COMMUNISTS TRY TO SAVE FACE IN QUEENSLAND

Greymouth Evening Star, 7 April 1948, Page 5

COMMUNISTS TRY TO SAVE FACE IN QUEENSLAND

SYDNEY, April 6. “The Communists, hoping to save face after their humiliating defeat in the Queensland strike, are trying to suggest that wage increases were gained by the strike,” says the Brisbane correspondent of the Sydney 1 Morning Herald. “This is not true. , The facts speak for themselves, and | reveal a deliberate attempt by the | Communists to hoodwink the strikers. “The strikers will return to work i on the same wages and conditions as before the dispute began. They must now apply to the Industrial Court for increases of 16s for skilled tradesmen, 13s for semi-skilled men, and 7s for labourers, which they were seeking before February 2. “They have been told by the Government that it will not oppose in the court increases of 12s 4d, 9s and 7s for these classes. The higher rate of 12s 4d had been promised by the Government as long ago as December 16, six weeks before the strike began, but I the men were never informed of the I promise. The Communist-dominated disputes committee then advised the men to strike, for the first the rank and file knew of the offer was when a fascimile of the letter containing the original offer was published in a Brisbane paper on March 4.” E. J .Rowe, a member of the central committee of the Communist Party, who on March 25 was fined £6O and ordered to be kept in gaol until further orders after he had been found guilty of gross contempt in interfering with a ballot conducted by the Queensland Industrial Court, yesterday paid the fine. It is now open for Rowe to apologise to the court and submit that he has purged his contempt. Rowe disappeared after the sentence was announced but was arrested and imprisoned later. In Newcastle, members of the Amalgamated Engineering Union employee at Broken Hill Proprietary and Lysaghts, have demanded Rowe’s resignation as a member of the union’s I Federal council.