Table 3.-Strikes Beginning in March 1936, Classified by Number of Workers Of the 168 strikes which began in March, 48.8 percent were called over union-organization matters, while in 35.7 percent the major issues involved were wages and hours. The disputes over organization were small on the average, however, including only 18.5 percent of the total number of workers involved, while the wage and hour disputes included 64.2 percent of the workers. This information is taken from table 4 in which the 168 strikes beginning in March are classified according to the major issues involved. Table 4.-Major Issues Involved in Strikes Beginning in March 1936 In table 5 the 157 strikes which ended in March are classified by industry groups and duration. Nearly 40 percent of the strikes ended in less than a week after they began and 60 percent lasted less than one-half month. The average duration of the 157 strikes was approximately 20 calendar days. The three strikes which had been in progress for 3 months or more were (1) a strike against the Saxon (cotton) Mills at Spartanburg, S. C., which began in July 1935; (2) a strike against the California Packing Co. at Terminal Island, Calif., which began in October 1935; and (3) a strike against a number of pottery manufacturing companies in Ohio, which also began in October 1935. Table 5.-Duration of Strikes Ending in March 1936 Approximately 70 percent of the workers involved in the strikes which ended in March obtained settlements with the assistance of Government conciliators or labor boards, and 15 percent obtained settlements through direct negotiations between their union representatives and the employers. Eleven strikes were settled directly by the employers and unorganized workers, and four were settled with the assistance of private conciliators or arbitrators. As shown in table 6, there were 22 strikes which were terminated without any formal settlements. The workers involved in these strikes simply dropped their demands and returned to work without settlements, or they lost their jobs when the employers permanently discontinued operations or hired new workers to take the places of the strikers. Table 6.-Methods of Negotiating Settlements of Strikes Ending in March 1936 The results of the 157 strikes which ended in March are indicated in tables 7 and 8. The workers in approximately half of the strikes obtained substantially what they set out to gain. The workers in 24.8 percent of the strikes, including over half of the total number of workers, obtained partial gains or compromises as a result of their strike action, and the workers in 22.3 percent of the strikes gained very little, if anything. The information in table 8, which shows the relation between the results and the major issues involved, indicates that the workers met with a greater degree of success in the strikes over union organization matters than in those over wages and hours. They won 56 percent of the disputes over organization matters and 52 percent of the disputes over wages and hours; they lost 18 percent of the organization disputes and 27 percent of the wage and hour disputes; they compromised 26 percent of the first group and 21 percent of the latter. Table 7.-Results of Strikes Ending in March 1936 Table 8. Results of Strikes Ending in March 1936, in Relation to Major Issues URING May 1936, the Secretary of Labor, through the Con ciliation Service, exercised her good offices in connection with 93 disputes, which affected a known total of 61,064 employees. Of these disputes, 50 were adjusted, 3 were referred to other agencies, 2 were settled by the parties at interest, 4 could not be adjusted, and 34 were still pending. The table following shows the name and location of the establishment or industry in which the dispute occurred, the nature of the dispute (whether strike or lock-out, or controversy not having reached the strike or lock-out stage), the craft or trade concerned, the cause of the dispute, its present status, the terms of settlement, the date of beginning and ending, and the number of workers directly and indirectly involved. |