THE STEWARDS' STRIKE.

Auckland Star, Volume LII, Issue 21, 25 January 1921, Page 4

THE STEWARDS' STRIKE.

If the reports from Sydney that the stewards' strike is at an end are correct the strike lias followed the melancholy cycle of many of its predecessors. The men went on strike to gain certain ends. They preferred taking this direct action to using , the machinery that the State provides for settling industrial disputes. They were out on strike for weeks, and their action threw idle scores of ships and thousands of men, and dislocated traffic along the Australian coast, and between Australia and New Zealand. The lass in wages, both direct and indirect, must be very heavy. All the. time the men's leaders kept announcing that tht; men would not c;' y e in until they had got what they wanted. A fortnight ago the secretary of the union declared that they were "prepared to stick out for six months," and a week ago the I'nion leaders said they were "never more in earnest." Yet to-day we arc informed tliHt the men have decided to go back to work. The previous declarations were merely Mull'; the only chance of success lay in the owners giving way, and the. owners stood firm. The men's position today appears to be precisely what it was before they went on strike. They go back to work, ujid their demands will be considered iby some conference or tribunal just as they might have been il there had been no strike. The men havo gained nothing, and have lost much, and the community has been subjected to loss and exasperating inconvenience. This sorry affair stands as a lesson on the folly of strikes. But perhaps the worst feature of it is that it does not stand alone. Time after time Labour has pre tented itself with the same lcason, but bos never twe.ri able or willing to learn thoroughly that the strike weapon i.-t a very dangerous one to take up, and that its successful use is possible only where the men have the backing of public sympathy in prosecuting their claims. This may and does occur under certain

conditions, but the stewards were not even supported whole-heartedly by tlioir fellow employees.