MINERS’ STRIKE IN WAIKATO

Press, Volume LXXXVI, Issue 26126, 31 May 1950, Page 6

MINERS’ STRIKE IN WAIKATO

SPECIAL COMMITTEE TO HEARDISPUTE ANNOUNCEMENT BY MINISTER (New Zealand Association) DUNEDIN, May 30. “In view of the fact that the men involved in the Huntly district mines stoppage are unwilling to refer the dispute to their own disputes committee. it has been decided to set up a special committee.” said the Minister of Mines (Mr W. Sullivan) in a statement to-night on the colliery strike in the Waikato coalfields, in which nearly 1500 miners from six underground and five open-cast mines are affected.

Mr Sullivan said that the special committee would inquire immediately into the merit of the claim and would advise him whether or not the amount involved would be paid. “The amount in dispute is trivial, and there is no great principle at stake,” he added. It is expected that the committee will sit to-morrow.

An Auckland message says that the decision to strike was made yesterday. There has been no official statement as to the cause of the dispute, but it is said to concern a trucker’s hours of work and involves the payment of 7s 9d. The miners apparently claim that the trucker was working under conditions where he would be affected by noxious gases and would therefore automatically be entitled to a shorter working shift. The trucker worked the short shift and claimed payment for full time. It is reported that this was not paid, the difference being 7s 9d. It is known that the miners believe they have a strong case and that it is not necessary to open negotiations. However, the executive of the Northern Miners’ Union will probably review the situation if circumstances alter.

Many of Auckland’s smaller industries will be silent within a week unless the supplies of Waikato coal can be maintained. The last consignments until the mines resume arrived to-day. Merchants hold good stocks of South Island coal, which they expect to be rushed. Most big industrial plants in the city can use either Waikato or South Island coal, but many small industries have furnaces which can take Waikato, fuel only. The Kings Wharf power station is using all the Waikato coal it can get, but with a daily consumption of more than 400 tons it cannot get enough. It is now taking South Island supplies direct from the colliers into the furnaces.

There are several days’ supplies of both kinds of coal at the railway yards in Auckland. As the locomotives burn either Waikato or South Island coal no cut in railway time-tables is expected. aviost Aucklartd freezing works can adapt their plants to South Island coal.