MINE-OWNERS AND STRIKE

Press, Volume LXXVIII, Issue 23746, 18 September 1942, Page 4

MINE-OWNERS AND STRIKE

STATEMENT BY PRESIDENT A denial of the suggestion that the Waikato coal strike was the result of an attempt on the part of the New Zealand Coal Mine-Owners’ Association to abolish the minimum wage clause in the agreement was made in a statement issued to “The Press” last evening by Mr'C.,C. Davis, president of the association. “Statements are being circulated to the effect that the strike is the result of an attempt by the owners’ association to abolish the make-up ov the minimum wage clause in the agreement,” he said. “I wish to make an emphatic denial of this. No suggestion to this effect has ever been made to the association, nor has it ever been discussed ki any shape or form. As a matter of fact the present Waikato strike had started before the association became aware that any dispute existed. The matter is, of course, now entirely in the Government’s hands, but I can say that the Waikato mines are ready to renew work immediately the men return. They have been ready to do so each day since the dispute arose.”