Stay-in Strike Over

Manawatu Times, Volume 62, Issue 14, 18 January 1937, Page 7

Stay-in Strike Over

Mr Armstrong Induces Men to Restart Work Compulsory Conference Called Dramatic Scene Between Minister and Union Secretary Per Press Association. AUCKLAND, Last Night. The stay-in of freezing workers finished last night after addresses by the Minister of Labour (Hon. H. T. Armstrong) yesterday, and the men return to work on Monday upon the Minister’s assurance that he will call a conference of employees and employers not later than Thursday of this week. In the afternoon delegates from Westfield, Southdown, King’s Wharf and Horotiu assembled at Auckland for a conference with the Minister and after three hours’ deliberation each section returned to their respective works. The men then voted upon the proposal to return to work on the understanding that there would be a conference before Thursday to consider a revision of the present wages and conditions, and within an hour of the delegates’ return the men collected their belongings and returned home.

The End in Sight Crowds collected outside tho works after the departure of tho Minister from Westfield shortly after noon. A feeling of confidence that the end was in sight pervaded the occupied works. The men who during the morning had washed and scrubbed out the dressingrooms and other premises occupied as living quarters in tho last four days settled down to await the result of a further meeting between their delegates and tho Minister in Auckland. The afternoon was spent in straightening up their quarters and collecting their bedding and effects and talking with relatives and friends through the bars of the entrance gates and the iron railing of the yard wall. The departure of the works delegates to confer with the Minister intensified the interest and there was considerable tension in the atmosphere until the representatives returned shortly after 8 o’clock. By this hour there was a large congregation of relatives in the vicinity of the works. A mass meeting was held when reports were received from the delegates who recommended that the men accept the assurance of the Minister to convene a conference of employers and men’s representatives in Wellington not later than Thursday noxt on the understanding that the employees would immediately resume work. The vote was almost unanimously in favour of work being resumed on these conditions. The men were told to stand by pending results from Southdown and King's wharf where meetings were held simultaneously. The Horotiu workers were represented by their delegates at the conference and consultations between the works’ representatives and were empowered to abide by the decision of the workers in the Auckland and Westfield districts.

Confident in the belief that the reports from other works would be similar to the decision at Westfield the men began to congregate in the works yard with rolled blankets and bedding strapped on their shoulders. Cars which had been standing idle for four days ivere cranked into activity and hundreds of cycles and motor-cycles were brought forth from improvised shelters as the men prepared for a hasty exodus for home and its comforts. When the definite news was received that stay-in tactics had been abandoned tho men were soon homeward bound.