LABOUR DISPUTES.

Press, Volume LIX, Issue 17808, 6 July 1923, Page 10

LABOUR DISPUTES.

BRITISH DOCKERS' STRIKE. NEW ZEALAND SHIPS DELAYED. IST CABLI—rSBSS ASSOCIAMOS—COPTBIOHX.) (AUSTRALIAN AND E.Z. CASUS ASSOCIATION.) (Received July oth. 7.30 p.m.) LONDON, July 4. Thirty thousand dockers are now idle, of whom Ii.OOO are in London. The Corinthic and the Pakeha are waiting in the Royal Albert Dock to take in large cargoes for New Zealand. A number of heavy vans with pianos and other goods for Auckland are standing at the dock pafe?s, the horses having been taken away. Incoming ships from New Zealand and Australia, with meat and other foodstuffs, are also lying idle. The general impression is that the strike will not last long, as the men aro not receiving strike pay. A feature of the strike is the activity of a number of young men who. without any authority, have appointed themselves strike leaders. The dock and shipping companies, thus far, hare made no efiorb to engage alternative labour. The transport workers carrying meat and other perishable goods aro being pressed to join the strike in sympathy with the dockers, but the union loaders decline, saying that the transport workers' policy is to honour the agreement. The workers at Smitbfield and Covent Garden markets ore also being urged to strike. » The docks at a standstill are tht Royal Albert, the King George V., the. East India, the Victoria, the Surrey Commercial, and the West India Decks, but the St. Katharine's and London Docks are not affected, and the stoppages at Tilbury Dock are only partial. The Manchester and Salt'ord dockers have decided to strike to-morrow. A mass meeting at Newcastle of 5000 dockers broke up in disorder. Five officials of the Transport Workers' Union endeavoured to address the meeting, but were not allowed to be heard. [Other New Zealand ships affected by the strike are the Kaikoura, Hurunui, Karanga, Mania, and Port Nicholson, all with' full cargoes of meat and other produce from the Dominion. Tho ports affected besides London include Bristol, Avonmouth, Hull, and Portishead. The cause of the stxike i& that under the national agreement wages were reduced by one. shilling a day from last Monday owing to the fall in the cost of living. The men however, dispute the Board of .Trade figures, and have struck in defiance of the union leaders, who strongly urge the men to honour the agreement made in their name.]

CUMBERLAND MINERS' STRIKE. SERIOUS RIOTING AT WHITEHAVEN. / (SXXTTEB'a TEXSOBAHB.) V LONDON, July 4. There were riotous scenes at Whitehaven (Cumberland) in connexion with. a colliery strike, in which 25CIQ workers are involved. The strikers smashed the ■windows of the company's buildings, burned the manager's motor-car, and attempted to break the police cordon. The police drew their batons and cleared the street. Many rioters sustained injuries before order was restored. Later. The Rioting was renewed at Whitehaven. The miners attacked the colliery offices and stoned the police. Subsequently they sacked tha shop windowa in the principal streets and set fire to tlie fire brigade station smdl wrecked the police station. The police quelled the fire and cleared the etreeta by baton charges. .Twenty-one police and €0 rioters and onlookers were injured. Police reinforcements are arriving.

NOVA SCOTIA STRIKE. MINERS SUPPORT STEEL WORKS OTTAWA, July 4, Sydney (Nova Scotia) reports that 8000 miners struck in sympathy with the striking eteel workers, making 10,000 strikers in the Cape Breton district. The owners have been given a few hours to remove horses from the ooal pits, when the pumping staS will leave. The minora threaten to remain idle until GOO Federal troopa and provincial police are removed. The warship Wistaria has arrived in the harbour. There has been spasmodic rioting, but 6o far nothing serious has occurred. [A message from Sydney, Nova Scotia, last week, said that 4QGQ workers in the employ of the British Etnpira Steel Corporation had struck for a 30 per cent, increase in wages, an eighthour day, and the cheek system for the collection of union dues. The strikers. attempted a raid on the company's works, and a bitter fight with tha police, lasting two hours, followed. Troops from Halifax quelled the riot.]