Greymouth Evening Star. WEDNESDAY, SEPTEMBER 3, 1947. Britain’s Coal Troubles

Greymouth Evening Star, 3 September 1947, Page 6

Greymouth Evening Star. WEDNESDAY, SEPTEMBER 3, 1947. Britain’s Coal Troubles

doubt that the coal situation in Britain, already desperate enough before,. has become worse than ever since the introduction of the five-day week in June has been removed by Lord Hyndley, the chairman of the Coal Board, in his comments on the wave of strikes in Yorkshire. The trouble there arose from the prevalence of absenteeism and the existence of restrictive practices, which Coal Board officials have been endeavouring to eliminate. Disciplinary action was taken against a few of the worst offenders, and strike action followed as a protest, with the resultant loss of thousands of tons of coal output at a time when the country can least afford it. Recently the Minister of Fuel, Mr Shin-well,-gave a stern warning to absentees in the mining industry. The Minister referred to the minority who had formed the habit of working “one, two or three shifts a week” only, threatening that action was being taken to make sure that this practice stopped. It is clear .from this tone that the Government’s alarm at the sag in coal production which set in in the first week of June is deep and serious. But no less serious were the words used by a highly-placed official of the Northeastern Division of the Coal Board, when enlarging on the question of prosecuting the ringleaders of unofficial strikes. “It should be possible, by a system of interrogation, to track down and deal with the ringleaders,” lie said. “The ringleaders and all the undesirables in the coal industry must be weeded out and got rid of sacked. They are not wanted.” Such a statement from the mouth of a private employer would be denounced in unmeasured terms as a threat of “victimisation,” sufficient in itself to cause a strike. But does it become less formidable in its implicatibns from the lips of an executive of a great nationalised monopoly? There is still a “boss” in the coal industry. Little Effect

As a result of the Yorkshire strikes, Ministerial and trade union denunciations of unofficial strikes have been growing in vehemence but with little apparent effect on the situation generally. The miners say that they intend to proceed with their demands. An interesting background to the recent troubles in Yorkshire is provided by a-statement made in July by Mi J. A. Hall, president of that area -of the National Union of Mineworkers. He said that unconstitutional stoppages, some of which he described as “simply ridiculous,” were at that time costing nearly 40,000 tons of coal a week. A week later Mr Shinwell threatened to close Scottish pits, where “the men were obviously getting out of hand.” Many hundreds, of thousands of tons have been lost as the result of unofficial stoppages, and it is plain that there is no hope of achieving even the inadequate Government target of 200,000,0000 tons this year. Lord Hyndley mentioned recently that Britain needs not only more coal, but coal at a reasonable cost. His hopes that the higher cost of the five-day week would be offset by higher productivity are not being fulfilled. Everyone of the endless series of concessions granted to the miners in recent years, including the five-day week, and every rise in pay, have been followed by lower output. Obviously it is time they gave serious thought to delivering the goods. According to Lord Hyndley, Britain must have more coal and cheaper coal, or perish. If the present trends continue, she will perish. It -was only by the drastic reduction of absenteeism, the elimination of strikes and the removal of restrictive practices that the five-day week could hope to succeed. Unhappily all these elements of success are so far missing. And in. the meantime Britain prepares for another tough winter.