“Unnecessary Strike’

Manawatu Times, Volume 63, Issue 153, 1 July 1938, Page 8

“Unnecessary Strike’

SOUTHLAND MINE DISPUTE NO ACTION BY MINISTER Per Press Association. WELLINGTON, June 30. "It seems a rather Strang mixup,* commented the Minister of Labour, the Hon. H. T. Armstrong, when asked today if he was taking any action in connection with the Ohai mining stoppage. A Labour Department officer was on the spot and was reporting to him but he was not contemplating personal intervention. “All the rest of the miners have a two-year agreement and for some reason the employers there seem to prefer a separate agreement,” said Mr Armstrong. “As a general rule it is the worker who wants a short-dated agreement but I see no reason in the world why the employers should not fall into line with the rest of the mining companies.” “The strike is in my opinion the most unnecessary strike I have ever had experience of, because the miners are in agreement with the employers as to the terms and conditions of their agreement,” said Mr T. O. Bishop, secretary of the New Zealand Employers’ Federation. “The only point in dispute between them is whether an agreement is to be entered into on these terms and conditions for a period of one year or for a period of two years. The miners insist on two years, but the employers desire one year. The reason for the difference of opinion is that hewing rates in the Nightcaps district are higher than those ruling in other districts and as the coal produced there has to be sold in competition with coal produced in Otago the owners are afraid that they may find it impossible to carry on successfully against this competition if general trading conditions become somewhat less favourable than they are today. “It is true that the Mine Owners’ Association of New Zealand made an agreement in April last with the Mine at that time Southland mine owners Workers’ Federation for two years but reserved the right to discussion of hewing rates. That discussion has taken place and the mine owners have been unable to secure a reduction in the rates to the level obtaining in other districts and hence their reluctance to bind themselves for a period of more than a year. “A peculiar aspect of the present situation is that the men are striking as a protest against something which may happen at the end of 12 months and not against anything which at present is causing them dissatisfaction.”