DENNISTON DISPUTE

Grey River Argus, 1 May 1931, Page 6

DENNISTON DISPUTE

i I COMPANY BREAKS AGREEMENT. A dispute at Denniston over the hours worked by the power house men rosu ted in a stoppage that lasted for *. hre-.‘ weeks, it had been the custom that these men were guaranteed a full shift when they were called out to work, but some time ago the manageI ment tried to institute a system of (•ailing them out for part of a shift. | The union took the matter uj> with the local manager and succeeded in getting the exiting custi m of the full shift . maintai i?d pending a visit from the district manager to deal with the quesI ion. I At the subsequent meeting with the I district manager, the union representatives proposed that the dispute should |go before a disputes committee wit h .a n independent chairman presiding. as , provided fo r in the agreement, and that I pending a settlement work should be | continued in accordance with th? conditions prevailing before the dispute this aso being one of the reI (piirements of the agreement. This proposal was turned down by the district manager, who no doubt felt that ,the company had so weak a case that it could not allow it to go to an indeI pendent chairman. Faced with the coniptuiy s refusal to honour the agreement, and as the power house men .were still being called out for broken I shifts, the union decided at a general meeting held on April 6th to take action in defence of the working conditions. A further meeting with the management was hold on April 13th, when the union agari proposed that the dispute be referred to the disputes committee on condition that a full i shift ’s work was provided for the power house men > n the meantime. The management offered to consider taking the dispute to the disputes committee, bn* refused to restore the original conditions i u the meantime. This meant that th.* union would have to condom* tin* breaking of the agreement by the company, ami naturally it was not accepted by the union. The Denniston L'nion then placed the dispute in the hands of the Distr.ct Council. Th? district officials and representatives of the Denniston Union met lhe representatives of tin* Westport Coal Company in Westport on April 22nd. A temporary settlement was arrived at, pending a further conference being held with Mr T. O. Bishop present. The roinpuiy reserves the right to work the power plant to suit shipping and mine requirements but will endeavour to avoid broken shift'. This was aecej fed by tin* union as a tentative set t leinenr, and work was resumed on A "ril 27th. Th? Demiiston Union does not intend that any broken shifts shall be worked pending the further conference being held. The coal owners’ favourite sermon u-ed to be “th? sanctity of agreements.’’ but nowadays thev do not hesitate to knock a hole in tin* agreement whenever it .nits them to do so. Ard th ir legal fun< tionar’(*s are going to give a large scale exhibition of tearing up- “scraps of paper,” commencing on May 12th, when the Arbitration C urt will begin its good work. The miners, at least, know that it is better to rely upon a strong union that upon a wiitten agreement. The sooner- the other workers wake up and mak<* preparations to resist the attack on their standard of living, the better.