WAVE OF STRIKES

Gisborne Herald, Volume LXXII, Issue 21853, 25 October 1945, Page 5

WAVE OF STRIKES

KEY INDUSTRIES PROSPERITY JEOPARDISED AUSTRALIAN OUTLOOK (11 a.m.) SYDNEY. Oct. 25. The resounding optimism of the forecast bv Mr. C R. McKerihan, president of the' Rural Bank of N.S.W., of a 10year period of the greatest prosperity in Australia’s history has a tunic flavour for Australians, but as one damaging strike succeeds another,_ with key industries as the focal points of unrest, the danger grows that national plans for post-war rehabilitation and hopes for higher standards of living will be submerged by waves of industrial strife. As the Sydney Morning Herald says: “These are critical months for Australia. They can be made needlessly distressing and the prospects of future prosperity jeopardised by the refusal of organised labour to co-opcrate or to postpone its demands for concessions which the economy of the country is in no condition as yet to afford. With last week’s disastrous stoppage of industry, caused by the Bunnerong strike, barely restored to normal, there are new threats of strikes. A strike by 40 transport men at Sydney’s only oxygen and acetylene factory will throw 15,000 men in the metal trades out of work unless it is settled soon. The transport workers have been on strike since Monday. They objected to the reclassification of 13 “loaders” as iron workers’ labourers because this would reduce each of the 13 men’s wages by 14s Gd a week. Demands by Building Workers

The Sydney building workers plan to hold a one-day stop-work meeting to protest against the refusal of the State Premier, Mr. W. J. McKcll, to establish picking-up centres for them. The building workers claim that the establishment of picking-up places would enable men to find jobs easily and they would not have to travel about in search of work. About 6500 Sydney waterside workers will hold a stop-work meeting next week to discuss terms for improved conditions. These include a 40-hour week with a guaranteed weekly wage of £6 12s, two weeks’ annual holiday and retiring pensions at the age of 00. The stoppages on the coalfields continue. The coal output has been cut about 25 per cent this week. The Sydney Morning Herald, in an editorial, says: “Neither as a political nor industrial movement is Labour displaying' the leadership needed to enable Australia to take advantage of its postwar opportunities. There has been planning in plenty, but the Federal and State Governments alike are failing to drive home the lesson that the wealth and welfare of the community depend upon the efforts which it puts forth. ‘‘The risks of disastrous inflation are still with us. Mr. J. B. Chifley’s plans to hold inflation in check and to achieve full production and full employment are liable to be defeated by go-slow tactics and strikes in support of such objectives as a 40-hour week. Strikes can only clog the machinery of reconstruction.” ___