LABOUR TROUBLES.

Press, Volume LII, Issue 15612, 9 June 1916, Page 3

LABOUR TROUBLES.

THE LATEST MELBOURNE DIFFIOUX/TY. fraiOM OUR OWN CORBESFONDENT •") )> KY. May 31. At the beginning of April three storemen employed at tho establishment o Messrs Parsons Bros., wholesale and manufacturing grocers, Melbourne, were called out on strike because of the employers' refusal to pay them more wages. The firm said that the men were receiving in full the wages prescribed for them by a Wages Board award. The men's union, on the other hand, declared that technically the men could bo regarded as not covered by the award referred to, and that m any case their demand for more money was a iust one. The strike extended to othe? employees of the firm. _Ihen the report was circulated that this strike represented the first stages of operation of a pre-arranged scheme of bringing about all-round increases for men employed in certain sections of business houses bv first making an attack on a representative establishment of its class and forcing it to capitulate m view or competition by other houses m the same business, but' left alone _ for the time being by tho aggressor union. The Melbourne employers consulted over this and decided upon a new line or action in response. It "wa s decided afi a first step, that no other house should sell to retailers goods of the same kind.as were made and sold l>y Messrs Parsons Bros. Tho result was the throwing out of employment of fellowunionists of the Parsons Bros.' strikers. Of course, the public felt this. There was much bitter complaint by people about not being able to get c<fcoa, oatmeal, and numerous other things acquired for regular tise. The employers replied with references to the manv occasions on which the public had Deen hit by illogical strikes by employees, and asked consumers to assist by doing without things for a while in tho beating down of the strike plague. But unfortunately the end of the trouble is not yet in sight. Rather, it is developing seriously. According to messages just received from Melborrne, tho employers in their counter-attack upon unionism have decided to involve the iron industrv in Victoria t*> the extent that about 12,500 men altogether will be affected. The employers in justification of this imitation of union methods of extending the amount of- pressure on the other side, say that bhev are confident that a speedy settlement will he helped along by the throwing out of work of some ten thousand meu in the iron trade.