N.S.W. COAL LOCK-OUT.

Grey River Argus, 11 May 1923, Page 5

N.S.W. COAL LOCK-OUT.

Question of “Free” Labour. (A. and N.Z. Cable Association.) (Received May 10 at 2.2 p.m.) SYDNEY, May 10. The Northern coal owner’s will meet on Monday next to discuss the question of introducing voluntary labour in the idle mines. It is estimated that since the Maitland pits were closed, the employees have lost nearly a quarter of a million in wages. Another South Coast pit, the Metropolitan, employing six hundred men, is now idle. The Southern owners have issued an ultimatum that unless the branded idle mines resume immediately, the conference with the Miners’ Federation fixed for to-morrow will be abandoned. SYDNEY, May 10. The miners have decided that they will not give way to the demands made by the owners. They state that rather than do this, they will engage in a bitter galling contest, which must ensue. In consequence of this decision s the .Conference between the Southern owners and the miners has been postponed indefinitely by the owners.