of 1899 was 1,802,518, as compared with 1,503,232 at the end of 1892, an increase of 20 per cent in eight years. The total number of trade unions decreased during 1899 from 1,310 to 1,292, the decline of 18 being due to the amalgamation of smaller unions with larger bodies. Thirty unions were formed and 30 were dissolved during the year. The total membership of trade unions rose from 1,649,231 in 1898 to 1,802,518 in 1899, an increase of 9 per cent, the greatest proportionate increase in any of the eight years. With the exception of the unions in the clothing trades, there was an increase in the membership of every trade group of unions. The largest increase of membership during the year was in unions in the mining and quarrying industriesfrom 353,699 to 424,783, or 20 per cent. At the end of 1899, 139 unions included females in their membership, the number being 120,448, or 6.7 per cent of the total trade union membership. Only 28 unions, with a membership of 8,285, were composed exclusively of women. Of the female trade unionists 90.6 per cent were engaged in the textile industries. The following tables show the number and membership of trade unions, by groups of industries, for the eight years 1892 to 1899: NUMBER OF TRADE UNIONS, BY GROUPS OF INDUSTRIES, 1892 TO 1899. [In this tabulation only those trade unions are considered which furnished returns for all of the eight years included in this period.] MEMBERSHIP OF TRADE UNIONS, BY GROUPS OF INDUSTRIES, 1892 TO 1899. [In this tabulation only those trade unions are considered which furnished returns for all of the eight years included in this period.] The largest membership in 1899, 424,783, was reported by the group of mining and quarrying. Next in order were the groups of metal, engineering, and shipbuilding, with 331,245, the building trades with 251,065, and the textile trades with 220,098 members. |