WHANGAREI AND HIKURANGI

Maoriland Worker, Volume 2, Issue 72, 26 July 1912, Page 9

WHANGAREI AND HIKURANGI

Recent Happenings.

About nine months ago ;ui agreement was entered into liotwoen my union and' the W.hangarei Coal Com puny, i" the presence of 'President- Webb, and a hewing rate- wa«. fixed. The first, three months the- average-earnings were- Ids. pw day,, the second I'href months a. little more,, and the* third three months Ms. Sd-., the average, for the nine months beiing Ids. (I.d. per day por man. Those figures arc as given by the manager.

AJiout the beginning of -May last this gentleman gave-us notice that on and after May, 27 the hewing rates would' bo reduced equal to. a 10 per cent, reduction. The manager was informed that we were not prepared, to submit to. any reduction until' the average exceeded l'-'s. per day. We-had. several interviews with, the manager. We asked to meet the- directors, bob w<>vq" refused, and' were told that all oominiuiioation with the- directors had to. be through the manager. 1 may say. here that the union consented- to a reduction of about 4 or o por-rent., but ho demanded the U> per cent. Undoubtedly, with the present ttronblo the- Federation had on hand he thought ho would' get his pound of flbsli. We had a meeting and unanimously agnood not to accept the company's terms. At a later mdcting it w:w moved that we accept the company's terms lwnding the decision of the Federation. The motion was carried by five to four, with a clause-that no man should work under .shiftmen's wages, namely, 10s. Gd. clear or I.os. TOd. and find our own oil and tools. The- manager then offerer] us 10s. Gd. per day and find" our 'own oil and tools, which was equivalent to Id, per day leas than shiftmen's 'wages. This- we refused and there was a luck-out for a week. In the meantime Hukurangi was on strike, and there was a demand for coal, so bho-manager agreed to give us I.os. 6d. clear. Recently an agreement was drawn uo by the coalinincrs of FTikurangi, in tho jwesonee of President Webb, and in . that agreement there was a clause which said that no* miner should work under IDs. Oil. nor day. Now, mad? the difference lwtwoen my union- Middle Hikurangi Union. The average pay of the bitter's meml>ers was Tls. per day, and they got the clause inserted without any reduction in the hewing .rates. Our average- was 3'h. per day less, and my union submitted to a. IB per cent, reduction, which not on-Iv made it tho minimum hut also made it the maximum, as the- present' ridiculous prices offered h-v the company make it utterfv impossible for men to average the TOs. Od. Now, my opinion is that the action of my union, although we number only about a down , miners, is likely to bring down the coalinincrs' wages.

Mr. Editor. I would like, through the columns of Tun Wohkrr, to express my bitterest contempt for the unionists erf New Zealand who refuse to contribute towards their fellow-workers in Waihi and Reefton, more particularly the unions affiliated to the Federation. Because the Federation does not believe in the Arbitration Court, we are accused of wanting striker,, but T say there are not two men in the Federation who want a strike, but w« must at nil costs reserve the riybt to strik" against our oppressors. To surrender the right to say at what uric-- our labor power shall be sold is to tighten ribe chains r'mt alr'vulv bind us devu There are thousands of men in Now Zealand t-o-dav who say they are in sympathy with t,he Wailii men, but T would not give a twotiennv damn for a man's sympathy that would not make some sacr-inco on behalf of the fighters. — ,T. PISIIOP.