HIGHER WAGES WANTED

Press, Volume XCIII, Issue 28002, 23 June 1956, Page 9

HIGHER WAGES WANTED

Stopwork Meetings In Australia (N.Z. Press Association—Copyright) (Rec. 11 p.m.) MELBOURNE, June 22. The Australian Council of Trade Unions today ordered national stopwork meetings involving a million workers. The council is pressing for a higher basic wage and cost-of-living adjustments. A special congress meeting in Melbourne adopted the stop work resolution by 174 votes to 168. This is the first time in the council’s 29 years’ history that it has ordered stopwork meetings for workers in every industry. The council’s inter-state executive will decide when the meetings will be held. When they come they will bring the whole country to a standstill.

The council’s decision covers all its 97 affiliated unions, which have a total membership of more than 1,000,000 workers. The proposal to stop work was first declared lost on voices when put to the vote, but several delegates jumped to their feet and demanded a division.

The council’s inter-state executive had submitted to the congress a threepoint plan on wages, but did not refer specifically to stopwork meetings.

The national stoppage move came from the South Australian Trades and Labour Council, and in debate did not receive the support of the inter-state executive. The present plan is for the stoppage to be simultaneous throughout Australia.

Today’s congress resolution condemns the Arbitration Court for making the latest basic wage increase only 10s and for “failing to recognise the need for an increased standard wage to meet the present high costs.”