UNIONS’ STRIKE
munitions Factory NON-MEMBERS’ ATTITUDE AFFILIATION REFUSED (By TeieKranh —Press Assn.—OopvriitM..> SYDNEY, July 17. Twelve non-unionists working in a privately - controlled Government munitions annexe have decided to "place production before principle" and s.eeic release from their employmem. Tire refusal of these nonunionists. nine of them women, to join the union led to a strike, which has lasted nine weeks and involves four unions.
The strike has caused a loss of wages totalling £33,000 and in man houis about 250.000—equivalent to 116 men working for more than one year. In a joint statement the nonunionists said the company told them that it feared the Federal Government would heed the requests of the "lawbreaking unions" and take from the company contracts which it held and distribute them elsewhere.
The steps taken by the authorities to settle this strike have been the subject of wide criticism. "To-day. we celebrate the victorious advance towards a trade union State." says the Sydney Daily Telegraph in an editorial. “The closing of this annexe ended an attempt to affirm the right of all men and women to decide for themselves whether they should join a union or not. The struggle has established this principle —when the law of Parliament and the law of Trades Hall secretariat conflict. trade union law is supreme. A few more such victories of the trade union over national law and Parliamnet House at Canberra will become a quaint anachronism."
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Bibliographic details
Gisborne Herald, Volume LXX, Issue 21150, 19 July 1943, Page 4
Word Count
238UNIONS’ STRIKE Gisborne Herald, Volume LXX, Issue 21150, 19 July 1943, Page 4
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