DENNISTON'S DECISION

Evening Post, Volume XCVI, Issue 43, 19 August 1918, Page 8

DENNISTON'S DECISION

WORK. OF THE FEDERATION.

Two motions carried, at the st6p:w'ork neeting held by the Denniston Miners' Onion last week were: —

(1) This largely attended meeting of .ho Denriiston Miners' Union wishes to contradict'the statement of ' the Coalowners' Association in which they allege that the present demand for 20 pel- cent, increase in wages was initiated, by a few prominent officers of the ■ Coalminers' Federation, and that -the said demand does not_ express the desires of the rank and file. We desire- to.give full publicity to the fact that the present demand for a 20 per cent, increase was decided upon by a representative conference of the whole of the affiliations" of; the Miners' Federation, held in -Wellington in December last, and was.': 1 the outcome of remits tabled by several of the unions represented, who have since been urging the federation officers to carry out the conference instructions. '^.. .. (2) The Denniston Miners' Union wishes-to place on record the entire confidence of-the^Coatainers' Federation officers, and" expresses -its-appreciation of i he.'able aS3'JbusiHess:like manner in which theyhave^repared the miners' case in support-of the demand for a2O per cent, increase. As practical men, we know that our case is built; on sound a-nd just lines, and we demand that it receive consideration; and "respect. We also desire to contradict baseless-statements that have been, circulated, to the effect that the federation;' officers. ' are continually travelling the 1 -country with the object of engineering strifes and industrial unrest among the; coal miners. We wish it to be clearly nnderstood that the constitution of the Miners' Federation, together with the federation' officers, have prevented number? of small spontaneous strikes, and have thus saved the community from untold discomfort and misery, for which the federation officers deserve the respect of..the" whole"6f"tKel' cbitfrriunity"arid"'not" the censure that is hurled at them by the capitalistic class. ■