HARROWING HUNTLY.

NZ Truth, Issue 437, 8 November 1913, Page 4

HARROWING HUNTLY.

SIMPLE SPEAKS. Elison's Edict.

the '-grievances '.of the Wellington J Waterside, Workers. The Huntly trouble can be -traced back to the time. t tho -.Federation. of Lh-bor asked the miners to take a day off m order to protest against, the imprisonment of the Waihi' miners. „ 'the Huntly miners; to the request and took pne day- off, • When they returned Anexi morning they were blocked by tho -company, 1 which subsequentlyY decided that the men should be allowed *to return to work, but those - who. .. were members of the Executiye^of^^^gßLn were discharged., niereljvtfSß^Klwy had carried out the*tnstrucl^MJ& the union. This, intimatioP^gi carried to the, miners^ and to workfuideea the -Executive was reinstated. The Federation of Labor, saddled as it w>a with* many responsibilities at the time, could not well counsel a, strike; ..The miners wero t6 RBTDBN TO and .the 'Ileder^ilpn promised to provide for, the victimised members of the Executive, the Federation was so ..deeply involved, the Huntly Oompaiiy forced the hands of the men,;' by competing them to join 7 a new unioy under the Arbitration Act. Though ;t-be , . miners signed a -petition protesting* against the formation of this union, "Square Baal' * Bill Massey, t£e Ityntster bt Labor, permitted the union to be registered. The miners were inolined to fight against the new, conditions foisted. ---'* upon them, but were advised to get into the new -.union, practif«lly speaking, to abandon the qi&anitatlon which had taken yeaoii to bulla UP. -.>.'-/• " . >.-'.. \ ■ '! 'The Huntly Convysnywas n 6t satisfied with this, it worked it no <*# men who were \jtnowia to have opinions of thoir ow» were barred frani joining the how Y^lSi!^ y fV^- company saw that the propJJf set of officials were elected. TheS&w seen* tary was tuado a foreman o$ and it was arranged that befQ^e^^fc-Y man could secure work at tbe^4^K| he would have to sign a declaral^HK: to the offer t that he would not ju^Rt any other form of organisation. NocJH withstanding such victimisation, th#H pien continued to work, and grad-^ ually the process of feeding eiut the i officials foisted on them was ; -carried out. The now officials elected bad the • confidenco of Ythe rank arid file, and, at the July conference, the union at Huntly was represented, and decided to join the United Federation of Labor and o tho Social Democratic party. As soon as this became known to the Huntly Company it commenced to SUBJECT THE MIEN TO PERSECUTION. Sixteen men received their nolices. . The men mado overtures to the company, but their , overtures were refused. As the slack season would bo very short, the men intimated that all should share m the short time rather than that some should bo dismissed. , This was also turned down. , :V Another suggestion turned down by the company was, thai If it was truo that hands were to be* shortened, they wero prepared, as a body of men, to take their chances by ballot. Mr. E. W. Allison refused to meet the men and dUcuss the situation. He endeavored to mislead the pub- • lie by stating that it was* the usual thing to shorten' the number , of hands at this time of the year. "The men engaged at the mine," said Mr. Sample, ' 'dee lure this s tntemen t to be untrue. Immediately the notices of those men had expired other men were put m their places. Allison says they wore new hands and net miners. ? Quito true, but Allison did not tell the public exactly what ho did do. What he did was this. Tn order to hlnr the issue, fourteen new men were put on trucking and tho truckers were put on the face. The nural«er of men engaged by the Huntly Company Is just the same as the number c|ischarcrpd. The output of cool k had, not m any was decreased at the time . the men censed to work; The men are unanimous !on the question, and declare that without a shadow of doubt VICTIMISATION OF THE WORST KIND # Is bo Inn practised.' The Huntly men have endured all kinds of petty persecution m order to avoid industrial trouble. It could not be said that they were unreasonable men. They had stood p*n*.cution tlB they could stand it no longer. It was known that another batch of men w«r» marked for victimisation. One member of the Executive hed been called aside and informed that be hid to Ret off tho Executive or go. AbAud to bo— -all on the Executive. An t|b ncn could tot! that the company was determined to resort to th* worst kind of tactics, they determined they would no longer stand this persecution and decided to tight for their rights anl their liberties, Thuy determined to fight for their organisation and to manage it m their own Interests, and m the interests of their wlvas and children. "Allison," said the organ* leer, "is one of the worst kind of employers m New Zealand. He refused to havo anything to do with the Federation of Labor, Ho affect el to Ignore" lv Messrs. Hick sy and. Tcung were trying to effect a settlement of the dispute. It was proposed to'set up a board, composed of tpr^a representatives of the company, three representing* the miners, with an independent chairman, but Allison would not listen to the proposal. Every effort haid been mad« by thu Federation of 1 1-abor to settle the Huntly strike. The Federation had almost sunk Its manhood m the endeavor w effect a settlement. They could net sink any deeper without gelling into the pigerofi. This they d«> not intonrt to dy.~