PREPARATIONS IN TRAIN.

New Zealand Herald, Volume LIX, Issue 18089, 13 May 1922, Page 9

PREPARATIONS IN TRAIN.

MANY UNIONS CONCERNED. A. and N.Z. SYDNEY. May 12.

The Herald says that the Trades Hall is making preparations for a general strike. Tho first, union likely to be involved us that of railwaymcn employed on construction workß. numbering 6000, as a protest against tho medical test which the commissioners are socking to enforce. The coalminers, rural workers, and shearers are likely to be drawn in. It is considered certain that the shearers will not accept the recent award. In view of the prsition a conference of union delegates decided that no sectional r.-tion should bo taken which would involve any other section without the consent.of tho disputes committee. Following tho conference an official statement issued declares : " In view of the anticipated rise in prices during the winter it seems evident that the authorities are deliberately trying to provoke industrial upheaval. Starvation is by instinct revolutionary, and if the Government wants revolution it is certainly going the ricrht way to get it. Tho working class will leave no stone unturned to organise its forces for the coming struggle."

The, railway workers held a stormy meeting, which ended in disorder. Motions to strike and to submit to examination were both rejected. At a deputation to Sir George Fuller the union representatives declared that the commissioners' action would precipitate troublo they did not dream of. Sir "George replied that the commissioners were acting in the interests r/f the men. If the latter precipitated trouble it would be their own responsibility. In the event of cases of hardship arising from examinations tho commissioners would review the case. The men had nothing to fear, as no wholesale dismissals were contemplated.

Tho union executive instructed the members to continue to work and submit themselves to medical examination. An official statement issued by the Miners' Federation states that their log is tho legal reply to the owners' threatened reductions. In any case, if half the miners in the industry are gaoled the other half will never accept the evil conditions demanded by the employers. Timber lumpers at Bunbury demanded 3s 4d an hour in accordance with tho decision of the Board of Reference. The owners' offer was only 2s 9d. As a result tho Yankalilla sailed leaving her timber on the wharf.

The medical standard required in the examination of railwaymen was explained recently by the commissioners in an_ official communication to the Railway Workers' Union. The statement was: Only those men will be classed as unfit who are suffering from disease of the body or mind, or such other physical disability as would mako it unsafe either to themselves or others to employ them. It has been decided to adopt one vision standard for men connected with the running lines, and a lower standard for others. fhe vision of men who cannot pass these tests will be such that it would not be safe to employ- them. The hearing test will merelv be the ability to hear an ordinary conversational voice, and men employed in connection with the running lines must necessarily have their colour sense tested. In no cases will the services of any man who is already employed be dispensed with unless and until the commissioners themselves have decided what course should be taken after personally reviewing the whole of the circumstances of each individual case on its merits, and in reviewing such cases proper consideration will bo given to length of service and failures clue to injuries sustained the service.