STRIKE SETTLED

New Zealand Herald, Volume LXXII, Issue 22241, 16 October 1935, Page 12

STRIKE SETTLED

MINERS AT WAIHI WORK STARTS TO-NIGHT TERMS NOT DIVULGED NO RETROSPECTIVE PAY A settlement of tho mining striko at Waihi was reached in Auckland yesterday afternoon after a conference lasting two days between tho parties interested, tho Martha Gold Mining Com--pany (Waihi), Limited, and tho Ohinomuri Mines and Batteries Union and tho branch unions involved. The dispute, which concerned wages, was said by the Minister of Labour, the Hon. A. Hamilton, who presided at tho conference, to have been settled on a mutually satisfactory basis. The men will resume work at midnight to-night. The strike commenced at midnight on October 7. It was stated that negotiations between tho parties upon tho question of wages and conditions of employment at Waihi had been in progress for some time, and that tho men had struck because of failure to reach a basis for a new industrial agreement. Subsequently it was stated that tho employers had offered, if the men went back to work, to restore in full the conditions ruling prior to tho 10 per cent wages cut in 1931, subject to 8d of the payment a shift being regarded as a bonus. No Official Statement The strike continued, however, the position being said to hinge on the question whether the increased wage rates should bo made retrospective from May .11, the date on which the Martha Company came into existence. No official statement on the position was forthcoming yesterday from the representatives either of the employers or the men. It was stated, however, that the terms of the settlement would not be made public until the union delegates had communicated them to the men. The terms had been accepted and would not have to be ratified by the unions concerned. It is understood that no retrospective payment will be made. Interviewed at the termination of tho negotiations, Mr. Hamilton said arrangements were being made for the reopening of the mine. Anxiety in Town Allayed The representatives of the Martha Gold Mining Company at the conference were Messrs. R. G. Milligan, H. W. Hopkins and R. E. Williams. The men's representatives were Messrs. E. Dye, W. Bice and W. Lynch, for the Miners' Union, J. Ridgwell and C. Jennings for the Amalgamated Engineers, A. Ritchie and E. O'Shea for the Enginedrivers and Winders' Union, and L. Fee and R. Fasher for the Carpenters and Joiners' Union. The number of men involved by the strike and the decision to resume is about 650. The prospective loss to the town of Waihi caused by the strike was viewed at the beginning of the dispute with apprehension. It was stated that every week of idleness would mean a loss of upward of £3OOO in wages and payments to the workers on contract. '