AUSTRALIAN LABOUR

Grey River Argus, 20 June 1945, Page 5

AUSTRALIAN LABOUR

COMMUNIST PARTY Gaining Industrial Control [Aust. & N.Z. Cable Assn.] (Rec. 9.50). SYDNEY, June 19. The Federal Executive of the Australian Workers’ Union, meeting here to-day, carried, unanimously, a resolution protesting against the appointment by z the Australasian Council of Trades Unions of the wellknown Communist, Mr B. E. Thornton, as a delegate to the Faris World Trade Union Congress. Declaring that the Australasian Workers’ Union represents the greater number of the organised workers and of industries than any- other Union in the Commonwealth, the resolution said that Mr Thornton’s public utterances “disclose that his views on working class philosophy and policy are in violent conflict with the philosophy; and the policy of the Australian Labour Movement, and of the. great majority of the Australian unions.” Mr Thornton’s selection as delegate had been condemned earlier by the Vice-President of the Federal Government Executive Council, Hon. J. Beasley. The “S'ydney: Herald” in an editorial to-day, issues a -warning to the Australian workers that Mr Thornton’s appointment as a mouthpiece for Australian unionism implies that the Communist permeation of the trade unions' has reached the stage when the Communists are in danger of controlling the Commonwealth’s industrial labour front. 23 N.S.W. Collieries Idle SAFETY DISPUTE AT A MINE. GOVERNMENT TO OPERATE IT. (Rec. 9.40). SYDNEY, June 19. Efforts' are being made to find a basis for a settlement of a dispute which has caused a stoppage of work at 23 collieries on the South Maitland coalfield of New South Wales. The mines affected normally produce 26,000 tons of coal per day. The cessation of production is placing a severe strain on dwindling coal reserves for industry, railways and gas services. The S'outh Maitland coalfield is the largest in Australia. Already 78,000 tons of output have been lost as a result of the strike, which concerns a safety issue. The mine in which the dispute began has been taken over by the Government for a period of one month