SETTLEMENT FAILS

Hawera Star, Volume XLVIII, 3 April 1929, Page 5

SETTLEMENT FAILS

TIMBER WORKERS’ STRIKE. CONFERENCE COELAPSES. NEITHER. SIDE YIELDS. 1 (UriitM Press Association—By Electric Telegraph 1 Copyright.) (Australian press Association.) Received 9.50 n.m. to-day. SYDNEY, April 3. According to a message received at Sydney Trades Hall, an attempt to settle the timber workers’ strike, nuti-j ated by the Victorian Chamber or Manufacturers, had proved abortive. The collapse of the conference followed consideration for hours'of a question on which both sides would not yield. WEEK OF 44 OR 48 HOURS. EMPLOYERS’ POLICY. The strike of the Australian timber workers against an award of the Arbitration Court, which provided for e. *B- - hour-week as against a 44-hour week previously..worked, is. one of the most amazing in th-e sad history of uio monwealth’s industries. It v.iags mi week after week with no apparent attempt bv any party to reach a ment, yet the losses to the workers, to the employers and 'to. the comn-nm -y generally are enormous. The workers are receiving fairly substantial strike pay provided by a levy on other unionists, and so far they have made no moves to adjust the dispute. “WHITE.” MILLS. The control of the .strike from the employers side has been entrusted m Melbourne —the headquarters of ie dispute—to the Chamber of Manufactures, and that body has adopted an unusual and rather amazing attitude It has'set out definitely to extend the strike. In Melbourne a number or the timber raids and box factories air© still “white,” because they employ then men only 44 tours a week, and tli disputes committee at the Trades Hall decided that certain firms would be ne mi it ted to deal with the: white mills, provided a permit for the carting of the timber required was sectired from the Trades Hall. Hnder mjjf' svstem box-making has continued. Ihe committee of the chamber, however, lias frowned on the permit system, and. has issued an edict that it muist cease, “This reprehensible practice, .it .says,, “Ins extremely vicious principles behind it that 'are strongly condemned by employers. It must appall to members that for the Trades Hall to Mime jurisdiction a,s to. who. shat, or S” stall not, carry on ttar ordrnMy | legitimate business transactions without fear of intimidation, and possibl violence, cannot be countenanced m any way whatsoever.’ SUPPLY OF BOXES. Tliis was a. serious step for the manufacturers to take for rt means that if boxes arc not to be available tfiev are going to lose a great deal of trade, inter-Stato and overseas. v m torian manufacturers are among the most progressive in . A ustrah a , a their goods arc sold in all the States, and in addition they .have established ' a substantial trade with the East and < with South Africa. If they aie to re - tain that trade continuity of suppnes ' is essential, for it is pointed out that American firms will he only too ready to step into the Eastern trade Early last week it seemed likely that a conference between the parties to the timber strike would be held as the first part of the new policy Instituted by the Chamber of Manufacturers The ir a tost obstacle to this was the disinclination of the parties to enter into negotiation—another strange feature ot this disastrous strike. In the first place the employers said that they I were not anxious to resume before i Easter. Secondly, it was felt l>y the Timber ‘Workers’ Federation that it would be a sign of weakness on thenpart if they attended a conference. ASSAULT AND THREATS. In Sydney last week a loyal timbei worker* was* brutally assaulted. He was kicked into unconsciousness and then his attackers tried to break firs arms and to pull one arm from its socket. The public were horrified at the details of this assault, but it is evidently part of the policy of the extremist section of the- strikers, who are be in" urged on by Communists to clo even worse tilings. A young woman Communist, speaking in tlie Sydney Domain last Sunday, said that the “so-called loyalists” must be prevented i from working and maimed if necessary, so that in no circumstances they could follow' their calling. “Break thenarms,” she said. *• The timber strike has now been m progress for seven weeks, and it is estimated that in Sydney alone the loss of wages lias been £IOO,OOO, while about £ll*ooo has been distributed m strike nay. More than 3000 timber men and* carters are out of employment. The ballot that- has been ordered bv the Arbitration Court is returnable 'in April, and it is regarded as farcical that so long a time should be allowed to elapse. It is a postal ballot on the question of resuming work under the award in dispute, and there seems to be nothing to prevent one unionist from coercing another One firm in New South M ales that employs more than 200 unionists has stated that its wages bill under the ! new award would show a reduction of only £2 4s 6d in the aggregate. M wonder the question is asked: ''fiat are the men lighting for?” Merely for the extra four hours’ leisure in a week. Ten timber companies in New South Wales, with a total capital of about £1.800,000. have shown that their average return for the last five vcais has been 2.2 per cent. Tlie men are now - asked to work 48 hours for their own lionofit, ns woll n..s 'tlvft'fc o-f oinplovers. .