NOT TO BE TOLERATED

Evening Post, Volume CXXX, Issue 3, 3 July 1940, Page 6

NOT TO BE TOLERATED

The serious view taken by the Prime Minister and the Minister of Mines of the stoppage of work at the Liverpool State coal mine will be shared by the public. At any time interference with production, particularly production of an essential commodity, is a serious matter;" at the present time, when it is vital that all the energies of the nation should be concentrated on one object, it cannot be tolerated. The statement of the Minister of Mines, published today, makes it clear that the dismissal which has resulted in the stoppage of work was fully justified. It is clear, also, that the Government, through the Minister of Mines and Mr. O'Brien, the Labour member for Westland, gave the union every opportunity of having its case investigated. That being so, there can be no excuse for the action of the union in demanding that the man should be reinstated and paid for the time lost or of the members of the union in refusing to work until the demand is granted. In recent months the Government has made a genuine effort to bring about a better understanding between employers and employees in the coal industry, but what has happened at the Liverpool mine indicates that, in the case of one section of the jworkers at least, there is still Slacking that spirit of co-opera-tion on which it was hoped that the improved understanding would be based. In the absence of that spirit of co-operation, the Government has no alternative but to- put into operation the wide powers it possesses to deal effectively with industrial disputes. Tile Government is assured of full public support for any steps it considers necessary to enforce the law. In view of the existing shortage of coal and the vital importance of the coal industry in the general war effort, those steps should be prompt and effective.