(ii) The Court may require any witness to give evidence (2) The Court may act notwithstanding any vacancy in its (4) Subject to these Rules, the Court may regulate its own (5) In these Rules the expression "Act" means the Industrial Courts Act, 1919; the expression "Minister" means the Minister of Labour; and the expression Court" means the Court of Inquiry appointed above by the Minister under the Act. And the Minister further appoints Mr. A. B. Valentine to be Secretary to the Court. Dated this 1st day of September, 1924. Given under the Official Seal of the Minister of Labour. (Signed) J. A. BARLOW, A Principal Assistant Secretary, REPORT. SIR, To the Right Hon. the MINISTER OF LABOUR. WE have the honour to submit the following Report : PRELIMINARY. 1. Having been constituted as a Court of Inquiry by the prefixed letter of appointment, dated 1st September, 1924, we held a preliminary meeting at 2.30 p.m. on Tuesday, 2nd September, 1924, at the Railway and Canal Commission Court, Royal Courts of Justice, W.C.2. At this meeting it was arranged that the Inquiry should be taken in two parts, the Court directing its attention in the first instance to the existing stoppage at Covent Garden and proceeding thereafter to deal with the second part of its terms of reference, namely, the inquiry into and report upon the threatened stoppage at the ports and elsewhere arising out of the dispute at Covent Garden. 2. Immediately after the close of the preliminary meeting the first part of the Inquiry was opened and was concluded on the following day. The hearing was resumed on Monday, 8th September, on which day the second part of the Inquiry was concluded. The Inquiry was held in public and evidence was taken on oath. THE STOPPAGE AT COVENT GARDEN. 3. During the first part of the Inquiry the Employers' case was presented by Mr. George Corner, acting on behalf of the Wholesale Covent Garden Fruit Merchants (The London Fruit, Flower and Vegetable Markets' Association, Limited, and the Covent Garden Tenants' Association, Limited). Mr. J. Bradnum represented the London and Provincial Fruit Buyers' Association and Mr. W. Pardoe and Mr. J. Brookman represented the London and Counties Retail Fruiterers' and Florists' Association, Limited. In addition, Mr. W. J. Lindsay-Forbes was present on behalf of the Covent Garden Fruit Brokers' Protection Society. Evidence in support of the Employers' case was given by Major E. G. Monro, Director of Messrs. George Monro, Limited, Mr. W. A. Hicks, Retail Fruit Merchant, Mr. G. E. W. Beeson and Mr. Lindsay-Forbes. 4. The case for the workpeople was presented by Mr. Ernest Bevin, General Secretary of the Transport and General Workers' Union. Evidence in support of the workpeople's case was given by Mr. L. C. Hansen, Group Secretary of the General Workers' Department of the Transport and General Workers' Union; Mr. R. Greenwood, a National Organiser of the Transport and General Workers' Union; and Messrs. Wood, Scott and Reed. THE COVENT GARDEN MARKET. 5. For the purposes of the present Inquiry the Covent Garden. Market may be divided into two parts : (a) The Floral Hall. (b) The outside Market. Seven firms of brokers, employing from 250 to 300 men, carry on operations in the Floral Hall. They deal with foreign produce only and the bulk of their business is done by auction sales. From 300 to 400 firms carry on business in the outside market and employ from 2,500 to 3,000 men. 6. It is a strike of the porters employed in the outside market which is primarily the subject of inquiry by this Court. Since they struck work, however, sympathetic action has been taken by the Floral Hall porters who are also now on strike, although they have no dispute with their employers. TRADE UNION ORGANISATION. 7. It would appear that it is only within recent years that labour in the Covent Garden Market has become organised. That organisation has proceeded more quickly and more completely in the Floral Hall than in the outside market, and in 1921 negotiations resulted in a schedule of porterage charges being agreed between the firms in the Floral Hall and the Dockers' Union as representing the porters in the Floral Hall. 8. In the same year unsuccessful efforts were made, by or on behalf of the men, to open negotiations in respect of a schedule for the outside market, but the employers in the outside market did, in fact, frame and put into operation in 1921 a schedule of their own, the terms of which were not so favourable to the men as the agreed schedule in the Floral Hall. Since 1921 continuous endeavours have been made to extend organisation among the porters in the outside market, and the Union has tried on more than one occasion to place an embargo upon buyers from the Floral Hall who have refused to pay the Floral Hall brokers the porterage rates which the latter had contracted to pay to their porters. These embargoes, however, have, for the most part, re-acted unfavourably upon the Floral Hall since the buyers in question have been able to transfer their custom from the Floral Hall to the outside market. 