N.S.W. IRON STRIKERS

Grey River Argus, 5 January 1946, Page 5

N.S.W. IRON STRIKERS

Resuming Next Week DISMISSED WORKER TO BE REINSTATED. • SYDNEY, January 4._ The N.S. Wales Industrial Commission has given its decision on the case of the worker Parker, of P°il Kembla, who. refused to do certain work as not consistent with his status. His dismissal was the original immediate cause of the recent strikes. The Commission- has directed that Parker be reinstated. The decision removes what the Union held to be the main issue of both the strikes. Mass meetings at' I ort Kembla and Newcastle will discuss the decisions of the Industrial Commission and all other relevant matters.

Leaders of the two large unions involved in the strikes announced that their members would be instructed to return to work. The Commission stood over the application by the Ironworkers’ Union for re-registration because the union failed to give any undertaking about its future conduct. Prominent trade union officials described the Commission’s decision as a vindication of the arbitration system. They said that if the Communist officials of. the Ironworkers’ Union had adopted the advice of the trade union movement and instructed Parker to appeal to the Commission, there need never to have been a strike.

The secretary Mof the Clerks’ Union (Mr J. Hughes) said: “The Court’s decision that Parker be reinstated removes the final obstacle to a settlement. We are not interested in the re-registration question”. The secretary of the Electrical Trades Union (Mr N. Thom) said: “We are not concerned with whether the ironworkers are re-registered. So far as our members are concerned, the reinstatement of Parker settled the issue”.

A resumption of work by the steelworkers is expected next week. The Sydney “Telegraph” said: — Strikes and lack of effective planningtire seriously increasing the number of servicemen unable to find jobs. Of 51,710 servicemen discharged in New South Wales up to December 15, nearly 11,000 had no jobs to go to when they left the demobilisation centre. Some of these have found jobs through official and unofficial assistance, but thousands have been out of work since demobilisation. Official figures show that of all servicemen discharged in New South Wales, only 56 per cent, had jobs waiting for them. As demobilisation proceeds Employment Officers, at discharge centres are finding it increasingly difficult to find jobs for servicemen, adds the “Telegraph”.' Every official and unofficial employment agency reports constant streams of inquiries from servicemen seeking work. Long and costly litigation is likely to hold up the planned settlement of ex-service-men on the land. About 6 per cent, of the men being demobilised are inquiring about land settlement and 6000 have applied for land, but officials say few of these will be settled on the land under the Settlement Scheme by the end of this year. The State Government is finding difficulty in buying land because the owners are disputing the proposed price and are threatening to fight it out in Court

All restrictions on the use of gas and electricity in New South Wales are expected to be lifted from Monday, but fewer than half the workers displaced by the cuts will be able to resume work next week. The restrictions on gas and electricity in homes were lifted during the New Year holiday period, but ' were reimposed again at midnight last night. A housing authority said that if the housing programmes of the State a)rd i Commonwealth > Governments were to be realised there would have to be an unimpaired flow from the manufacturers of materials needed for building. Ordinary railway passenger services will probably not be restored for a month, but restoration of goods services will be effected as soon as normal supplies of coal are received. A railway official said that transport of timber for housing has been delayed and quantities of cement, lime, and other goods were still awaiting transport.

As the ■ Sydney “Daily Telegraph” puts it, “Australians will be living on the edge of a crisis for many weeks to come. In all industries the bins are empty, and probably not till the middle of the year, supposing that the miners keep on the job so long, will we'be able to breathe more or less freely again.” Commenting on the Communists’ influence in strikes and Mr. Chifley’s exhortation to the trade union movement to cleanse itself of irresponsible militants, the “Daily Telegraph” says: “The Prime Minister must provide machinery which will enable the mass of the workers to express their will to peace in industry. Mr. Chifley can do this simply by providing a law which provides, first, that a secret ballot on all proposals to strike shall be compulsory, and, second, that those who break or attempt to evade this law shall be liable to a heavy fine or imprisonment.”