Aust, labour unrest

Press, Volume CXII, Issue 32879, 30 March 1972, Page 11

Aust, labour unrest

(N.Z. Preu Association—Copyright)

SYDNEY, March 29. The powerful Australian Council of Trade Unions has been urged to arrange national industrial action unless a significant wage increase is handed down in the national wage case, and observers say that this could mean a national stoppage.

The action was advocated today at a combined union rally in the Sydney town hall which had been preceded by a march through the city by more than 3000 unionists. Organised by the New South Wales Labour Council, it was easily the largest rally in Sydney in recent years. Hie waterfront and building projects throughout the city came to a halt when workers declared a half-day stoppage to attend. At the rally, the unions made it clear that they wanted a decision in the national wage case to be handed down within 14 days. The Commonwealth Arbitration Commission last week reserved its decision on the A.C.T.U.’s claims for a $12.50-a-week rise, a minimum wage of $7O, and the reintroduction of quarterly cost-of-living adjustments. The state labour council’s acting secretary, Mr J. P. Ducker, said that living standards would be reduced, and industrial unrest increased, unless the unions won a significant rise in wage levels.

had been allocated to capital, and that worker’s living standards had been reduced, he added. Speakers at the rally also criticised the Federal Government over the increasing number of unemployed people in Australia.

If the A.C.T.U.’s claims were rejected by the court, it would mean that a greater share of the national wealth