THE H.B. TRIBUNE. WEDNESDAY, MARCH 2, 1921. AUSTRALIAN LABOUR PORTENTS

Hawke's Bay Tribune, Volume XI, Issue 63, 2 March 1921, Page 4

THE H.B. TRIBUNE. WEDNESDAY, MARCH 2, 1921. AUSTRALIAN LABOUR PORTENTS

It may not be wise to magnify the apparent portents of future industrial trouble in Australia, but it would, at the same time, be foolish to ignore the symptoms even should they ultimately prove to indicate merely some super ficial malady that will pass away of itself if only given time and a little careful treatment. While the settlement of the shipping difficulty is hailed with something like satisfaction, there is no pretence among those more directlv concerned that this means assured smooth sailing in the industrial world. In fact, the New South Wales coalmines are regarded as almost sure to provide another serious break in industrial effort ere very long. As it is, even local and sectional strikes are in almost continuous operation in one mine or another, sometimes two or more being simultaneously involved These movements take place on such petty pretexts among men who are earning very big wages that there van be no thought but that they have some common ulterior purpose in view, and there can, of course, be no doubt as ’to the three big unions of miners, seamen, and waterside workers acting in concert, even if not at the same time. A week or so ago we had some short cable reference to the discovered intention to call a joint strike in order to force compliance with certain de. mauds of the miners and the seamen. Official authority professed to poohpooh this as being something in the nature of mere bluff, but in other quarters it is evidently regarded as something that merely awaits the time and opportunity. According to Hydney newspaper files' just received the participating unions 1 aim, in the meantime, by a policy of concerted action to dislocate the industrial and social organisation of the country. The methods are termed scientific, and the general strike is only to be used as a last resort. Each union is to be as a cog in the machinery of the operations, and under the undivided control of the executive they are to be called out on strike at such times and for such periods as the leaders believe will result in inflicting! the maximum amount of loss upon the employer. The coal miner, for instance, will be required to speed up his output of coal when there is a shortage of trucks and immediate shipment is impracticable. When there is a temporary shortage of coal and vesesls are waiting for cargoes the out-! put will be reduced by go-slow and isolated strikes, thus causing demurrage charges. Meanwhile there will be a check upon the output of coal, and only sufficient will be produced to enable the miner to earn enough to live on. This will of itself bring about a shortage and a consequent rationing of, supplies. The trimmer is expected to assist the miner in regulating the supplies of coal, and is required under the scheme to keep the ports of shipment, especially Newcastle, in a state of continual congestion and disorganisation. Here, again, this is to be achieved by isolated stoppages and the refusal to work more than a certain number of hours per day. The. fireman’s part in the campaign wil s consist of either firing too much coal or too little. By the former method it is hoped to increase the working costs of the owner, and possibly lay his ship up with burnt boilers, and by the latter to disorganise the services by the consequent reduction in the speed of the vessel. The coal-lumpers are to absent themselves as individuals from the job whenever it is considered necessary, isolated stoppages are to take place as required, and a general policy of go-slow practised. The wharflabourers are to delay shipping as in structed, and generally help towards creating a state of congestion at the wharves. So each union has its place in the operations. Conjointly with these tactics there is to be an extensive campaign of publicity and propaganda, and by threats of general strikes and stories of starving women and children it is hoped to influence public opinion and so bring the intervention of the Government and a settlement on terms favourable or acceptable to the unions. This may, of course, be nothing but the mare’s nest which the Labour Minister of the State has declared it to be. and the settlement of the ship, ping strike gives colour to his declara tion. But there can be no possible doubt as to there being among all three of the unions mentioned very considerable and influential factors that would not hesitate to put this scheme, in practice were it deemed feasible. As a writer in one of the Sydney papers says, there is an element among these three classes of labour which has gradually succeeded in grasping most of the effective positions in the various local unions, as well as in the central executives, and which is rapidly manifesting its true aim as a world-wide attack upon the Empire. “That the situation is serious,” he goes on, “we may feel well assured The readiness, nay, the anxiety, to l get back on’ the proprietors and employers that may be detected in almost all ranks of labour in the Com. monwealth is specially dangerous when it takes the mastery in such a key industry as that of coal-mining. If it were a matter of a conflict between the coalminer and the coal-owner simply, the average citizen might look on with the feeling that he was not compelled to champion either one side or the other. But with the evidences to hand and growing,, that the mine! is so ready to ignore absolutely the convenience, interests, and natural rights of his fellows, in the determination to get and hold his grip on the throat of his hereditary foe, the question becomes one which every thinking man, in the interests of himself and his livelihood, and that of the community, must seek to understand, and, having studied it, take whatever action may be possible to him to redeem the situation.”