AMALGAMATED MINE WORKERS OF NOVA SCOTIA CONTINUED
On August 16, 1922, the union held an election of officers and a new arbitration board was formed which recommended a 15 cent-per-day increase. Unlike the strike of 1909, this strike was very peaceful with the miners remaining in their homes. Despite this, in an attempt to destroy the unity that the miners had achieved, the Company asked that the militia be brought in. The press reported that 1,200 of His Majesty's Cavalry had been dispatched to Cape Breton and machine gun nests were set up around No. 2 Colliery.

Dan Livingstone and J.B. McLachlan were asked by Premier George Murray and Roy Wolvin to accompany them to Montreal for further negotiations. Some headway was made, some of the troops were withdrawn, maintenance men were allowed to enter the mines to prevent flooding and two mediators were appointed. A new agreement came about; the men received an increase as previously offered but the contract men were brought up to the Glace Bay rates by an increase of 52 cents per day.

The eight-month strike was over and the men returned to work with an 18% wage cut from the 1921 rates. It was said that the wage schedule was accepted under the muzzles of rifles, machine guns and the gleaming bayonets with further threatened invasion of troops and warships. The miners, facing hunger, and with their Dominion and Provincial governments lined up with Besco, were forced to accept the proposals.

In July 1923, Cape Breton miners went on a political strike, angered by the lavish use of armed force in the industrial area. For their part in promoting the sympathetic strike, miners' president Dan Livingstone and secretary-treasurer J.B. McLachlan were arrested and jailed. Shortly afterward, the International Union under the leadership of John L. Lewis deposed the entire union executive and took away the district's autonomy. No strike fund was received from the International and A.S. McIntyre was left in charge.

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