CONTROL OF LABOUR

Otago Daily Times, Issue 18545, 4 May 1922, Page 8

CONTROL OF LABOUR

AUSTRALIAN COAL MINERS’ MOVE.. (Pbom Our Own Correspondent.) SYDNEY, April 22. In their effotte to gain control of the copl milling industry of Australia the coal miners now propose to introduce into the industry a system of employment of labour which closely resembles job control. The suggestion, which will* probably be submitted to the members of the union for their consideration and adoption, is as follows; “That, in order to defeat the employers’ practice ,of victimisation and discrimination, it is recommended that no member of the federation should accept work at any other collier,- than that at which he is now employed without having first obtained a note from the district secretary. ihat members desiring to change from one colliery to another should notify the district secretary of their intention. “The district secretary shall keep a list . qt names of members or other persons desiring to obtain work in the district, or of from one colliery to another, anc he shall issue notes in the. order their namtf appear on the list, according to the clasi of work desired, ‘That persons seeking work at any mint shall present the note received from. th< district secretary to the lodge secretary. “That it be an instruction to the menu here of the respective lodges to refuse to' work with any new, employee until he produces a note from the district secretary. “That any member of the federation found deliberately ignoring the aforegoing arrangement shall fori the. first offence bo hied a sum not exceeding £5, and for ; the second offence shall be /expelled from the. federation. That'in the event'of any person who, having placed his name on the list, refuses ■ f°-'*sS ept Tvork when offored . he shall forfeit his order of precedence, and be placed - la*t on the list.” - In the course •of an official statement to the members issued yesterday it was Pointed out. that the scheme was 1 worth study, and certainly could be used as a handy basis for discussion. The problem, it was added, wail one which needed to be ever y lodge at once. Tbe first step to the control of industry, it was stated, must be the complete control 1 of labour. . ! . V , The official organ of the Miners’ Pederatmn, referring 'to the scheme, says; “This ‘ will not be job control, although the principle is thus loosely termed. Under capital, ism the workers cannot possibly have job control It will come when the present system has been swept aside. But control labol | r . supply as it really is is some* thing which is by no means difficult when the workers are well organised, and are aufhciently class conscious. In the fight# • which he ahead one of the big efforts on the part, of the employers will-be to weed out every militant worker, whether he ba Communist. Socialist, Wobbly, or just militant unionist.”.