HUNTLY MINERS’ STRIKE

Press, Volume LXXXIV, Issue 25588, 1 September 1948, Page 4

HUNTLY MINERS’ STRIKE

COMMENT BY MR S. G. HOLLAND ‘FUNDAMENTAL WEAKNESS IN INDUSTRIAL LAW’ ‘(P.A.) WELLINGTON, August 31. “The continuation of the coal strike in the Waikato mines, with its huge loss of output and consequent dislocation of trade and production, 'brings out in bold relief a fundamental weakness in our industrial laws relating to the consideration and settlement of industrial troubles, the interpretation of awards, and matters in dispute,” said the Leader of the Opposition (Mr S. G. Holland) in a statement this evening. “The whole matter goes back to the many occasions when defiance of our labour laws and of the Government itself has yielded better results in the way of higher wages and shorter hours than have been achieved by negotiations through the machinery of industrial conciliation and arbitration,” said Mr Holland. “The fundamental weakness I have referred to is the very position obtaining at the Waikato coal mines to-day; namely, men working under Court awards or their equivalent, with provision for penalties for striking, can stay out on strike for several weeks and even months at immense cost and inconvenience to the general public and with the public powerless not only to do anything about it but also to understand what the dispute is about. “The first thing to remember is that these strikes are not disputes merely between employers and employees. These strikes are strikes against society, and society has the right to protection. Investigation of Facts “What is badly needed is that as soon as a strike breaks out a responsible authority in whom the public would have complete confidence should immediately visit the area concerned and conduct a thorough and Impartial investigation into the actual issues involved in the dispute. The findings of that authority should then be published for general information. The public is entitled to such information, as it has in the long run to meet the cost. “My view about industrial troubles is that public opinion plays an important part in the settlement of these troubles, and it will not have escaped the public notice that most of our more recent troubles have been settled as soon as public opinion was able to make itself felt. I doubt very much whether one person in 10 really knows why the miners are out on strike at the present time. “Some means must be found, and found quickly, of introducing machinery to expedite the investigation of disputes. Time must not be lost while the contending parties sit snarling at each other. Compulsory conferences should be convened as soon as strikes occur, and an independent finding by a properly constituted authority should be published at the earliest possible moment. Then a compulsory conference to determine the issue should follow soon afterwards, and any union, whether of employers or of workers, should be severely dealt with if it does not comply with the findings of the Court. Extension of Settled Principle “At the present time we have provisions for compulsory conciliation and compulsory arbitration, and my proposal really amounts to an extension of the same principle of compulsory conferences with a view to investigation and settlement. “I am only discussing the position as it exists in the Waikato to-day and I wish to emphasise that it has always been the settled policy of the National Party that an independently supervised secret ballot, with appropriate penalties for non-observance, should always precede any stoppage either by employer or by employee. “The most recent dispute, that concerning the Mountpark, was an example of one .which might easily have been nipped in the bud if an early investigation by a fact-finding authority such as I have suggested had been made when the trouble first loomed up.” MINES STILL IDLE STRIKERS SAID TO HAVE BEEN REBUFFED (P.A.) AUCKLAND, August* 31. Overtures tp the Minister of*Mines (Mr A. McLagan) by men on strike at the Macdonald, Glen Afton, and Pukemiro mines have been rejected, according to reports in Huntly. It is understood that the strikers’ proposals were that their claim should be recognised, that the Minister meet a delegation from the combined strike committee, and that the Controller of Mines (Mr C. H. Benney) visit Huntly to discuss the dispute. The authorities and the Northern Miners’ Union, which does not support the strike, are still hoping the strikers will, negotiate through the constitutional channels of the Waikato local disputes committee. A meeting of the combined strike committee to-da\ decided to call a meeting on Thursday of the three branches affected. It also decided to ask the national executive of the United Mineworkers’ Union to attend the meeting.