The Hawera Star. WEDNESDAY. JUNE 20, 1928. MARINE COOKS’ STRIKE.

Hawera Star, Volume XLVII, 20 June 1928, Page 6

The Hawera Star.

WEDNESDAY. JUNE 20, 1928. MARINE COOKS’ STRIKE.

Delivered every evening by 6 o'oloek in Hawera. Manat'*. Kormanby, Okaiawa, Eltham. MaDgatoki. Kaponga, Alton, Hurleyville Patea. Waverley. Mo_oia. Whakamara. Ohangat, Meremere. Prasei Boail. and Ararata-

Somo weeks ago the Marrinc Ooolts ’ Union i,u. Australia demanded that the j galley staffs on c c.rtain vessels should |be iner eased. As tiro domain ds wore not granted, tlve cooks' signed off, and: since then, 'the mercantile marine of. the Commonwealth has ibeetn ! more or less. paralysed. It was an illustToitian of job control', land, as such, was mot at all impressive. The chief sufferers wore not the men responsible for the strike, but those dependent upon shipping services for their means of livelihood. Over 4000 seamen, fully 3000 wharf labourers, 750 stewards aindi 400 packers and' storemen were thrown out of work by the action of about 200 cooks. Lists compiled by the unions in Sydney disclosed the fact that half the number of | men usually employed in the maritime. | industry were .idle, but the cooks, or those in control of the union, would listen to no advice and brook no interference. At a meeting of the emergency committee of the Australasian Council of Trades Unions it was urged that the trade union movement should take a- definite stand 1 and discipline the secretary and an embers of the Alarm e Cooks’ Union. It was estimated that tire loss of wages, as a result of the strike, amounted to £38,200 weekly, and the complaints of those adversely affected began to have n, more militant note. The outcome has been the refusal of at least, one branch, of the Marine Cooks ’ Union to obey orders from headquarters., and: the decision of the waterside workers to handle the; cargoes, of vessels manned by volunteer labour, while the seamen, who from the beginning have given only passive support to the strikers, are themselves divided on the course to be adopted. Some of the coastal services have been resumed, and it .is expected that the strike will be over shortly. Apparently the only result, apart from the disintegrating effect, oni the trade union movement, wilt have been the loss of a substantial sum by Way of wages, and the serious, economic losses sustained: by the shipping companies and by firms dependent on shipping services far the delivery of goods or cargoes. It looks very much a!s though the trade unions concerned in the maritime industry hiad: themselves experienced the application of job control. A small section has ■ .inflicted heavy flosses on them by holding up shipping. The action Was taken with a view to coercing the owners', and; in that it. ha® failed, but the attempt has inflicted heavy losses on other workers and has created dissension in the union ranks. Incidentally the strike ha® maintained the reputation of the Commonwealth waterfront a® a centre of industrial trouble. Strikes and disputes have been so numerous of late years

that, in an effort to extract pome consiollalM.on from things depressing, a loading Australian has contended' that these strikes prove what a wonderful country Australia, is, in that it can record progresS despite these constant interruptions of the course of trade mnd industry. T'lie most cheering news received from Austral jam: Labour union, ca.rI eles for many a long day as contained in a cable published an this issue. In this it its indicated that the miners have decided that corecildaition is the best policy, though they reserve to themselves the right to strike ‘ ‘if necessalr-y. ’ ’ This may be nothing auore than a mere gesture, but. even that concession as to be welcomed from the miners, who have hitherto not. officially acknowledged that it may be possible to secure as reasonable treatment from the other side by conciliatory methods as by the spectacular and ruinous: means provided by the strike weapon.