A DEADLOCK

Hawera Star, Volume XLV, 15 February 1926, Page 5

A DEADLOCK

WIRELESS OPERATORS’ STRIKE

OWNERS* TERMS REJECTED.

EARLY SETTLEMENT UNLIKELY

BY CABLE—PRESS ASSOCIATION—COPYRIGHT, Received Feb. 15, 10.50 a.m. LONDON, Feb. 14.

Protracted negotiations between representatives of the striking operators and the shipowners ended in a deadlock, with no immediate prospect of a settlement. The chairman of the operators’ association said the employers simply repeated their terms and gave the association seven days to accept, threatening in event of a refusal to pffer certain conditions to the men individually. The failure to agree was confined to the questions of wages and the reinstatement of strikers. The employers insisted that the men should resume at reduced rates, and be reinstated only as the employers were able to offer service. The chairman concluded by saying that 1300 ships _ are now going to sea without qualified wireless operators, and over 1900 men are. striking. The Wireless Telegraphists’ Association, in a statement, says that the operators were prepared to submit the whole dispute to an industrial court, but are not prepared to prejudice, their case before the court by accepting a totally unjustified reduction. It points out that the wireless operators accepted reductions in 1922 and 1924, additional to any reduction accepted by other maritime workers. —Reuter.