BOOTMAKERS' STRIKE.

New Zealand Herald, Volume XXVIII, Issue 8535, 8 April 1891, Page 5

BOOTMAKERS' STRIKE.

The prospects of a settlement of the dispute in the boob trade now appear less hopeful. Tho Boot Manufacturers' Association have declined to agree to Mr. Shera's proposals for a conference on the basis that the award would not be binding on either side. They state that, as the Board of delegates would have no power to settle anything, no good object would be served by the discussion, which would simply mean a waste of time. As • their attention is at present devoted to making arrangements to carry on their business without the operatives now on strike, further negotiations would only prove abortive. They have determined upon a certain course of action, and the men in turn have decided to maintain their present attitude. There the matter stands for the present. Last evening the Bootmakers Operatives' Union helda meeting in Wesley Hall. It was protracted to a late hour, but most of the business was stated to be of a private nature. The Union elected delegates to go to a conference on the basis of Mr. Shera's proposals —those chosen being the president (Air. C. B. King), Messrs. Harding (secretary), and Hatfield. The committee appointed to go into the co-operative factory scheme will meet to-day or to-morrow. An offer has been received of plant and materials on a

month's credit, and a guarantee that all boots produced by the factory will be purchased by the party making the offer. It was stated that some of the "free labour" which had gone into some of the factories had seen " the error of their ways," and they had come out, and were now on strike pay. A levy of 12J per cent, on the earnings of tho men in Union shops has been made in aid of the strikers, and in the South the levy is said to be still higher for the same object.