COOKS' STRIKE ENDS.

New Zealand Herald, Volume LXV, Issue 19974, 16 June 1928, Page 10

COOKS' STRIKE ENDS.

The strike of marine cooks in Australia has come to an inglorious end. The men have decided to return to work immediately on the terms the shipowners demanded. After 15 weeks of idleness the cooks arc ready to resume duty, having gained nothing in compensation for the loss of wages they have suffered. The seamen and other workers affected by the strike have suffered similarly, have had nothing at stake in the struggle, and havo not even the meagre satisfaction of feeling that they have been deprived of their livelihood during these weeks in a good cause. Australian shipping services will be resumed as soon, as normal conditions can be established after the disorganisation of the past weeks. There are all the elements of a sorry situation. To sum it up, the strikers have suffered to no purpose, their fellow-workers have suffered, and the community has suffered. The secretary of the Cooks' Union said the decision to call off the strike had been greatly influenced by the "extraordinary attitude" of other unions. It will not seem extraordinary to most people that the other unions should decline to help in prolonging a strike inspired by no legitimate grievance, at a time when there is considerable unemployment in the Commonwealth, with more predicted. The very fact of their refusal of support is the most complete condemnation of the strike, for Australian unions, especially those connected with marine transport, are usually slow to declare against another organisation in a dispute, however slender the merits of the case. The strike has been the product of disastrous leadership. It is another proof that several important and powerful sections of the Australian workers can expect neither peace nor satisfactory pursuit of a union's legitimate objects until they have jettisoned the leaders who have frequently precipitated disputes as fruitless as that of the marine cooks.