MINERS' GRIEVANCE

Evening Post, Volume 91, Issue 91, 15 October 1923, Page 8

MINERS' GRIEVANCE

LOADING OF TRUCKS

LIMITATION OF 13CWT.

A new grievance in respect to the weighing of coal at the Pukemiro Colliery is complained of by the Pukemiro Miners' Union.

Every since the commencement of operations at the colliery, it is stated, the company has imposed a.limit of 13cwf on the skips filled by the miners, though the skips are capable of holding 14cwt and more. Some weeks ago the Mines Department prosecuted the managing director and the colliery manager for failing to allow the check-weighman reasonable facilities for weighing coal, and also for failing to pay the miners for the whole of the coal hewn by them, and a fine of £5 Is was inflicted. The colliery manager subsequently informed the secretary of the union, according to a statement received by the secretary of the Miners' Federation, that coal would be weighed, but that the company would not pay for anything over 13cwt. It is stated that for seven or eight years past the miners have been putting on the skips as much as they would reasonably hold, and that the company has never protested against their being too heavily loaded, and is now trying to force the miners to fill the skips with a less amount of coal than previously. In order to restrict the amount of loaded coal, wooden bars are being erected over the trucking roads m such a manner that coal heaped abave the level oT the sides of the skips is brushed off. The Pukemiro Miners' Union is protesting against this action as an injustice, and contends that, while the West Coast miners have been locked out for allegedly going- slow and reducing output, the mineowners are guilty of restricting output at Pukemiro and reducing the miners' wages. " Where you could put 13cwt on the skip before, it is stated, " with these bars erected you can barely get 12cwt, clearly showing that on an output of 26 Bkips per day the miner is losing 26cwt of coal, because the supply of skips is limited; we can get no more ships today when we are only allowed to put 12cwt in what we could when -we were allowed to put 13cwt in."