The trade unions of the glass workers abroad are more progressive, and their officials do not interfere with the manufacturers’ endeavours to increase efficiency and cheapen production by introducing machinery. The promotion of the workpeople goes by merit, and not by the dictation of the trade union officials, as is too often the case in this country. Here, very little sentiment or good-fellowship exists between the glass workers’ union and the employers, and in its place the rank officialdom of unionism has become so evident as to be a bar to the progress of the industry. Instead of assisting the progress of the trade, and mediating in cases of dispute, the union appears to exist as a buffer of antagonism between the glass workers and their employers. Many a capable youth in the glass trade here has been kept back from promotion to a better position solely by the dictation of the union to which the men belong. Cases are known where the union have restricted the workman’s output when he may be working under piece rate. The best inducements may have been offered him by the employer to increase his output, and, although the workman may be willing to accept the master’s terms, we find a union official stepping between them, and fixing the maximum number of the articles that shall be made in his six hour shift. Usually, this fixed quantity is got through in four hours, yet the workman is not allowed to make more than the stipulated number fixed by the union, or he is fined. Another incredible fact is that the employer here, when in need of a workman, is not allowed to choose his own men. He must apply to the union, and the man remaining longest on the society’s unemployed book is then sent to him. Whatever his inefficiency may be, the employer is bound to take him; if he employs anyone else, a strike results. Such action is despotic and shows up the worst features of trade unionism that can possibly be conceived. The English glass industry has been repeatedly disorganised by this obstinate attitude of the glass makers’ union, and a consequence is that the foreigner has seized the opportunity to step in and increase his market, to the detriment of our own trade; with this extended market, increased output, and cheaper production, the foreigner undersells us in our own country. It is to be hoped these adverse conditions will soon be remedied and the English glass industry restored to a more flourishing state by the prompt and united action of the men and masters, realising the gravity of the position and acting accordingly. ------------------------------------------------------------------------ APPENDIX JOURNALS AND BOOKS FOR REFERENCE “American Pottery Gazette.” (New York, U.S.A.) “Boswell’s Memoir on Sands Suitable for Glassmaking.” (Longmans, Green & Co., London.) “Pottery Gazette.” (Scott Greenwood, London.) “Sprechsaal.” (Coburg, Germany.)