COAL STRIKE

Grey River Argus, 5 December 1921, Page 5

COAL STRIKE

BULLLER UNIONS GRANITY DELAY ACTION. MORE MEETINGS TO-DAY . I WESTPORT, Doe 4. At a meeting of Granity Miners’ Union to-day, it w::s resolved by a small majority to continue working. Theer are employed at this mine all told about 470 men. Stockton also held a meeting, but the result has not yet reached Westport. Denniston Union holds a meeting to- j morrow. (N.B. —Granity Union is the one to ■ which the President of the Federa- I tion belongs. Mr Davidson is also President of Granity Union). FEW FRESH DEVELOPMENTS. MORE IMPENDING. There were Tio very important developments at any point during the weekend. The Buller unions meetings did not come to final decisions, but these unions may do. so during the week. I Roa mine was idle on two days of the week ending November 27, and the men ! decided unanimously to cease ‘work last Wednesday. The stop-work meeting at Run.nga ' on Friday was said to be the biggest miners’ meeting ever held at Runanga, even the men at Rewanui coming down to it in force. Mr B. Davidson addressed the meeting, and the decision to cease work was unanimous. On Saturday our local contemporary replied to our remarks on the situation, admitting—but only on a general way —that expediency must give place to justice and honour in the industrial sphere, as in any other. Yet its application of the principle to this dispute is indeed funny. It suggests owners’ profits and the possibility of miners’ economic inability to sustain a strike I should deter the workers from protesting against an imposition by striking. After admitting our further point that , the miners’ sole means of securing freedom is their own will to be free, however, the “Star” sarcastically implies that the only danger to the miners freedom is their union and Fed- ! eration leaders. What an insult to the miners! As if, in deciding to strike against the owners’ domination, the miners would display a craven submission to elected leaders from among i their own ranks! It is preposterous to ’ try and fool the public thus. The rank | and file are at present the men who i by voting at their several mettings, ■ are deciding their course of action and realising this the “Star” knows it upsets its previous suggestion that a big majority opposed a strike. Hence the mud-slinging at the leaders. The “Star” concludes with an old saw “he who will not when he may, may not when he will.” Is this a threat of a lock-out! Or is it merely a justification of the miners’ protest at the present most opportune moment ? The Greymouth “Star” says: “The Court was told that tho Miners’ Fed-; oration brought undos pressure to bear upon the local unions.’’ Where is the warranty for that statement? Since tho “Star” claims to know all about it, surely it is aware that at their Dominion conference nearly six months ago tho miners themselves definitely decided on their policy nt tho express instructions of tho rank and file, and not at the dictation of any officials. It is the enforcement of tho policy then laid down that is now operating neither more nor less. Why talk then about strapping able men being dominated by their officials? Simply to throw dust in the eyes of the public! The “Star” worthily winds up by saying that the mineowners “are fighting the miners battle for true freedom;” though it naively adds “as well as their (the owners) own.” Fancy the owners fighting to free the miners when they go to the Arbitration with a plea for lower wages, seperate agreements, penalties, and worse conditions! The Court’s notion of freedom is illustrated by its “umpiring” with only one side of the case before it, thus acting no doubt, up to its own conception of its functions. But what a tribunal of true freedom! Finally when the “Star” urges some miners to “work on” its “remedy” is for the employers, not the miners’ difficulty. TIMBER WORKERS’ RESOLUTION. DANGER OF REVOLUTION. At their meeting on Saturday the Timber Workers’ Union passed the following resolution in regard to the coa.l strike:—“That this special goner al meeting of the West Coast Timber Workers congratulates the miner? on their stand now being made tc cintinuc tho custom of arriving at agreements with the mine owners, with out being forced to go to the Arbi tration Court, and that we further cal upon the Government to call -a com pulsory conference of Mine- owners and men, with a view to arriving al a now National Agreement and there by prevent Dominion-wide industria trouble, which may easily spread t( something approaching a revolution with the present industrial unrest be ing engineered by the employing class for the solo purpose of reducing the al ready low standard of living provider for the workers. We would further point out that w feel sure that the trouble now brew ing can easily be averted if the Go vernment adopt a reasonable attitude and do not act entirely in tho inter ests of the employing class.” T 1 Secretary was instructed to wire th above to the Prime Minister.