CO-OPERATIVE CONTRACTING

NZ Truth, Issue 818, 16 July 1921, Page 7

CO-OPERATIVE CONTRACTING

Is Sample's Experiment New and Original?

WHAT ARE THE TERMS "AN PRICES OF THE CONTRACT?

Are All Other Miners Lazy Men and

Loafers?

" J. 5.," writing from Auckland, says: We have always been led to believe that there is nothing new under the sun, but if Bob Semple, ex-leader of the miners, is to be listened to. that flapper, dinkumly dressed gentleman would have it that he has unearthed something entirely original^ 1 m New 'Zealand. His "discovery" consists of a system of co-operative contracting by which he annoimces to the industrial world that capitalist and worker become as friendly as man and wife. Under his "new discovery" trouble with the bosses is out of the question, strikes will be unheard of, m fact, the industrial upheavals we so often read about will become a mere matter of history, and- will go down as incidents of the times .when the workers were an ignorant body of men. "And the world will recognise the debt it owes to Semple. whose name will becdme immortalised. But will it? Let us investigate. Now there is no man on the face of this earth' knows better than Mr. Semple himself that his new-fangled scheme, such as he terms it, is as old m the industrial fields of Australia as THE DAYS OF HIS SCOTS GRAND- • FATHER. And, to come nearer home, Mr. Sem- , pie is also q/uite -aware that the same •scheme as- he is now boosting was tried at Bealey Flat, Otira; that he himself was a participating worker there. He knows- that ,the system there was governed! as it was by practical men,, w.ho were forced through economic pressure to accept a price » which finally they had to abandon and surrender the work back, to the Government, and that the same work, was eventually, carried out under the set wage system. Some, months after Mr. Semple left Bealey, practically speaking, the same crowd of men took the work over on, a similar principle that Semple is boosting at present, but they never signed themselves over tothe Public Works' Department that they would not strike, consequently they have. had numerous troubles, and from time to time the- conditions have been altered, showing clearly that often conditions are not suitable to the circumstances of the day, and the men are wise m their action to still retain the freedom of ■ their industrial standing. Apart from the Otira tunnel, the Waikiekie tunnel, and now the Mareretu are being conducted on the same basis, and there is no practical miner, or leader of miners, who would sugr gest that for solidarity of unionisticprinciples, together with intelligent working capacity that the men on these contracts could not hold their own with Mr. Semple and his party. But the former still retain the right to strike if the. agreement is broken. Now this national system of - co-operation fixes its prices by the practical check inspectorsi who are elected by the men, and are thus assessors on behalf of the men, m conferring with the representatives of the Public Works Department. The result is that so far as the tunnel workers are concerned they have not a great deal of complaints to make. Further than this the coal miners and quartz miners are at the present time working under a co-operative system of contract, which fact Mr.\ Semple is aware of. He himself was\

sponsor for these _ men for several years and STRENUOUSLY ADVOCATED THE GENERAL STRIKE, m fact lie took a very active part m many. And, we believe, he even went so far as to advocate, the "go slow 1 ' policy. This is well-known to all miners m the Dominion, and was often referred to m the " r>ay-lios " — the same "day-lies" 'that are now beslobbering- Bob on behalf of Flute. Wo are prepared to say that if the coal miners find gold minei's of this country could get a contract on a basis .similar to that secured by Mr. Semple there would be no necessity for a -strike. Just imagine the miners being able to go\to the owners of the mines, and far the mere asking get three times their present rates. Then try to imagine the same miners, who can get their own price being foolish enough to' strike! As a public man, Mi-. Semple has . awakened many bogies, which have ended disastrously to the men concerned-, but despite past failures he has made another alleged 1 "new discovery;" - and, strange as it may seem, is getting quite a lot of unwarranted kudosi from the capitalistic press. But there may be a rebound and perhaps it will be found later, that instead of being- a wonderful benefactor, SEMPLE AND HIS SYSTEM will cause a lot of discontent. We only hope that Mr. Semple has discovered" the means to settle all industrial discontent, and if Bob is sincere tHat Qiis "new" find is what he claims it to be, then it will certainly invite most serious investigation. But, m the interests, of all concerned, an honorable committee should be appointed, and we suggest that the personnel be as follows: Mr- H ; Holland, MiP., J. Arbuckle, J* Roberts and Hon. G. Coates, Minister fOr Public Works, to ascertain how Semple's contract wjas obtained and how the price was arrived at. We would like to know, and the public would be interested to know, just what the price per foot is and whether the price paid to Semlple is a fair average rate compared with the prices ruling throughout the whole of the mining industry m Noo Zee. It must be accepted, at least, that the public press are suggesting, according to Semple's statements, that the rest of the miners m the Dominion, who are essentially co-operative contract workers, are either loafers, or are not endowed with the intelligence to drive a decent bargain.