STRIKE PARALYSES VICTORIA

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

STRIKE PARALYSES VICTORIA

PRECAUTIONS TO MAINTAIN ORDER ! ORGANISATION OF VOLUNTEER LABOUR MELBOURNE, May 1. The strike in Victoria is moving' swiftly to a climax and nothing has occurred to relieve fears that it will spread to New South Wales. Officials of the Amalgamated Engineering Union are defying instructions by the full executive of the Australian Council of Trade Unions that its members should return to work on May 7. This means that unless the rank and file repudiate their officials, Victoria will face a power “dim-out” next week. No suburban trains have rim for 18 days and the country rail services are gradually slowing down to a complete standstill. In the Legislative Assembly the Premier, Mr. Cain, rejected a demand by a Liberal member that servicemen in specialised sections, particularly the Navy, should be called out to run the power houses. He promised that there would be no black-out and said that the Government was handling the situation in the only possible way.

t _ The United Women’s Organisations and ex-service bodies are planning systems of volunteer labour in order to maintain essential., services and combat pickets who are refusing to let transport through. Returned soldiers of both world wars plan to recruit a force of 10,000 men to help the police to maintain order if chaos develops from the strike. Women’s organisations will provide a similar number of women. In Canberra the deputy-Country Party leader, Mr. McEwen, asked that the Federal Government should immediately order all available Army and Air Force vehicles to Victoria to aid in the transport of food and necessary materials.