THE MINERS OF ITALY.

Maoriland Worker, Volume 12, Issue 295, 25 October 1922, Page 7

THE MINERS OF ITALY.

I The following: is from a report by [General Secretary ■Ma.zzavi of the I Italian Miners' Federation (May 15, 1922*):-- - ■ Normally there are about 60,00 : 0 workers employed in the mining industry of Italy. Of. these ' 20,00.0 . are at present unemployed. . Of the 60,000 miners, 23,000 are em-, ployed in the sulphur mines, 18,000 in the tin and'zinc mines, 10,000 in the coal mines, 2,600 in the quicksilver mines, 2,300 in the iron ore mines and .1,500 in the other ore mines. The principal mining centres are in Sicily,Sardinia, and in the province of .Tuscany. About 20,000 miners are era-' ployed in the sulphur mines of Sicily and more than 14,000 in th£ tin and zinc mines of Sardinia . About 10,000 miners are engaged in the Various lignite, quicksilver and iron ore mines , in Tuscany, 3,000 miners are employed in the sulphur mines in the '. "Romagna Marche," and more than ] 3,000 in the Julian Venezian. There! is a very serious crisis in the sulphur mining industry. All the sulphur j mines in Sicily are closed down. Also the workers in the lignite mining industry are in a difficult situation, and it Is only latterly that conditions have improved in the tin and zinc mines. ; The wages of the miners vary according to the different branches of the industry and the. various mining areas. The workers engaged in the sulphur mines in Sicily receive on an average 6 —7 lires for a 13-hours' day (a lire is about 10d.) those in Sardinia receive 7 —B lires, and sometimes less, for a working- day of from Bto 12-hours. In the province of Tuscany wages vary between a minimum of 9 lires per day in the lignite mines to a maximum of 20 lires per day in certain quicksilver mines.

In tlie iron ore mines tlie workers receive on an average 16—17 llres

jiand in the iron pyrites mines Dell tween 9 and 15 lires per day. ! In Tuscany all. miners .work 8 hours ia day. \ '•■-; /::.," ';,••''■;';, ■ ■ ~'."'■ •In the "Romagna Marche" the wages of workers in the sulphur mries vary between 12 and 22 lires. In Julia Venezia the wages are practically stationary;'in; the lead, zinc, and quicksilver mines they vary "between 18.25 and 27 lires per day. In the coal mines" wages amount on an average to 20 lires per day. In Piedmont, wages are about 13 to 15 lires per day* The wage reductions imposed upen tlie miners vary between a minimum of 20 per cent, and a maximum of 80 per cent.' The output has. been affected fcotti "by the crisis in the mines as well as .by the action of ths Fascists'in the mining districts.

The Italian Miners* Union was founded in May. 1920. The industrial crisis in 1921 almost completely destroyed it. Of the 200 branches which the Union comprised in 1&20 only 50 'have survived.' The membership has fallen from 36,000 to 7,000, and even of these not all are paying members.

The Union cannot continue to exist or extend its activities unless it ia aided from outside during this critical period.