Beginning in early October, the workers of the Trenartha Tin Plate Works, which lies on the border between England and Wales, have been on strike. It is now February 7th, and the company executives are gathered at the house of Francis Underwood, the manager of the works, sitting around the long table in his dining room, which they are using as a boardroom. At the head of the table is the company chairman and founder, John Anthony, an autocratic old man with thick, white hair. Also at the table are Edgar Anthony, John’s thirty-year-old son; Oliver Wanklin and William Scantlebury, two of the directors; Oliver Tench, the company secretary; and Francis Underwood. Frederic Wilder, another director, stands in front of the fireplace and complains about the heat. Underwood gets up to fetch him a screen, remarking ironically as he does so that they are “not accustomed to complaints of too much fire down here just now.”

Underwood is referring to the desperate conditions in which the striking workers are living. Edgar Anthony reads aloud part of an editorial from the local newspaper, which expresses the opinion that if the directors in London could see for themselves how the men were suffering, “even their leg-of mutton hearts” would be touched. Wilder, who is not sympathetic to the strikers, points out that the directors have come up from London precisely to see the situation in Trenartha for themselves. Tench reads the minutes of the last board meeting, held the previous week at the company’s London office, during which they resolved to visit Trenartha to discuss the dispute with the union. Wilder thinks they may have been mistaken in agreeing to talk to the strikers and reminisces about how his father dealt with workers who wanted to shoot him in 1869. He did not back down and instead wound up shooting one of them in the leg.

The situation is complicated by the fact that the labor union is not backing the strikers. The directors expected the workers to cave in quickly because of this lack of support, but their leader, David Roberts, whom Wilder calls a “fanatical firebrand,” persuaded them to persist. The strike has now been going on since October, and Wilder thinks it may last for another six months, causing serious financial damage to the company. John Anthony is adamant that they must not compromise, but Edgar is concerned that the workers are suffering. The other directors are more worried about the company’s declining share price and accuse Edgar of sentimentality. However, they also think the chairman’s stubborn refusal to give any ground may also harm the company. Wanklin tells him: “We’re with you in theory, Chairman. But we’re not all made of cast-iron.” As they argue, Edgar mentions that David Roberts made a discovery that earned £100,000 for the company, though they only paid him £700 for it.

Simon Harness, the union leader, comes into the room and sits down beside John Anthony. He says that the strikers are fundamentally in the right; the union only refused support for the strike because some of their demands “are in excess of current rates.” If they drop these demands, which he thinks they will, the union will back them. He refers bitterly to the luxurious lifestyles of the directors, with their “motor-cars, and champagne, and eight-course dinners,” and says that the interests of workers and employers are fundamentally opposed. The directors will only pay as much as the men force them to pay.

David Roberts comes into the room with four of the other workers. Underwood invites them to sit down...