“OPEN REBELLION”

Gisborne Herald, Volume LXXIV, Issue 22319, 2 May 1947, Page 5

“OPEN REBELLION”

UNION CHALLENGE STRIKE BACKGROUND "DIRECT ACTION” POLICY (From C. R. Mentiplny, Special Representative of N.Z. Press Assn.) SYDNEY, April 30. The spectacle of a union which, in the words of a judge, “has put itself in open rebellion against the arbitration system,” and has defied deregistration by committing acts of warfare against the community is sufficiently rare, even in Australia, to make one wonder at the strength which lies behind such an association of workers. Ignoring its right to reopen proceedings after expressing dissatisfaction with the recent award made by the Conciliation Commissioner, the Amalgamated EngineeringJJnion chose direct action to pursue its claim for a pay increase of £1 a week. As a result, the Melbourne foundries and transport system have been virtually paralysed for 16 days. Ordered to Resume by May 7 The full executive of the Australian Council of Trade Unions today ordered the Victorian strikers to resume work by May 7. This is the date when the Arbitration Court's deregistration order against the Amalgamated Engineering Union will operate. The council executive also directed that the unions involved in the dispute should appeal against the recent award granting wage increases of from 5s to 9s weekly and seek a total increase of £1 weekly -for metal trade workers on skilled margins. It is hoped that this decision will provide a basis of settlement for the strike. The executive of the Australian Council of Trade Unions held that award increases to date have been insufficient, and that the way is open for an appeal under the amended wage pegging regulations. Found guilty of “choosing to enforce its claim by a deliberate use of its economic strength,” the union was deregistered It has used the 14 days’ grace given by the full Bench of the Arbitration Court to extend the strike by withdrawing its members from the Victorian country rail depots. Second Big Strike in Nine Years. This is the second major strike the union has fought in nine years, and the second time it has been deregistered. During a seven-month battle in 1938, when 3000 Sydney dockworkers refused to resume work, the union was deregistered. The men won their claim for increased wages, however, and the union was re-registered. The cost to the union of that struggle was £IOO,OOO. A similar amount has been spent in the present dispute, and claims have been made that the union funds are perilously low. Members of the engineers’ executive still claim their union is one of the wealthiest, most powerful, and oldest of working-class organisations in the world. The parent body in London has capital and investments worth more than £6,000,000. Its membership, which includes branches in the United States, South Africa, Canada and New Zealand, is 900.000. Of the 70,000 members in Australia, 53.000 working under Federal awards will be affected by the deregistration. , Founded in 1852. The union runs its own superannuation, sick pay and benefit schemes, and conducts its own building societies. Practically all workers concerned with machinery or mechanical undertakings are members. Though the average pay in .Australia for tradesmen is £7/6/-, most skilled engineering union men earn between £8 and £lO. The Australian branch was founded in 1852 by engineers and mechanical tradesmen who held their inaugural meeting before disembarking from the sailing ship Francis Walker in Sydney. The minute book of that meeting is still preserved. It was known as the Amalgamated Society of Engineers until it was merged with other craft unions under its present name in 1920. Union officials say that the history of the organisation has proved that, win or lose, the Victorian dispute will do no permanent harm to the union.