Jobs losses mount as a result of prolonged labour disputes

Cork, 2 October 1923 - The Free State government is determined to bring about a conciliation between employers and workers as concerns grow at the economic damage being caused by a series of industrial disputes.

The Irish Independent is reporting that the government has committed to leaving ‘no stone unturned’ in its efforts to bring about industrial peace. But how receptive workers are likely to be to any government intervention remains to be seen, given the recent remarks of President Cosgrave in the Dáil where he stated that the costs of production, wages, food prices and local rates all needed to come down if the country was to progress.

In the same speech President Cosgrave highlighted the damage to exports arising from the ports dispute, with the cattle trade impacted particularly badly. Whereas over 90,000 cattle were exported in the months of June, July and August 1922, the number for the same period this year was 23,534.

In Dublin alone in recent weeks there have been disputes involving dockers, Grand Canal boatmen, and workers from the wholesale drug trade, the drapery trade and the fertiliser industry. 

 

 

The Menace (Strikes) cartoon (The Freeman's Journal, 28 September 1923) 

The urgency of action is underlined by the serious impact the current wave of disputes is having on industries that are not directly involved. In Cork, it is widely expected that the Lee Boot Manufacturing Company, based on Washington Street, is to close its doors this week owing to the dockers’ strike and the impossibility of procuring materials. The company has 250 employees, 70 of whom are female, however only 75 of this number currently remain at work and the company is expected to close within a week if the strikes continue.

Also in Cork, a dispute involving members of the ITGWU and the Cork offices of Guinness’s has led to a ban being imposed on Guinness stout. Union members who picketed a pub selling Guinness products were informed, however, that the stout on sale was not procured through the Cork offices. 

In a more positive development, work has resumed in all bacon-curing factories in the twenty-six counties, though the damage to the industry will take some time to repair. Farmers who were unable to sell their pigs over the last number of months have been reluctant to replenish their styes.

[Editor's note: This is an article from Century Ireland, a fortnightly online newspaper, written from the perspective of a journalist 100 years ago, based on news reports of the time.]