EGGSHELL PROMISES.

Bruce Herald, Volume LIII, Issue 74, 20 September 1917, Page 4

EGGSHELL PROMISES.

MINERS BREAK SOLEMN PACI

216 STRIKES IN SEVEN MONTHS. / Nothing could be more solemn than the agreement entered into between the coal miners and proprietors last December (says the Sunday Times of August 26), and nothing more flagrant than its violation by the miners. The compact provides that: There shall be a period of industrial peace in the shale and coal mining industry throughout the Commonwealth for three years from -January 1, 1917, and such further time as the present European war may contiuuc. The agreement received the imprimatur of Mr Justice Edmunds, who was appointed Special Commissioner uud'er the War Precautions Act to settle the dispute between tlie parties relating to the question of eight 'hours from bank to bank. It was provided that: No employer or employee, and no combination, association or unioli of employers or employees, and no' other person, shall do any act or thing destroying or tending to destroy the peace of the industry during the said period. ' < MORE: IN THE BREACH.'' But, in spite of these pledges, the .miners Jiavc in concert gone out on strike in all mines in the State over a question affecting the railway and tramway workshops. That is how they have kept their agreement with Mr Justice Edmunds and the mine owners His Honor's award, granting the eight * o fc> o hours from bank to bank, and also other concessions to the miners, was gazetted on December 19 last. The ink on the agreement was scarcely dry when a strike occurred at one mine, and then at another, till a great number of them were successively laidMdle. It is true that the strikes were sporadic in character, but in the sum they did great injury to the business interests of the colliery proprietors. The strikes have been so frequent, and were declared on such flimsy pretexts, that the colliery proprietors believe them to be part of a set scheme to reduce output. On the Northern fields 81 strikes occurred, and in the Southern 135. The total of 216 stoppages during the first seven or eight months of the three years' peace has meant a* reduced .output to the extent of 214,500 tons.

PRETEXTS FOR STOPPAGES. The Burwood Colliery was stopped for a day, the men stating that this was the quickest way of getting their grievance dealt with, although the board, which was always ready and willing to hear any case the men brought before it, had appointed a day to hear their claims. The men at Rhondda Colliery adopted the same barefaced expedient, although they had not filed any claim at all. But. perhaps the most ingenious and flimsiest ground for a strike was that advanced by some of the employees at the Aberdare Extended mine. The top hands took a day off because they thought the westerly winds would be too strong, and there would be too much dust. At the Bell Bird mine a strike, occurred because one union threatened ■to call the men out if a particular man was employed, and another union made the same threat if the man was not employed. PLEASANT AND UNPLEASANT. The Southern Collieries have been most prolific of broken promises by the miners. At South Clifton no fewer than 48 strikes occurred; at North Bulli, 17; at Mount Kcmbla, 15; Mount Pleasant justifying its name by having the minimum of unpleasantness — one strike. The loss of output in the South was 94,500 tons—a quantity which would be most welcome in Sydney during the present general stoppage of the mines. This record of 21G strikes in a period of seven months in the collieries of New South Wales, the chief centre of supply for Australia, constitutes the most shameless flouting- of the Arbitration Laws that has occurred iu this or any other part of 'the world.' In their essence reduced output aud the go-slow methods of LW.'W.-ism are one and the same thing.