COAL MINES STRIKE

New Zealand Herald, Volume LXXV, Issue 23136, 7 September 1938, Page 14

COAL MINES STRIKE

COMMONWEALTH ACTION PROBABLY ON FRIDAY " REPLIES UNSATISFACTORY " (Received* September 7, 12.55 a.m.) SYDNEY, Sept. 6 A general coal strike throughout the Commonwealth will begin on Friday unless mediation intervenes in the meantime. The number of mine workers and their dependants likely to be affected will be 100,000, of whom 80 per cent are in New South Wales. The miners' officials stated to-night that there was 'no alternative to a strike, as the mine owners' and the State Governments' replies to their ultimatum were most unsatisfactory on the whole and the Federal Government had merely formally acknowledged the letter setting out their demands. The objection by the Miners' Federation that the Industrial Commission has no jurisdiction to consider the dispute between that organisation and the colliery owners, which has been referred to the commission by the New South Wales Ministry, has been over-ruled by Mr. Justice Cantor. His Honor reserved his decision on tho question as to whether, in accepting the award made last year, tho federation had reserved the right to seek a variation of hours, pensions, paid holidays and weekly pay, which were not specifically mentioned in tho award. The Broken Hill Proprietary, tho biggest producer and consumer of coal in Australia, has intimated its willingness to meet tho miners' representatives in conference.