NOBELS WORKS STRIKE

Grey River Argus, 15 June 1946, Page 5

NOBELS WORKS STRIKE

MINE EXPLOSIVES. SHORTENING IN AUSTRALIA. AUCKLAND, June 14. “There is a great deal of trouble with strikes in Australia, and it now looks as though the trouble might extend even further,” said the Acting Minister of Labour (Mr O’Brien ) on his return to Auckland.' to-day by flying-boat from Australia. He mentioned that a dispute at Noebel’s explosives factory at Melbourne had now taken a serious turn. The strike, which had continued for five weeks, was reported in the Sydney newspapers yesterday to be now threatening complete paralysis of the Australian coal-mining industry, as local reserves of mining explosives were nearing exhaustion. WELLINGTON, June 14. The chief inspector of explosives, Mr R. Girling Butcher, said to-day that there' was no occasion for concern at the moment in regard to the stocks of explosives for coal mining in New Zealand. If the strike in Australia continued for some time, the position would be worse as Australia would have first call on the explosives when production recommenced. SYDNEY, June 14. • Deliveries of explosives to goldmining companies in Western Australia have been severely rationed because of the strike at a factory at Deer Park, Victoria. New South Wales colliery proprietors say the stocks! held are sufficient to enable production to be continued until the end of the month, buf after then, unless production is resumed, the coal output will be seriously affected. Last night the Minister of Labour and National Service, Mr Holloway, met representatives of both sides in an attempt to settle the dispute. He afterwards stated that the settlement was being delayed because the parties were waiting for the decision of th? Arbitration Court on an application for de-registration of the old Munition Workers’ Union. The Commonwealth Government possessed no constitutional powers at present to nationalise the coal industry, said the Prime Minister (Mr Chifley), when commenting on the plan evolved by the New South Wales State Executive of the Labour Party and the Miners’ Federation for the rehabilitation of the coal industry. Today, Federal and New South Wales Ministers will confer on the matter, and their decisions will be referred to the Federal Cabinet to-morrow. QUEENSLAND ME. STRIKE. EXTENDING TO OTHER UNIONS. BRISBANE, June 14. All the coal miners in Queensland are on strike in sympathy with the meat strikers. A general stoppage by railwaymen and waterside workers next Thursday is likely. Representatives of the unions concerned conferred with the Trades and Labour Council Disputes Committee and agreed that members of unions should stop work at mid-night on Wednesday. There will be no mass meetings and no ballots. Some members of the colliery branch of the Waterside Workers’ Federation have ceased work as a result of a “black” ban on coal immobilising several ships. The dispute commenced on March 6. when 120 men ceased work at the Murrarie bacon factory because four men with 15 to 2'o years’ service were dismissed. Meat workers found they could not cut off the supplies of meat to retailers because of the large country trade.