MINING INDUSTRY

Evening Post, Volume CII, Issue 36, 11 August 1921, Page 8

MINING INDUSTRY

NO LOCAL AGREEMENTS

ATTETUDE OF FEDERATION,

In tire coarse of a letter which he has forwarded to Mr. T, 0. Bishop, actingsecretary of the Coal-mine Owners' Asso •ciatiori, Mr. J. Arbuckfe, secretary of the Miners' Federation, repeats a request tor a conference between the representative of the owners and the federation tor, the propose of making a new national agreement to' govern the conditions of iwork in the coal-mining industry. On behalf of the federation, Mr. Arbucfcle reiterates, that the miners are averse to entering into local agreements as suggested by the owners. Mr.' ArbuckVs letter is as follows :— \ "In reply to your letter of the 6th inst., in, which you state that-'the Owners' Association have no wish to crush the Miners' Federation, or bring about separation of the different unions,' this ■statement does not appear bo me to be a conscientious one, seeing that for years "'c Owmerrf Association refused to recognise the Miners' Federation, and that it .mot until 1917 that they were really compelled to do so. Further, you have not made any definite statement or objection mi regard to tha national agreement. The miners of the Dominion are fully •convinced, that the matters set out in the national agreement are absolutely lessential to all mines. "You Say that your association's in-, tentions are misunderstood. That may be so, but to us there seeme to be no room for any misunderstanding as to the oWners' intentions and objects. We ate at the present time working -under a nationalagreement.entered into between Ww Cbal Owners' Association and the Miners! Federation and the Government, and this agreement must remain in forco until' superseded by another one. Your association washes ■ to revert' to local; agreements. I again' have to ask the question: What for? You say the national agreement is not satisfactory: we, on the other hand, say it is most .satisfactory, and I will be pleased if you will state to the public of New Zealand, through the press, which clauses of the national agreement your association takes'.exception' to, and which of them are not working with the greatest success in all collieries. If you have strong objections to this national n&ent then, surely, your objections will Btandthe light of day, and if yon are sincere in them, I ask you to give the public the chance of ju&ging whettjfer your association is right or otherwise. I should like to draw yew attention to tfie fact that seamen, watersiders, drivers, and several other industries, are covered by national agreements, and the oon3itions prevailing i,o those industries are not nearly so closely allied as that 6i thft mining industry. If it is necessary and right for tho» industries to be covered by national agreements, then I fail to see how you can deny the roinere tli« same right. " You again suggest a meeting between your president and yourself along witli the president and secretary of our organisation, and that it is -purely for the purpose of clearing away any misunderstanding as far as local agreements are concerned. If you are prepared to maet us to consider any reasons why the national agreement should not remain in force, then we will be only too pleased to meet you on these grounds. But the miners'of this country fully understand their position and the meaning of sectional agreements; therefore there is no misunderstanding, as far as. we are con-, cerned; and I must reiterate my former statement that such a meeting as sug-, gested by you, would be fruitless and would serve no good purpose, and I again' repeat the request for a • conference to settle the present unrest in the mining industry by entering into a national agreement for a further term." CONCILIATIdN COUNCIL' PROCEEDINGS. ' ■ : An application by the coal-owners for a local agreement relating' to 'the mines in the Westland district has been set down for hearing by a Council of Conciliation at Reefton on 16th August. Mr. W. Newton, Conciliation Commissioner, will leave Wellington, en route for ,Reefton, to-night, to preside over the council meeting. Similar proceedings regarding the mines in Otago were'instituted in Dunedin a few days ago, but no assessors for the miners appeared.