9. At the beginning of the present year fresh endeavours were made by the Transport and General Workers' Union to organise the porters in the outside market more completely, and it is claimed by them that they have now some 3,000 members in their 49455 A 2 Union, of whom at least 1,000 have joined during the present year. 10. In the course of this organisation there have been threats of stoppages of work and actual stoppages of work of brief duration due, the Employers state, to picketing. This statement of the Employers was not challenged by the Union and it was admitted that a printed Notice, dated 28th April, 1924, had been circulated in the outside market by the Union in the following. terms: 66 We, the members of the Covent Garden Branch of the Transport and General Workers' Union, are not prepared to carry goods after May 1st, 1924, to any firm employing nonUnion labour." 11. On or after 28th May, 1924, the Union also published an extract from the "Market Grower and Salesman" of that date, headed, “The Porterage Problem," upon the outside cover of which there was printed," First Warning!! Read this and get ready for the Big Push'. Join the Union at once.' NEGOTIATIONS IN 1924. 12. It is common ground that the difference of porterage charges as between the Floral Hall and the outside market has proved a constant source of friction. This difference became accentuated in May of this year when as a result of further negotiations with the Floral Hall firms the Union obtained an increase on their 1921 schedule with them. It was a term of the arrangement, however, that the revised schedule was only to be signed by the Floral Hall Employers on the definite understanding that the rates and other conditions set out in it would be applied to the outside market as well. A copy of this Draft Agreement will be found in Appendix I, and it will be seen that it provides for an increase of 25 per cent. on the rate for the standard " carry," which is increased from 2d. to 2d., and for other extra payments. 13. In order to be in a position to conclude their revised Agreement with the Floral Hall Brokers the Union prepared a claim intended to raise the porterage rates operative in the outside market at least to the same level as those set out in the provisional Agreement with the Floral Hall Brokers. This they presented to the outside market Employers on 5th July. 14. The claim was examined by the Employers at a number of meetings and finally a Conference with the Union took place on 29th July, 1924, at which an exhaustive discussion took place on the claim, clause by clause. The Employers indicated that there were a number of the items of the claim to which they were prepared to agree, while there were other items which they felt sure their members would not accept. The Conference was adjourned in order that the General Committee of the Employers might finally consider the claim. 15. The Employers having given further consideration to the Union's claim, intimated by letter of 2nd August, the items of the original claim which they were prepared to accept and a few days later put forward counter-proposals which embodied the most they were prepared to concede. 16. These counter-proposals were examined at further meetings on 12th and 14th August but no progress was made. Immediately after the meeting on 14th August the porters in the outside market-of their own accord and without the sanction of their Union-ceased work and are still on strike. The strike was declared official by the Transport and General Workers' Union on the following day, and some days later the Floral Hali porters struck in sympathy with the others—also without the Union's sanction-and are still on strike. 17. Such is the outline of the events immediately preceding the stoppage of work. There is, however, considerable difference of opinion as to the precise causes and responsibilities for the stoppage and it is necessary to examine the series of events and the claim of the Union and counter-proposals of the Employers in greater detail. THE CLAIM OF THE UNION. 18. The claim as originally put forward by the Union and the revised claim as submitted to the Employers on 30th July are shown in Appendix II. 19. Clause One.-The first clause proposes that porterage should be as set out in the Schedule attached to the claim, and should be paid free from any deductions. In so far as they refer to similar classes of produce the porterage rates set out in the Schedule are identical with those set out in the draft agreement with the Floral Hall brokers of 22nd May, 1924. They represent, however, a considerable increase on the rates operative in the outside market, which are, as indicated above, in most cases, those of the Schedule drawn up in 1921 by the Employers, and put into operation without the agreement of the Union. The Employers are definitely of opinion that they cannot grant increases on this 1921 Schedule, and that the new Schedule proposed by the Union is not acceptable. At the meeting of 29th July the Employers' Committee gave no undertaking that they' could recommend the proposed increases to their members, and their view was later confirmed. So far as the question of deductions is concerned, the Employers are prepared to accept this proposal, with the exception that they claim the right to deduct such expenses as are incurred as a result of negligence by way of wrong delivery by the Porters. 20. Clause Two.-The second clause proposes a guaranteed minimum weekly wage of £4 5s. for regular porters. It should be explained that it is not a yearly average wage of at least £4 58. 49455 A 3 |