OWNERS BLAMED

Evening Post, Volume C, Issue 86, 8 October 1920, Page 8

OWNERS BLAMED

STATEMENT BY MINERS' FEDERATION UNION* TO DECIDE FUTURE COURSE OF ACTION. A full st"tereent, made, to-day by Mr. .7. Ai'bnckle, secretary of the Miners' Federation, emphasises tha fact that the (iisp'are is a national one, and that the future conrsa of action must be decided l\y the unions associated with the Federation. Mr. Arbuckle said :— "In malting this statement to the press, my wish is to place the full facts before the public in regard to the Pukemiro coalmine lock-out, and in doing so it is neces-. sary for me to go back to the time when the Rotowaro and Pukamiro Union* struck against the travelling conditions and fares charged for travelling from Huntly to Pukemiro and Eotowaro, and demanded the same rates and conditions as those granted the State miners. THE HOUSING CONDITIONS. "Most people do not understand the conditions that force the men to travel from Huntly if they wish, to ■work at Pukemiro or Rotowaro. In tihle case oS Rotowaro, there are somia 230 men. working there, and fifteen houses for them to live in, so that if the mine is to work, the men must live in Huntly, a distanctf of six miles. The tram leaves Huntly at ten minutes to 7 in tha morning, and returns at 5.15 at night, so that the men are away from home ai matter of eleven hours a day. At Pukemiro there ane a number of houses and shacks, which are referred to by the Board of Trade, unfit for human habitation. The board condemns the whole sanitation of the town. Notwithstanding this, the whole of the houses and shacks are overcrowded, and some sixty men have to travel from Huntly under the same conditions as the men at Eotowaro. When th© wants of the. men were placed .before Mr. Alison, he agreed that something ought to be done, and stated he would do his best to'get the Government to meet the men's demands. When the position was placed before the Prime Minister, he stated' that the men had a, grievance, but.he.considered that it was the companies who should meet the cost. Now, the owner in one instance admits the men's case is just, and the Prime Minister aim admits it, but one thinks the other should stand the cost. ' The m«> gist the usual justice—abuse from the owners. Government, and press for daring to fipht for what it is admitted they are entitled to. AN ALLEGED LOCK-OUT. "Whsn the men abandoned the strike over the railway issue, the Pukemiro men returned to work on the Monday, but found the gates locked, and wero told that the wngine-drivers must get out of the Miners' Union before they would ba allowed to start. The union placed the position before the engine-drivers, ■who left tlio matter in tho hands of the union, and oil a ballot being taken it, was decided that the men should remain in the union. Now, I must make this clear: the engine-drivers ha.ye always" been members of the Miners' Union and aro provided for in their' agreements and in thu preference clause. When thistrouhio was first started, Mr. Q'Urien, the federation executive member "for the North Island, went to Pukemiro, and .. placod the proposal before tho manager, also the director (Mr.- Wight), that the mine start, at once and that the .mat-, ter be dealt with by the Disputes Committee, as provided for in the national agreement. This they refused, and therefore tho lockout continued, and the dispute was sent along to the federation. I then got into touch with Mr. Pryor. and after we had discussed the matter it was agreed that we both get into , touch witb our people and try and

arrange for the men to start work at once [oxs Thursday moxning). "attempt to smash federa- "'■-:.". ;. tion." "These terms were agreed to by the Executive of the Coal Owners' Federation on Wednesday' or Tuesday night, and the secretary of the union was wired to this effect on Wednesday, when it was decided to take a secret ballot on the question. Owing to the men being scattered in Huntly and Pukemiro, it was found impossible to get the result before two! o'clock to-day, but a wire was received from Mr. O'Brien, stating that there was' ho doubt as to the result of the ballot, and that they would be agreeable to accept the terms. This was conveyed to Mr. Pryor and the Owners' Executive, before they came to the decision to withdraw the terms agreed upon' and resubmit the demand that the Miners' Union and Federation enter into an agreement, which 'they are not going to do. The matter is now a fight between the federation and the owners, and the Owners' Executive have decided to break the national agreement preference clause, also the ■ disputes- clause and force a fight. This confirms the statement that I have made a hundred, times that it is an organised attempt on the owners' part to try and smash the Miners' Federation by keeping disputes going and refusing to keep to the national agreement. It also clearly points out. that although they agreed with me that the mine should start and that the matter should be settled by the Disputes Committee, they had no intention of carrying it out, because they refused the offer in the first place, and when they were sure of the men agreeing to it in the second place they withdrew it. THE FUTURE POLICY. " I cannot say what will be done by the unions in the matter at present. I am wiring each union to hold a 'stopwork ' meeting next Wednesday, when they will have received a circular stating the facts of the case. There are four questions, or four different ways of settling the dispute. One is to accept the -owners' terms; two, that we finance tho Pukemiro Ujiion as suggested oy the executive memb2r for the North; three, to declare the mine black and assist the men away, and let the owners work it themselves; four, all unions to fight the matter out by united action.

"So far as I am concerned, I cannot 'support the first two,' and I do not think the unions will do so. The third one I think should be adopted, because the owners have locked the gates against the men, and I think'they should remain locked in such a manner as to require a greater force than the company have to reopen them. On the other hand, seeing that tho fight is between the executive of the coal owners and the federation, and the owners are trying to force a fight, perhaps it will be best to let it come first as last, but it will be for the unions to decide on Wednesday next. I understand that Mr. Hally visited the district in connection with this dispute,, and I think the report of his visit should be made known,"and that he should state who is. n\ the'wrong—the owners or the miners."