Sporadic Strikes Continue In Australian Mines

Greymouth Evening Star, 18 August 1949, Page 5

Sporadic Strikes Continue In Australian Mines

SYDNEY, This Day (Rec. 1 p.m.). —The secretary of the Combined Colliery Proprietors’ Association, Mr R. W. Davis, said that a code of discipline, rigidly enforced, would be necessary if the coal industry were to overtake the production losses caused by the strike. ■He added that, though the miners had been back at work three days, 8400 tons of coal had been lost during that period by avoidable and utterly unnecessary strikes. Three mines went on strikfe yesterday on the purely selfish issue of whether oi’ not the miners would ' receive their customary free ton of coal each week before others were served. The colliery proprietors, recognising the urgent needs of the community for coal, recommended that mine employees should not receive household coal for a month after the resumption of work. ' Normally, the miners receive about 8000 tons of coal monthly. Australian Labour Party observers on the coalfields believe that Communists are running sporadic strikes to keep production' down. They say that the Communists are behind the present disputes concerning miners' household coal. Canberra correspondents say that Federal Ministers are watching the miners’ behaviour closely for sign of a deliberate plan to defeat the Government aim of establishing adequate coal stocks.